ComplaintsforNew England Clean Energy, Inc

• Initial Complaint

  07/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Failure on two occasions by this company to submit accurate applications for incentive programs for my solar system. One application was never filed and has to this date cost me Atleast $1800 by Nee England Clean Energys own estimates. Of which I will never recover. In addition to this my phone calls and emails have gone unanswered regarding the latter issue.

  

  Business response

  08/01/2022

  We are extremely sorry for the issues that you have encountered with the installation of your system. We understand and share your frustrations. There have been multiple issues with your system, but they are all issues that are unfortunately out of our control. However, we have persisted in addressing them and all should be rectified soon.

  
  In short, we would assert we have not abandoned you and you will not lose out on the incentives you are expecting. To summarize:

  
  - The issues you have had with your battery are manufacturer/equipment issues and are not related to our workmanship. That said, the manufacturer has backed their equipment 100% and after multiple visits from us with their support, the system is now fully operational. During that process we visited your home four times and we reimbursed you $700 for food that spoiled due to the battery not working, despite the fact the issues were all manufacturing defects.
  

  - In terms of the delay in receiving your incentives due to delays with the related forms, the SMART program delay is due to a change in how Eversource processes their application forms, not in how we filled it out (the form did not change and neither did their instructions). There was also a misunderstanding between you and us in regard to you signing up for Connected Solutions, an optional program that many people turn down because it requires that your battery be controlled by the utility.
  

  - But we have persevered on your behalf and all the proper forms have all been filled and are now in the utilitys hands for processing.
  

  - As a result, once the forms are processed you will get all the SMART money due to you for the entire period back to your PTO date and you will have a full 5 years of Connected Solutions once you are officially in the program.
  

  In terms of communications, our salesperson reports he spoke to you as recently as the evening of Thursday, July 28, 2022. There were also multiple back and forth emails with you that occurred in the weeks prior.However, roughly a week or so ago you informed us you did not want to hear from your project manager ever again and wanted to speak to someone else.Unfortunately, the person who would be best to follow up with you was in and out of the office with a medical issue this past week and was not able to reach you. (She did attempt to call you Wednesday morning, July 27, 2022, but it turns out she was given the wrong phone number.)  

  
  In all, there is no question that we all would like all of this work to go faster, but we are not in control of how quickly the utility or other third parties respond. Our guess is that Eversource could take approximately 8 weeks to process this step. It all unfortunately takes time. In the meantime, your system is fully operational. We are just waiting on those incentives. We can only persist until everything is set-up as it should be. In the end, you will not miss out on any benefits, they are just unfortunately delayed.

  
  As always, thank you for going solar.

  
  Best,

  
  New England Clean Energy ****

• Initial Complaint

  01/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On March 18th 2021 we entered into an agreement with New England Clean Energy (NECE) to install a solar system on a home we own in *******, **.The total contract was $23,799 with a reduction of potentially $11,561 in "Utility" Rebates which NECE would file for in a timely manner, but would be refunded to us by the Utility.The "Utility" Rebate consisted of portions to be paid by ***************************** (****), the local electricity supplier and the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), a ******************* Agency. DOER contracted with Energy New England (ENE) to administer the program.NECE filed the applications in a timely fashion but we heard indirectly from ENE on July 21st 2021 that the Rebate payable by DOER had been rejected. The amount expected was $8,430.We followed up extensively with all parties involved, ENE, **** and NECE, and discovered it was deficiency on the part of NECE persons which led to the rejection. First, the salesman had filed two applications representing each of two quotes he had written, but, on our acceptance of one had not deleted the unused option. Later, when ENE asked NECE for clarification about the two entries, the administrator at NECE did not respond. Prior to rejection, we had asked the director of installations at NECE if everything was in order prior to the cut-off date, and he had responded positively.In the warranty statement as part of the system quote it states: "......This includes energy AND performance based incentives"We have made multiple requests to NECE for resolution of the problem including to the President and Director of Installations.We are requesting the payment in the amount of $8,430 from NECE in lieu of the rejected Rebate application.We have an extensive record of all communications with the parties concerned, NECE, ENE and ****.We should add that we have received the rebate from **** in the amount of $3,125 as their part of the expected total $11,561 quoted by NECE.

