Is ‘Big Sun’ losing its shine?

The sun-kissed state of Arizona seems an obvious place for the solar energy craze to really catch fire. But Arizona's also a good place to see the potential shadier side of the solar industry in action, as companies jockey to cash in and carve out a slice of the pie with the help of generous taxpayer subsidies and government-mandated markets.

Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that Arizona's also where some of the shine may be coming off solar, as watchdogs begin asking questions about how the industry is operating.

Two recent developments signal a welcome new skepticism regarding what some call 'Big Sun.”

The first is a Dec. 12 letter from a dozen members of Congress to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking Chairwoman Edith Ramirez to investigate 'potentially deceptive sales tactics” that rooftop solar companies may be using to lure people into long-term leases.

Then came news that the Arizona Corporation Commission would be investigating allegedly questionable business practices and leasing 'deals” by companies jumping aboard the rooftop solar bandwagon. Several Democratic and Republican members of Congress have recently sent letters to the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, requesting the matter be looked into.

Also stepping in to help fill the industry oversight vacuum is Washington D.C.'s Taxpayers Protection Alliance, where I'm a senior fellow, which recently created SolarSecrets.org to expose and examine the 'darker side” of solar, where it's warranted. The site and its contributors aren't reflexively anti-solar energy - just anti-solar sponging and freeloading.

It's premature to speculate about how deep these probes will dig or what they'll find. Whether any meaningful federal oversight can be expected from the Obama Administration is also a question, given its stalwart support for this industry. But it's nice to see that someone's taking an interest in monitoring industry developments and looking out for taxpayers and ratepayers.

Nailing some slippery solar lease salesman for fast-talking customers may help keep some industry players honest. But it's really only brushing across the surface of a potential swamp, given the intricacies of how this business funds itself and the public dollars it potentially puts at risk.

There are a lot of short- and long-term questions - potential problems that may not emerge for years. The primary responsibility for detecting and avoiding solar scams rests with alert consumers, of course. But much more public, private and media watch-dogging will be necessary to keep Big Sun from misusing public funds and straying into the dark.

' Sean Paige is a senior fellow with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. This piece first appeared on InsideSources.com. Comments: seanpaige@msn.com