A man in Hawaii must have thought when he bought Elon Musk’s solar promises he could cut his electric bills while protecting the environment, but what he got was a Tesla nightmare. Ben Coolia’s Tesla solar panels were installed in 2018, but have not produced a single watt of electricity in four years since. Describing Elon Musk’s relationship with his company, Culia said, “I feel a real heartache every time I go home.”
Hawaii News Now reported in June 2018 that Tesla SolarCity installed rooftop solar panels and wall chargers on a Manoa home. Since then, Ben Kulia has been waiting to actually use the solar system he paid for. “Without proper permission, I cannot open it,” he said. “And so the system just sits on my roof. And every time I come home I really feel heartache.
Elon Musk celebrates (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP/Getty)
The city’s Department of Planning and Permits said it has been waiting since October 2019 to receive documents from Tesla that would allow the department to approve the permit. Tesla assured Culia that they were still working on it for about four years.
But in March, all messages from Tesla were stopped and all customer service inquiries were sent to the call centre. Culia said she felt abandoned after spending more than $50,000 on roof repairs, installation costs and legal fees. He even tweeted Tesla CEO Elon Musk, asking him to fix the problem.
“You know, the system just sits there and wears out as the solar cell degrades over time,” Culia said. “I don’t have the resources to sue Tesla.” Culia said he estimates electricity costs have increased 60 percent since the system was installed, losing more than $30,000 in potential energy savings.
Rocky Mold, CEO of Hawaii Solar Energy Association, of which Tesla is a member, said, “We support our member companies. They follow a code of ethics. We enforce this code of ethics for our members, and part of that is to be forthright, honest and transparent in all our dealings with customers. ”
Read more about Hawaii News Now here.
Source: Breitbart
