A man in Hawaii likely thought he would free himself from electric bills while saving the environment when he bought into Elon Musk’s promises about solar power — but all he has gotten is a Tesla nightmare. Ben Kulia’s Tesla solar panels were installed in 2018, but haven’t generated a single watt of power in the four years since. “I feel really mental anguish every time I come home,” Kulia said in describing his relationship with Elon Musk’s company.
Hawaii News Now reports that in June 2018, Tesla’s SolarCity installed solar roof panels and wall chargers on one man’s home in Manoa. Ben Kulia has been left waiting since then to actually use the solar power system that he paid for. “There’s no proper permit, I cannot turn it on,” he said. “And therefore the system just sits on my roof. And I feel really mental anguish every time I come home.”
Elon Musk celebrates (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP/Getty)
The city’s Department of Planning and Permitting says that it’s been waiting since October 2019 to receive paperwork from Tesla that will allow the department to approve the permit. Tesla has assured Kulia they’re still working on it — for around four years.
However, in March, all communications from Tesla stopped and all customer service inquiries were sent to a call center. After spending more than $50,000 in roof repairs, installation costs, and legal fees, Kulia says that he feels abandoned. He has even tweeted to Tesla CEO Elon Musk asking him to rectify the issue.
“The system is just sitting there waste away, you know, because the solar cell gets degraded over time,” said Kulia. “I don’t have that much resources to take Tesla to court.” Kulia says since the installation of the system, his electricity costs are 60 percent higher and he estimates that he has lost more than $30,000 in potential energy savings.
Rocky Mould, the executive director of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association which Tesla is a member of, commented: “We stand by our member companies. They adhere to a code of ethics, We enforce that code of ethics for our members and part of that is being forthright and honest and transparent in all dealings with customers.”
Read more at Hawaii News Now here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
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