N.B. commission revokes solar panel company’s licence for undelivered installations

Workers install solar panels on the roof of a home in a file photo. (Michaela Vatcheva/Bloomberg)

A New Brunswick commission has revoked the direct seller’s licence of a solar panel company after multiple reports of undelivered installations.

Some consumers reported paying $10,637.86 to $15,967 in down payments to the company, with one paying $40,000 in cash.

The Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick says Sun Kissed Energy Inc. was found “unsuitable to be licenced” under the province’s Direct Sellers Act.

The Nova Scotia-based company was licensed under the act to supply and install solar photovoltaic systems in New Brunswick.

“Consumers should not be left paying for products or services they never received,” says Marissa Sollows, director of communications for the commission, in a news release.

Commission staff received a series of complaints beginning in February.

“Consumers also reported, in several cases, that the company stopped responding to calls and emails,” reads the news release.

Text messages were reportedly undeliverable, phone calls went to disconnected numbers, and emails received out of office responses. Even the company’s website went offline.

The commission also reports being unable to reach the company, which as a result waived its right to a hearing.

They reviewed the company’s conduct, and the final decision was issued by the director of consumer affairs.

In her written decision dated May 25, she found the company “not trustworthy and incompetent to hold a New Brunswick direct seller’s licence.”

The director noted “licensing is intended to provide New Brunswickers with assurance that a business is reputable and can be trusted. Continuing to license a company that does not meet those standards would reduce public confidence in the direct selling industry in New Brunswick.”

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