KILLEEN, Texas — Update: Claudia told Six News Solar Centex showed up to her door right after watching the Six Fix piece that aired on Texas Today on Monday.
Claudia said they will be out at her house to install the inverter for free around 9:00 a.m. today.
"He says. we're going to fix you up," she said. "Six Fix, you guys are tremendous."
Original story:
When Claudia Ray moved in to her solar powered home she had hoped it would save her a lot of money on her limited income.
Today she pays more than $200 a month for electricity when she thought she'd be paying close to nothing.
When Ray noticed her energy bills were much higher than they should've been In July her son-in-law Travis Buchman reached out to Solar Edge and they told Buchman the inverter needed to be replaced but the company who is authorized to replace it will not respond to him.
"Solar Edge has been great through the entire process," Buchman said. "They said this was the third inverter to go out on this house."
"I have solar panels on the house and they're just sitting there because the inverter is not on," Ray said.
According the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, an inverter is one of the most important pieces of equipment in a solar energy system.
It’s a device that converts direct current (DC) electricity, which is what a solar panel generates, to alternating current (AC) electricity, which the electrical grid uses.
The company not helping Buchman and Ray is Encor Solar.
Six News has reached out to the company for comment and has yet to hear back.
Buchman said he's called and texted the company multiple times to get things fixed.
"About three months later I got a response but ever since then it's been very responseless," he added.
Buchman said the company is technically supposed to replace this inverter because the panels are still under warranty, their warranty as they are the original installers of the panels.
It could cost $700 to $800 to get another company out to replace the inverter. Ray said she doesn't have the money to do that.
She's already on a limited income and so far the cost of energy has forced her to spend around $1,500 out of pocket.
This is not the way Buchman wanted his mother-in-law to live and had hoped she'd have little to no energy bill.
Katie Galan, a representative with the Better Business Bureau, said there have been a lot of complaints from customers who work with solar companies.
Galan said the best thing anyone can do before purchasing a solar powered home is to do their research before and read every contract.
If you do run into this problem, where a solar company is not reachable, you do have options.
"They can make a report to TDLR and also the office of the Texas Attorney General," Galan said.
Galan added that you can also reach out to the Better Business Bureau with any complaints and they will act as an unbiased third party to get the matter resolved.
"Sometimes when businesses see us reach out, they're quicker to react," she added.
All Ray and Buchman want is for the original installer to reach back out to them and get the inverter put in.
"It would give me a little more income instead of just worrying," Ray said.