  

  Business response

  01/12/2022

  New England Clean Energy would like to thank the customer for being a repeat customer, for the third time. With the first system installed back in 2011, an expansion in 2017, and now a second expansion in 2021 customer has shown a real dedication to solar and clean energy. We also very much appreciate the vote of confidence in our work here at New England Clean Energy **** over the years.

  
  In terms of the details of the complaint, it is important to note that our company never represents that a utility rebate is certain. The customers proposal specifically noted that the rebate dollar amounts listed were the total Potential Utility Rebate. That is because rebates typically expire or more frequently run out because there is just one lump sum of funds available.They are never certain.
  

  As noted in the complaint, it is true that our Project Lead did fail to respond to an inquiry from ENE, the solar rebate administrator for ***********************. Unfortunately, that email was sent to a single person and that person was out of work with a severe case of COVID-19; a force-majeure situation. They simply did not respond and by the time this person was back on the job and dug through their emails, the program application had been cancelled and the program had run out of funds. It would have been helpful if ENE had contacted us another way, but that did not happen.
  

  With regard to our actual agreement, there is no reference to any rebates as noted above. Customers reference to the warranty section of our agreement which states . This includes energy AND performance-based incentives does exist. However, it does not refer to a rebate. It refers to performance-based incentives, such as SREC or SMART per kWh incentives. Regardless, that section of the warranty would also not apply because the incentive was not awarded.
  

  In total, we believe that the settlement the customer is requesting is, unfortunately, not warranted. New England Clean Energy, while sorry about the outcome, did its best given the force majeure situation to get the customer a rebate, but unfortunately it was no longer available.

  
  

  Customer response

  01/17/2022

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********.

  We thank New England Clean Energy (****) for recognizing that we have been good customers over our three installations performed by them and we have been enthusiastic references for their services.   We have chosen **** in each case because they have promoted and offered a turnkey solution which included filing all appropriate paperwork, not only for local permits, but also applications for any available rebates or incentives.  These are onerous processes which cannot be left to the typical customer and prove the value of the service offered by ****.
  We have recognized that rebates are potential not promised but it was deficiency in the process of **** which caused potential to become denial.   
  We do not agree that force majeure can be offered as an excuse for this denial of rebate.
  To claim force majeure when the pandemic had been in existence for 18 months already is unreasonable.   After this length of time any effect of the pandemic cannot be called unforeseen.   It is management responsibility to anticipate the absence of an employee and develop a back-up strategy,particularly if the customer could be financially impacted.  Customer satisfaction is at the heart of the success of ****.
  We sympathize with the **** Project Lead for suffering the ravages of Covid-19.
  There were three errors made by **** in this episode:
  The application was submitted by **** and acknowledged and pre-approved by CMLP on April 15th.CMLP submitted the application to ***.
  *** reported that the application was incomplete and asked the Project Lead at **** for clarification on May 15th.The error in the application was an **** responsibility.
  We asked the **** Project Lead on that date if she was able to answer the question.
  Not receiving any response from the **** Project Lead, we forwarded the questions to the **** Director of Quality Control on June 22nd and he responded the same day that all was in order.But it was not.
  Nobody, including the Director of Quality Control at **** got back to *** to answer their question about the Shade Report.
  We heard about the denial of the rebate from CMLP on July 21st and we followed up with *** to determine exactly what was wrong.   The *** person showed concern as per this extract from her email:
  We didnt receive a response to our request, and the inconsistencies were major enough that I wasnt comfortable making edits.
  I held your app open past the deadline, hoping to receive a response, because you submitted in April. On 7/8/21, I had to reject the application. Unfortunately, theres nothing I can do to secure DOER funding for you. Its the installers responsibility to handle requests for info and it looks like your application slipped through the cracks.
  $8,430.00 is a lot of money to fall through the cracks and we seek full compensation from ****.
  
  
  
  Regards,

  *****

  A back-up copy of this response is included as an attachment.

   

  

  Business response

  01/25/2022

  Thank you for the measured response and we do understand your frustration. But we also believe that these are not normal times and not normal issues. It is not straightforward to deal with the ******19 pandemic even at this juncture, let alone last year late winter/early spring. What we will do is contact ENE again to see if there is anything further that can be done. If that fails to produce results we suggest we talk directly with you to reach an agreement. At this point, January 25, 2022, wed expect that to be next week. We look forward to hopefully making progress with ENE or working out something with you at that time. 
  

  Best. 
  
  

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