Why do we have to have some segment of our society always looking for ways to profit from our misunderstanding?  I am sure many of you, like me, get angry about scams that take place every day.  I wish I could say living in a more rural area in Texas would provide some immunity to scams, but unfortunately, scammers don’t seem to follow any boundaries. There is always someone very willing to try to gain the confidence of those of us who may be unsuspecting of their schemes, and take advantage of our naiveté for financial gain.

We take continual strides at United to inform and warn our members about various scams that regularly circulate throughout our service area and that are directed in some way to our members.  One of the more common scams we  is when someone calls a United member threatening disconnection of electric service if they don’t immediately pay a past due balance.  To be clear, United will never call a member and demand that a specific payment amount should be made immediately.  Instead, United’s delinquent bill process requires that the member must initiate a call to a local office to make a payment--this helps protects our members by ensuring they are talking to a legitimate United member service representative, rather than an imposter.

Some gimmicks are a little less obvious. Maybe they don’t technically fall under the heading of scams, but are instead misrepresentations, or deals that don’t clearly represent all the details.  

Through United’s ongoing member service efforts, we’ve met with a number of members who recently entered long-term agreements with solar sales companies and may not have received all the facts relating to those installations.

The sales pitches usually follow a similar pattern.  Whether by telephone or door-to-door sales solicitation, the pitches invariably claim that residential solar panel installations will pay for a majority or all residential electric costs from then on. The solicitors usually insist monthly electric savings will be such that the small cost the solar company will bill consumers will be much less than what the consumer would have paid to the utility, and that those costs will be fixed and won’t go up like utility energy costs will in the future.  Naïve consumers  then sign documents that may or may not fully explain the long-term agreement for a monthly lease or purchase cost for a system (potentially at a pretty high interest rate).  

The consumer is then stuck with the investment, and the company then moves on to their next target while the consumer waits in earnest for their first savings windfall.  The bill comes and so very often so does the confusion, disappointment, frustration—and then anger.   The first question is typically not to the salesman who sold the consumer the bill of goods, but to an employee at your electric cooperative.  As United  employees get involved, they discover more than a few misrepresentations, and in some cases, flat out fabrications that were made in reference to a system’s overall costs and production.  Unfortunately, some of those United members are now locked into a long-term finance contract that really has no easy way out.  On top of that, many times these installers do not follow United’s process for interconnection, so there is more cost that has to be dealt with in making the system meet safety standards.  Members naturally feel swindled, and it doesn’t feel good.

There is no reason for any member to end up in such a situation.  At your cooperative, we have the experience, the information and the resources all of our members need when considering making a solar decision.  We can give any member guidance on how much energy a certain system will provide and also let our members know how much that would save each month.  We can answer questions about different technologies and systems and explain exactly how it all works.  We can provide members with the names of vendors operating throughout our territory that have earned reputations for being more reliable and supportive after a sale.  While we don’t perform installations and system maintenance at this point in time, we are considering those member needs in the future.  The bottom line is that we have the experience and information members need and should utilize to make a good decision. Please use this free resource before making a final decision to install a residential solar system.

And for members who have never wanted to go to those lengths, but who are still interested in the energy savings offered through solar distributed generation, we do have a much more economical and simple solar option for members—the United Community Solar rate.  Solar energy generated by United’s 9.9 MW (AC) Community Solar plant in Bosque County provides an opportunity for members to subscribe to a solar option to help offset their regular monthly energy costs   without having to install the solar panels on their home or enter into long-term agreements that can be a drag on homeowner resources for years.  Subscribing is no more difficult than calling the nearest United office and asking to be included on the Community Solar rate.  What happens after that is very similar to what could be expected when solar panels are installed on a residential rooftop—but likely better from a production standpoint.  

When members sign up, they get the output of a 2 kW tracking solar system each month.  This is roughly equivalent to having a 3.3 kW fixed solar system on a roof.  With each monthly billing, members will see the energy output of their part of the United Community Solar project as their first energy used, and at a fixed price (guaranteed at that fixed rate until the year 2037). Whatever energy members use above the energy provided by the solar project will be provided by Brazos Electric Cooperative, our wholesale energy provider.  It is that simple.  We built a very large solar project at a very cost-competitive level so our members could have the option of solar without all of the hassle.  That’s how we do things at your cooperative. We are always looking at innovative opportunities to provide our members exceptional service and value.

The old adage—“if it is too good to be true, then it probably isn’t true” —should be something that raises a red flag for every consumer. Let us help you weed out the good from the bad—we know energy, we know the business and we know it quite well.  Use your cooperative to help you with these types of decisions.  You will be glad you did in the end.  Take care and God bless!