After years of complaints about rooftop solar industry, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton files first lawsuit as his term winds down

Jesus Romo's family was tired of their high electric bills for their home near Laredo, so six years ago, they decided to invest in rooftop solar panels.

The family signed a contract with San Antonio-based CAM Solar to install the panels, which Romo said saved them some money. At least at first.

"Little did we know, they were poorly installed," he said. "Nothing was screwed to the roof." 

Within a year, a storm blew the panels right off the roof.

CAM Solar paid for damage the panels caused when they landed on his neighbors' property, Romo said, but refused to repair or replace the panels themselves, even while demanding the Romos continue to make payments on them.

So in 2022, Romo filed a complaint with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office, reporting that CAM Solar had stopped answering emails and calls, but kept charging for panels he no longer had. 

Last month, the AG's office sued CAM Solar as the first step of what it dubbed "a major initiative to combat widespread fraud by companies selling solar panel systems." The lawsuit seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation found of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.  It also asks that the company be required to identify all its Texas customers and compensate any who were harmed.

Romo's complaint is one of eight CBS News Texas found the AG's office received about CAM Solar over the past five years. That's significantly fewer than other solar companies the I-Team has investigated.

Sunrun, for example, which we reported on this past April, had 123 complaints filed with the AG's office during that same period. Before going out of business, the Houston based Sunnova, which we found locking elderly customers into long-term loans, had at least 81 complaints. 

The I-Team reviewed the lawsuit and found its claims come directly, sometimes word for word, from the AG's consumer complaints, which came as a surprise to the CAM Solar customers who wrote those complaints.

Four people who responded to the I-Team said they were unaware of a lawsuit, and that they had never received any response from Paxton's office at all. "This is the first time I'm hearing from someone about the solar panels," Romo said.

Now the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Paxton has just seven months left in his term as attorney general. But even as his tenure winds down, but his office has only ramped up its legal actions.

In the first five months of the year, Paxton announced four times as many new lawsuits as he did during the same period last year. E-mails to the Attorney General's office asking why it chose to sue CAM Solar, why now, and what will happen to the case after Paxton leaves office went unanswered.

After years of battling their solar company, the customers who spoke with the I-Team said they are not sure what to expect, but still long for some relief. "At this point, we just want them to leave us alone," Romo said.

Earlier this year, he says his family was notified that CAM Solar is suing them for non-payment. CAM Solar did not respond to messages from the I-Team seeking comment.