(WFSB) – What happens if you have solar panels on your home, and the solar company goes bankrupt? It’s a question the I-Team first started looking into in 2024.
Now those solar bankruptcies are having big impacts on Connecticut families, including Jason Pelchat in Montville and Michael Lyons in Harwinton.
When Pelchat looks up at his home, it’s a constant reminder of a contract he wishes he never signed.
“I’m disgusted I want to get on my roof and take them off,” said Pelchat.
Michael Lyons has those same thoughts looking at his Harwinton home. The two men don’t know each other but reached out to the I-Team with very similar stories. Both signed a contract to go solar in 2023. Lyons signed with the company SunPower. Pelchat signed with Sunnova. Both signed a 25-year contract for a system worth more than $100,000 to be paid off in monthly lease payments, and both say there were issues almost immediately.
“Within 20 hours of the system being turned on, we had errors showing up in our applications. You know, system error, system error, system error,” said Lyons.
The I-Team asked Pelchat, “What’s the most you’ve saved on your energy bills?”
“Zero,” said Pelchat. “Our energy bills have more than doubled since solar panels have been put on our house.”
Both men say they were trying to get the panels fixed by calling and asking for a technician to visit their home.
“We had four visits from techs over the next four weeks. After the fourth visit, we were told verbally that there were still bad inverters up top and that they would be back, and the next week, everything shut down. Customer service shut down. Texts shut down. The application shut down. This is when the bankruptcy took its full effect,” said Lyons.
SunPower filed for bankruptcy in August 2024. Sunnova filed for bankruptcy in June 2025. Both men say they weren’t paying their monthly solar bill because a company no longer existed to uphold its end of the contract.
“Who in their right mind would pay for something that is absolutely not working?” said Pelchat.
Lyons turned his system off entirely. He was afraid it would catch his home on fire.
“I got a safety issue here. Somebody needs to make me feel good about that,” said Lyons.
They say they then didn’t hear anything about their solar panels for months until they started getting calls from a new company, this one called SunStrong.
Attorney General William Tong says his office has received more than 60 complaints about SunStrong, including from both Lyons and Pelchat.
“It’s like an alphabet soup of companies, right? Companies like Sunnova or SunPower go out of business. They go into bankruptcy, and then SunStrong comes in and takes over and runs the legacy business,” said Tong.
Both Lyons and Pelchat say SunStrong hasn’t fixed the issues with their panels despite asking them to repeatedly, and they say SunStrong is aggressively trying to get them to pay.
“They keep sending me emails every week, every week, every week, multiple emails, SunStrong management. This amount is due. This amount is due,” said Pelchat.
It’s starting to impact their credit.
“20 years, I’ve had perfect credit, worked at electric boat for almost 25 years. It’s now showing on TransUnion on some credit reports,” said Pelchat.
“I’ve got 20 years of never-missed payments. They’ve ruined me and my wife’s credit,” said Lyons.
Because of all the complaints, the Attorney General’s office has launched an investigation.
“What we’re hearing and seeing is that SunStrong is not stepping up and taking care of these customers, and that’s why we have to commence an investigation, hold them accountable,” said Lyons.
Tong sent SunStrong notice of the investigation in February asking for comprehensive records of their takeover of both SunPower and Sunnova.
The I-Team reached out to SunStrong for their response to this and to ask about both homeowners.
SunStrong provided the below comment:
“SunStrong Management is committed to helping provide clean and affordable solar energy to Connecticut homeowners. We take customer feedback and concerns seriously. While we are unable to share individual customer account details publicly, we have been and will continue to communicate directly with those customers to address and resolve their concerns. We can share that in the event a customer’s system needs attention or repair, we handle it first with remote diagnostics and, if needed, by sending a technician on-site. It is also normal for a system to experience temporary connectivity loss or lower production,
which can result from a number of common causes, including power outages, wifi disruptions, or a faulty device — all of which are addressed through our standard resolution process.
Regarding the Attorney General’s comment, we are committed to cooperating with the Attorney General’s office to clarify our role in this process and to demonstrate our continued commitment to Connecticut homeowners, including by working with them to resolve consumer complaints.”
The I-Team followed up to ask why SunStrong could not provide more details about individual accounts as there is no law that would prevent them from doing so. SunStrong has not responded.
Both Pelchat and Lyons say next time they’ll think twice before signing any contract that could last longer than the company itself.
“Me and my mother thought it would be a great investment, and it wasn’t. It was a nightmare, and it’s still a nightmare,” said Pelchat.
“The insanity this has caused. This is the worst fight I’ve ever fought, and I have exes,” said Lyons.
As the attorney general continues to investigate, they are continuing to accept complaints from SunStrong customers. If you would like to file a complaint, CLICK HERE.
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