Robocalls Offering Free Energy Audits and Rebate Checks

If your phone rings with an offer of a free energy audit, a utility rebate check, or a “solar program” your home qualifies for, it’s almost certainly a sales call, and it may be a scam. These calls usually collect your address, electric bill details and contact information, then sell them as leads to installers. Some pretend to be from your utility. Real utility programs exist, but you’ll find them by contacting your utility directly, not by answering a robocall.

Why these calls happen

Solar companies pay for leads: homeowners who seem interested and qualified. Telemarketing operations generate those leads cheaply with automated dialing and scripts about rebates and free programs. A single set of your details can be sold to several installers, which is why one call can turn into a week of follow-ups.

Prerecorded marketing calls to your cell phone without your prior consent are generally illegal under federal law, and calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry are restricted. Solar companies have faced consequences for this. Sunrun, for example, agreed to a $5.5 million class action settlement over prerecorded robocalls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, while denying wrongdoing. The FTC has also brought past cases against solar telemarketers, such as Solar Xchange.

Why your account number matters

Your utility account number plus your address can be enough for some companies to request your usage data or start an interconnection or program application in your name. A photo of your bill gives them both. That’s why “just read me the number at the top of your bill” is a red flag. See show me your bill.

A worked example

You get a call: “You’ve been approved for a $2,000 energy rebate under the state solar program. We just need to verify your account.” You give your address and account number. Over the next week:

• Three installers call, each claiming they were “assigned” to you.
• One schedules a home visit and pitches a $0-down lease as the “program.”
• No $2,000 rebate ever appears, because none existed.

At no point did your utility or state contact you. The “rebate” was the hook; the product was a 20- to 25-year lease, PPA or loan. See “free solar” government programs.

How it shows up

• On the call: a prerecorded message, a caller who won’t give a company name, or a name that sounds official (“Energy Rebate Department,” “Solar Program Center”).
• Afterward: multiple installers contacting you, or a utility notice about an application you didn’t start.
• In a contract: a proposal labeled as a “program” or “rebate” when it’s really a lease or loan. See lease called a purchase.

Questions to ask a caller

• “What is your company’s legal name and your callback number?”
• “Are you employed by my utility? What’s your employee ID?” (Then hang up and verify with the utility.)
• “How did you get my number?”
• “Will you put this offer in writing and mail it to me?”

A legitimate business will answer. Most robocall operations will hang up.

What to do and where to report

• Hang up. Call your utility at the number printed on your bill to ask about real rebates, and check our incentives page and state pages for programs that actually exist.
• Register at donotcall.gov and report unwanted or illegal calls there.
• Report scams to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general.
• If someone used your account to start an application, tell your utility right away.

Read our guides on solar scams and the “free solar” government program myth. When you’re ready to explore solar, start with our calculator, which never asks for your contact details, and consider cheaper first steps on our recommended page.