Giving Electric Bills to Solar Company....

[l008com]

If it were me, I'd make a photocopy of the bill(s) - then use whiteout to remove the parts I don't want to share (ex. including account #, meter #), then photocopy/scan that.
I'd use the whiteout correction tape (not the liquid) - it works well for covering such things. I think it's better than a magic marker since the text can often still be read after a swipe with a magic marker. And it doesn't draw attention to itself as much as a big black mark does.

I have the bills as PDF's. I can edit them digitally much easier than anything physical, and they will look perfect.

And to the OP - yes - I think it could be fraud if you provide them with false numbers. Redacting information is not the same thing though.

What I'm doing is kind of in-between those two. I am doing more than redacting, but I'm not changing any of the important numbers... the amount of electricity I'm actually using and the cost I'm paying to eversource for that power. The only other info on there is the amount of my credit and the fact that no payment was due because the bill came out of that credit. That's all I want to hide.

Frankly, I don't know if I'd give them even a redacted bill.
I would make sure I completely understood what my production was, and how it was affecting my billing from the POCO.
And make sure I understood the contract I have with dingbat-solar (if I have one).

The issue is that after filling a complaint with my attorney general, I have a "special" rep get in contact with me. This lady is going to lobby on my behalf to help get me a solution to my problem. Given that the whole system makes 3x more power than I use, and since the system has been doing major damage to my house every blizzard, and given that it's been 4 years and I've never paid them a dime, I'm hoping they'll decide to remove the system entirely. This special rep needs a years worth of electric bills to see how much power I'm actually using. She's going to give it to some executive to review.

I'm curious why you wouldn't give them the electric bills. What risk is there in doing that? Is there info on the electric bills that the solar company doesn't already have?

[vdirico]

the system has been doing major damage to my house every blizzard

Please tell me more about that. thanks Vinny

[l008com]

Please tell me more about that. thanks Vinny

Snow avalanches off the roof, pulverizing another lower metal roof and handicap ramp/deck on the back of the house. Seems like nothing was thought out when the previous owners had this system installed.

[vdirico]

Snow avalanches off the roof, pulverizing another lower metal roof and handicap ramp/deck on the back of the house. Seems like nothing was thought out when the previous owners had this system installed.

Sorry to hear that. Would snow guards help? I have them to protect my front door.

Have you thought about using your extra capacity via electric heat (I wish I had the option)?

Vinny

[J.P.M.]

Snow avalanches off the roof, pulverizing another lower metal roof and handicap ramp/deck on the back of the house. Seems like nothing was thought out when the previous owners had this system installed.

Why would the prior lessors do or (not) think more soundly or differently than most everyone else ?

Besides, it was vivant, a solar bottom feeder. Not really intellectual brahmans to start with.

[foo1bar]

I have the bills as PDF's. I can edit them digitally much easier than anything physical, and they will look perfect.

What I'm doing is kind of in-between those two. I am doing more than redacting, but I'm not changing any of the important numbers...

Changing numbers would IMO be considered fraud.
Print it, white out the sections you don't want them to see, scan it and send it.
(Editing the PDF and then sending the edited PDF is probably a bad idea - putting a white box over a section with a PDF editor is something that often can be undone by someone who knows the PDF language.)

The issue is that after filling a complaint with my attorney general, I have a "special" rep get in contact with me. This lady is going to lobby on my behalf to help get me a solution to my problem.

Who is this person employed by?
If they're a Vivant employee, I would expect them to negotiate for something that works for Vivant - not to lobby on your behalf for a solution.
At best a Vivant employee is going to look at how to avoid scrutiny by the AG. Or try to show the AG that they were willing to do more than they contractually had to do.

I'm curious why you wouldn't give them the electric bills. What risk is there in doing that? Is there info on the electric bills that the solar company doesn't already have?

Obviously there is info on the bills that they don't have - otherwise why would they even ask for it?
I'd probably start with "Ms. Smith, I don't want to give out any payment information - is the meter reading information all you need? I have the meter reading information from the electric company that I can send you. And I can tell you I'm on rate E-5, which is $0.11/kwh during the winter and $0.15/kwh during the summer"

given that it's been 4 years and I've never paid them a dime, I'm hoping they'll decide to remove the system entirely.

You have a contract with them that you signed, right?
Have you taken that contract to your lawyer and gone over it with them?

If you have a signed contract with them (and I think from your other posts you do) - then you're not in a very good position to negotiate with them. I would ask your lawyer, but my guess is your only real leverage is public opinion. (or maybe that you'll file for bankruptcy, and they'll have to wait until the house is sold to get their money.)

[l008com]

Obviously there is info on the bills that they don't have - otherwise why would they even ask for it?

The only info on there that they don't have would be my eversource account number, and the amount of electricity i use each month. Is there a reason I wouldn't want scumbag-solar to have this info?

