A Kansas Solar Crew Promised You'd 'Never Pay a Power Bill.' Evergy Charges $15.25 a Month Before You Use a Watt.

If a solar crew knocked on your Kansas door with a pitch that you’d “never pay a power bill,” Evergy’s rates say otherwise. On Evergy Kansas Central’s standard residential rate, the customer charge is $15.25 a month. You owe it before you use a single kilowatt-hour, and no panel touches it.

That’s $183 a year. Over a 30-year solar loan, it’s $5,490 at today’s charge. And that charge went up a dollar this year.

What Kansas says G3 Solar did

Attorney General Kris Kobach sued G3 Solar LLC, its three owner-managers and a former sales executive in Shawnee County on September 28. According to the state’s petition, as reported by WIBW, the sales script promised to wipe out power bills, cover 100% of a home’s electricity and deliver “free electricity for the rest of your life.”

Reps were allegedly trained to say they weren’t selling anything and to call the visit an “eligibility check.” They were also trained to “drop Evergy’s name,” and the company’s social media ads used the utility’s name and imagery. Evergy said back in 2022 that it doesn’t partner with any door-to-door rooftop solar seller.

Then there’s the money. The petition says some Kansans ended up with third-party loans of up to 30 years carrying hidden finance charges of up to 35% of the amount financed. On a $30,000 loan, 35% is $10,500. Some customers who don’t speak English allegedly got the pitch and the loan papers only in English. The AG’s office cites 304 documented transactions.

G3 has stopped operating and filed for bankruptcy. The loans didn’t go anywhere. Kobach’s line: the lawsuit “ensures Kansans aren’t left holding the bag.” Whether it does depends on what the court orders.

If you signed with G3

File a complaint with the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Section at ag.ks.gov/file-a-complaint/consumer-protection, or call (785) 296-3751. The state is asking the court to cancel or rewrite affected contracts and to pay restitution. It can’t push for a deal it doesn’t know exists.

Bring your contract, the loan papers and any texts or flyers that used Evergy’s name. Keep paying the loan while this plays out. A missed payment is your problem, not G3’s.

If the salesman handed you the lender’s paperwork, read our piece on when the lender answers for the seller. And with G3 gone, check what’s left of your warranty: the installer’s half dies with the installer.

If a crew knocks on your door next

Kansas gives you until midnight of the third business day after you sign a door-to-door contract to cancel it. The seller has to hand you a written cancellation notice. And the contract has to be in the same language the salesperson used. A pitch in Spanish with a contract only in English breaks the state’s door-to-door law.

Before you sign anything, ask the crew to name the utility program they claim to be with, then call Evergy and ask. Get the cash price and the loan’s total finance charge in writing. And run your own numbers in our solar calculator with the $15.25 charge left in, because it’s not going anywhere. Our Kansas solar page has the state-level picture.

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