Door-to-door solar salespeople forge signatures, target elderly homeowners, and lock people into contracts they don't understand

The U.S. Treasury Department, CFPB, FTC, and state attorneys general have all flagged a surge in predatory solar sales practices. Door-to-door salespeople carry iPads with electronic contracts and have been documented copying and pasting electronic signatures from one document to forge additional contracts. Elderly homeowners are specifically targeted because they're home during the day, more trusting of in-person salespeople, and less likely to scrutinize complex financing terms. Sales reps promise that solar will 'eliminate your electric bill' and that financing payments will be lower than current utility costs -- claims that are frequently false, especially after net metering cuts and time-of-use rate changes. This matters because these aren't minor misunderstandings -- they're financial traps. Homeowners sign 25-year loan or lease agreements based on fabricated savings projections, then discover their actual utility bills barely changed or even increased. A homeowner locked into a $200/month solar loan who still pays $150/month to the utility is paying $350/month total for electricity that used to cost $250. They can't cancel the contract without paying massive early termination fees. They can't refinance because the loan balance exceeds the system's value (due to dealer fee markups). One-star reviews on Solar Reviews have increased over 1,000% since 2018, reflecting a scale of consumer harm that individual complaints don't capture. This problem persists because the solar industry lacks a unified consumer protection framework. Solar sales are regulated differently than other home improvement sales in most states. The three-day right-of-rescission period under the FTC Cooling-Off Rule is too short for homeowners to understand what they signed, and many salespeople pressure customers to waive even that window. There is no licensing requirement specific to solar sales in most states -- anyone can knock on doors and sell solar systems worth $30,000-$50,000 with no training, no background check, and no accountability. The companies that employ these salespeople are often fly-by-night subcontractors for larger solar firms, creating a liability shield where the parent company disclaims responsibility for the subcontractor's sales practices. The FTC and state AGs can pursue enforcement actions, but they're always playing catch-up against an industry where bad actors close shop and reopen under new names.