New platform vets residential solar salespeople

Leading residential solar industry financers and the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) are partnering with the newly launched Recheck, a platform designed to create a registry of residential solar salespeople and vet their conduct.

Residential solar has long struggled with aggressive sales tactics that has led to negative customer experiences. Many installers outsource their sales efforts to a third party, which can create a disconnect between sales promises and installation realities.

The platform was launched by a consortium of the main players in U.S. residential solar finance, including Dividend Finance, Freedom Forever, GoodLeap, Mosaic, Palmetto,  Sungage Financial, Sunlight Financial, and Sunrun.

“A healthy solar industry is vital to consumers and the U.S. energy transition. Recheck is proud of its founding partners and is committed to building the tools to ensure long-term trust with consumers,” said Tim Trefren, Recheck co-founder and CEO.

Recheck creates an online registry of approved solar salespeople, issuing a Recheck ID that allows contractors, financiers, and technology platforms to confirm that their sales partners meet certification, licensing, and training requirements.

The platform marks a first-of-its-kind opportunity for solar finance, contractor, and technology partners to track sales conduct across the industry.

Recheck will also facilitate industry-wide data exchange across the platform. The data will businesses vet sales partners, prevent poor practices by unregistered salespeople, and identify individuals with a history of consumer protection violations that move from company to company.

“Solar remains America’s most popular form of energy and will be installed on 10 million homes by 2030. It’s our job to make sure the solar and storage industry is accountable to the millions of families that are putting their trust in us to power their lives,” said SEIA president and chief executive officer Abigail Ross Hopper.

Recheck founding partners will be part of an ongoing advisory board and have committed to driving the adoption of Recheck IDs within their platforms in 2024 and beyond.

Along with supporting the launch of Recheck, SEIA is developing industry wide standards for residential solar, with accreditation from the American National Standards Institute. SEIA is proactively tackling issues that build confidence among customers, regulators, investors, rating agencies, and other stakeholders. These standards will contribute assurance that solar and storage systems have been ethically, sustainably, and responsibly sourced, manufactured, transported, installed, operated, and recycled.