[co-author: Stephanie Kozol]

Before being elected to the U.S. Senate, now former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit against Power Home Solar LLC — a North Carolina entity now doing business as Pink Energy — alleging that the solar company misrepresented the effectiveness and safety of its energy-generating systems for residential homes in violation of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief and restitution in addition to civil penalties to remedy the alleged violations of Missouri consumers’ rights.

In his complaint, AG Schmitt claimed that Power Home’s sales representatives misled Missouri homeowners by representing that they could “get all, or nearly all, their needed electricity” from one of its systems, when the systems actually “d[id] not work at all, much less work as well as [Power Home] represented.” According to the complaint, the company also made false representations to consumers regarding its installation process by failing to properly install the system in a way that would decrease consumers’ electricity bills and would “sometimes cause physical damage” to consumers’ homes. Additionally, Schmitt alleged that Power Home sold its systems, despite knowing they contained a defective component that could cause “consumers’ homes to catch fire.”

Former AG Schmitt left office in November 2022, replaced by fellow Republican Missouri AG Andrew Bailey who previously served as an assistant AG under AG Chris Koster and counsel to Goveror Mike Parson. AG Bailey will now lead the office’s pursuit of the case, currently pending in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County.

Why This Matters

The case could offer some insight into the new AG’s priorities and is one that consumer-facing companies operating in the renewable energy space should closely monitor.