Brandon Payne decided last year to install solar panels on the roof of his Hillsboro home.
He was struggling to afford his electric bill and thought solar energy offered a chance to save on utility costs over time.
Excited to get started, he found a company he thought had good reviews called Prolectric LLC and used all of his cash savings to pay a roughly $12,000 deposit for the job, he said in interviews with The Oregonian/OregonLive and a complaint he filed with the state.
But Payne and other Prolectric customers say their solar dreams turned into a nightmare last year when the company abruptly closed and took their money without finishing work on their homes.
“I had a complete mental breakdown,” Payne told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “I had trusted them based on word of mouth and online reviews. And I just feel I can’t trust any business, or anyone, anymore.”
Six customers complained to the Oregon Department of Justice that Prolectric entered into contracts with them, then closed the Beaverton-based company months later without doing the promised work or returning their payments. Combined, the customers lost roughly $115,000, the complaints say.
Zachary Freerks, one of the company’s owners, gave The Oregonian/OregonLive various explanations for the sudden closure and incomplete work, including issues with a subcontractor and a falling out with a former business partner who Freerks said misled him about how much money Prolectric had to cover project costs.
But Freerks said the company had no money left to pay back customers. Prolectric, he said, spent it all paying subcontractors, employees, overhead and interest on cash advance loans.
“If I knew I would have gone out of business, I never would have taken contracts,” Freerks said. “I did everything that I possibly could.”
Andrew Doyle, an owner of the contracting company Unity Solar, said that Prolectric never finished paying for several projects and still owes Unity money.
The former business partner, Raymond McCue, who business registration documents show was involved in the company until April 2025, denied misleading Freerks about funds. McCue alleged instead that Freerks cut him out of the business, which Freerks denied.
The Oregonian/OregonLive has not been able to reach Prolectric co-owner Robert Joshua Terry for comment. Freerks said the pair owned the business in a 50-50 split.
A spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice declined to say how the agency would respond to the complaints about Prolectric.
Prolectric was established in Washington by different owners in 2020, but was first registered in Oregon in 2022, records show. Business records show that Freerks and Terry were then listed as owners of Prolectric in the spring of 2025.
Prolectric didn’t last long under new ownership. The business did not pay its annual renewal fee to the Oregon Secretary of State, records show, and Freerks told customers in December the business was closing, according to emails reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
In the months before it closed, customers say Prolectric kept taking down payments for contracts it didn’t finish.
Mohiedean Ghofrani, a Portland homeowner, signed a contract with Prolectric for roofing work and solar panels on Oct. 20, then paid more than $35,000 financed with a credit union loan and a credit card, Ghofrani wrote in a complaint to the Department of Justice. The company never performed work at the house, delivered no materials and then abruptly announced it was dissolving, the complaint said.
In the weeks before it closed, “the company affirmatively represented to us that it was actively working to complete our project,” Ghofrani wrote. Prolectric told the homeowners they could get a refund, Ghofrani said, but by mid-February that hadn’t happened.
Ghofrani told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he was able to reverse his $10,000 credit card payment to Prolectric but is still on the hook to pay back the loan that covered the remaining $25,000.
Freerks told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he tried to find money to refund customers but wasn’t able to do so.
“I was a little preemptive when it came to letting customers know that a refund would be possible because that was my intention,” Freerks said. “To this day, I wish I could get the money and do it right.”
Michelle Greissinger and her husband also signed a contract with Prolectric in October, they told the Department of Justice, and authorized payment of half the nearly $26,000 contract amount to the solar company. By mid-December, the couple learned permits for their project had never been filed and the company was going out of business, their complaint says. They told the state they’d lost more than $13,000 in funds. Greissinger told The Oregonian/OregonLive the couple owes that money on a loan it took out for the solar project.
“I’ve lost hours and hours and hours of income,” Greissinger said. “It’s been very, very stressful.”
Peter Shchepin signed a $35,000 contract for Prolectric to install solar panels on his Vancouver home last winter, he told The Oregonian/OregonLive, before Freerks and Terry took over the business.
Unlike other customers, Shchepin did get solar panels installed on his roof and eventually connected last summer, though he contends he had to plead with Freerks and Terry to complete the project once they took over the company.
Shchepin received a pre-lien notice from Howard Supply Co. which provided the solar panels, in June, while Prolectric was still working on the system, he said. The document said Prolectric’s payment to Howard Supply was still pending, according to a copy reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
“I’m like, OK. I mean, that’s typical. I looked it up, that’s fine,” he said, believing the payment from Prolectric to Howard Supply would go through. The system was up and running by July.
Months later, Shchepin learned that Prolectric hadn’t paid Howard Supply and the second company had placed a $48,555 lien on his home.
Shchepin said Freerks promised to make it right by paying the suppliers, but the lien was never lifted and Freerks eventually stopped responding.
Freerks told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Prolectric intended to pay off the Howard Supply bill, but that Prolectric was ultimately “unable to pay off that balance.” Freerks also said that he’d given Shchepin some money back, but Shchepin said that payment never came through.
Shchepin says the lien is still in place and that he’s trying to work with Howard Supply on a way to get it resolved.
“It’s just so frustrating,” Shchepin said. “It’s a nightmare. But life is life, and you have to find ways to keep going.”
Tatum Todd is a breaking news and public safety reporter who also covers the Fire Bureau. In addition to covering daily news stories, they also write longer-form stories about the human and social impact of… more
Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2026).
© 2026 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us).
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.
YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here.
Ad Choices

source