[J.P.M.]

The only info on there that they don't have would be my eversource account number, and the amount of electricity i use each month. Is there a reason I wouldn't want scumbag-solar to have this info?

Unless they could justify it with some pretty hard logic and not some simple B.S., I'd not supply it without or before consulting an attorney knowledgeable in such matters.

You need legal advice that you won't reliably get here. You're in over your head. Retain legal counsel.

[foo1bar]

The only info on there that they don't have would be my eversource account number, and the amount of electricity i use each month. Is there a reason I wouldn't want scumbag-solar to have this info?

Unless I saw a clear reason to, I wouldn't share my power company account #.
(I assume eversource is your POCO)

I might share with them my meter reading information - but I'd probably share the meter reading information, not the bill.

My conversation would probably go something like this:
"Ms. Smith, I understand you've asked for my bill from Eversource so that you can see my annual usage - the document I sent shows my meter readings each month. No, I don't want to share my bill, it has payment information on it, and I'm concerned you might use that information to place a lien against my bank account. My Aunt Sally's hairdresser had someone get her info from her gas bill and she had hundreds of dollars stolen. And with all the hackers and information being stolen and sold on the internet, I just don't put anything like that in email or on the internet."

[CodeeCB]

I am wondering what I am missing here - are you currently making payments on this system? If it came with the house, and it covers your electricity 100% and then some what is the issue with it? If the panels were on the house when you bought it, any potential issues certainly should have been looked at BEFORE you purchased the house. Perhaps I'm not understanding though. However - if you have to alter a document to make your case look better, than perhaps it isn't that good of a argument to begin with?

Also, this speak of getting bill credits sounds gross. I think most/all POCOs in MN give actual payment? I get a monthly check from my POCO - in the summer, its been almost $300 a month I get paid by them after my usage is factored in. I can't imagine what I would do with all of that if it was just a bill credit. That would be a waste.

[J.P.M.]

I am wondering what I am missing here - are you currently making payments on this system? If it came with the house, and it covers your electricity 100% and then some what is the issue with it? If the panels were on the house when you bought it, any potential issues certainly should have been looked at BEFORE you purchased the house. Perhaps I'm not understanding though. However - if you have to alter a document to make your case look better, than perhaps it isn't that good of a argument to begin with?

Also, this speak of getting bill credits sounds gross. I think most/all POCOs in MN give actual payment? I get a monthly check from my POCO - in the summer, its been almost $300 a month I get paid by them after my usage is factored in. I can't imagine what I would do with all of that if it was just a bill credit. That would be a waste.

Whether or not it's a justifiable situation aside for the purpose of enlightening your curiosity, what you may be missing is the OP bought a home with a lease attached and the OP is paying for a system grossly oversized for what he needs.

[CodeeCB]

Whether or not it's a justifiable situation aside for the purpose of enlightening your curiosity, what you may be missing is the OP bought a home with a lease attached and the OP is paying for a system grossly oversized for what he needs.

Ok, thank you for the clarification - that makes sense! Oddly enough, searching this thread for the term "lease" has only 1 instance of the word, and that is in your most recent post so please excuse my lack of understanding of the situation - I did in fact read each post in the thread

So basically, he bought something without thinking about the consequences or impact on the decision and now wants out of it, by altering documents. I think a lot of people would like to get out of contracts/agreements if it was that easy for a large number of things lol

[l008com]

Ok, thank you for the clarification - that makes sense! Oddly enough, searching this thread for the term "lease" has only 1 instance of the word, and that is in your most recent post so please excuse my lack of understanding of the situation - I did in fact read each post in the thread

So basically, he bought something without thinking about the consequences or impact on the decision and now wants out of it, by altering documents. I think a lot of people would like to get out of contracts/agreements if it was that easy for a large number of things lol

I have a whole thread about the situation, so I don't really want to turn this into another reiteration of that whole story. But in short, I've never paid them a dime. I didn't know I was supposed to pay them until about 2 years in, they started calling saying I owed them some large amount of money. That was 2 years ago. I still have not given them any money. And yeah with my electric company, I only get account credits not cash. If I got cash, I'd be able to make money off the system instead of it being a ridiculous way of prepaying for huge amounts of electricity for decades in the future.

[J.P.M.]

Ok, thank you for the clarification - that makes sense! Oddly enough, searching this thread for the term "lease" has only 1 instance of the word, and that is in your most recent post so please excuse my lack of understanding of the situation - I did in fact read each post in the thread

So basically, he bought something without thinking about the consequences or impact on the decision and now wants out of it, by altering documents. I think a lot of people would like to get out of contracts/agreements if it was that easy for a large number of things lol

Actually, my bad - it's probably a PPA and not a lease - Vivant pushes PPA's a lot and particularly several years ago. Either or any way, unless the prior owner bought out of the original arrangements, the array is in all likelihood the property of Vivant.