WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — About five years ago, Chris Ehrlich was looking for a fresh start and a new home. Ehrlich found the perfect home in a rural part of Winston-Salem.
“I got it right before COVID, it’s (been) a nice little retreat for me,” Ehrlich said. “
Early last year Ehrlich was relaxing at the house when a representative from a solar company came to the home. He agreed to meet with a sales representative a couple of days later and ended up buying a solar panel system for the home.
“I thought about getting solar panels in the past, but you know, it’s just something you think about,” Ehrlich said.
This time Ehrlich decided to go solar and had more than a dozen panels installed on his roof. The system was installed early last year but didn’t start working right away.
“Inspectors kept failing it. I think it failed four times,” Ehrlich said.
A few weeks became a few months, and the system was still not turned on. Ehrlich said he called the solar company almost weekly to get updates on fixes and inspections. The delays were not only costing him money with his electric bill but the lease for the equipment was more than $100 a month.
“I felt like the biggest fool in the world,” Ehrlich said.
After about five months of back and forth with the company but no clear-cut answers or fixes, Ehrlich called WFMY News 2 for help.
“What I was doing wasn’t working,” Ehrlich said.
After speaking with Ehrlich, we contacted the solar company looking for answers. It wasn’t easy to get someone on the phone, but we were eventually able to talk with someone and start communicating through text.
The process wasn’t fast, but we were able to help. Within a month all the issues had been repaired and the system passed inspection. Ehrlich finally had a working solar system and started to see his electric bill go way down.
The solar company also agreed to credit Ehrlich for the lease payments he made while the system was down.
“Until (WFMY News 2) got involved I wasn’t getting anywhere,” Ehrlich said. “You did get the ball rolling, thank you.”
In a strange twist, Ehrlich is looking to sell the home. The good news for a prospective buyer, the panels are working well and according to Ehrlich have reduced his energy bill by about $200 a month.