Solar company cons elderly man with dementia in billon-dollar scheme, victims' daughter claims

The daughter of an elderly Texas couple sounded off Monday evening on solar energy company Sunnova, after they allegedly pressured her 86-year-old father with dementia to sign a decades-long $34,000 lease.

"It's sickening. I'm heartbroken that they would do this," Terry Blythe said on "Jesse Watters Primetime." "It's like somebody went to their house, they robbed my parents, and now they're getting billions of dollars for being criminals."

Blythe explained that her parents’ home in a small neighborhood in Mesquite, Texas, was in "pretty bad shape" three years ago, when a Sunnova salesperson knocked on their door.

"I guess he told them that they wouldn't [have] any out-of-pocket [costs] upfront and that they would come out a lot better. Well, it turned out to be a 25-year lease, which is, by the way, a lot worse than a sale. You don't even get the tax credits, Sunnova does," the victim’s daughter said.

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"They were paying monthly bills to Sunnova of about $176. And they still had electric bills of about $40 or $50. So I did the math," Blythe continued, "and actually, they would have been better off, looking at it, to have just paid their regular electric bill."

U.S. Congress is reportedly planning to investigate Sunnova, after the Better Business Bureau recently gave Sunnova an F rating, Watters mentioned Monday, after additional cases of Sunnova salespeople targeting elderly or sick buyers have been brought to light.

Sunnova has been repeatedly accused of predatory lending: one woman told the media a solicitor sold her dying father a $60,000 solar system for his mobile home; another person has claimed their deaf and bedridden grandmother signed a 25-year, $86,000 lease just three months before she died.

FOX Business filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in Texas to retrieve formal complaints against Sunnova and confirmed the state has received 80 complaints from customers, ranging from faulty equipment to "outright lies" from salespeople.

Additionally, this past spring, the Biden administration granted a $3 billion contract to Sunnova to help with their renewable energy goals.

Blythe noted that her parents were forced to sell their home and move into a senior living facility after falling more ill, but are still "hurting" financially from the Sunnova lease.

"We can't get an attorney either because of how much it would cost, and Sunnova basically took their money," the daughter said.

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"I was sick. I want to help anybody, whether it's a congressional investigation or whatever," Blythe added. "I will tell my story."

Sunnova directed Fox News Digital to their corporate statement released Monday night, which states that the company "stands firmly behind" its project funded by the Department of Energy. 

Sunnova founder and CEO William J. Berger said: "Project Hestia stands as a testament to Sunnova and the DOE’s unwavering commitment to empowering disadvantaged communities and enhancing the overall energy landscape in the United States. Unfortunately, we have become a political football in an environment where the renewable energy industry is increasingly caught in the crosshairs. Despite this, Sunnova remains dedicated to delivering on our goal of providing clean, affordable, and reliable energy services."

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