DACO has reduced number of complaints associated with solar energy systems

By The Star Staff

Since December 2022, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO) has reduced to 94 from 416 the number of complaints pending for adjudication associated with the sale, installation and maintenance of solar energy systems, DACO Secretary Hiram Torres Montalvo said Sunday.

Of the 94 pending complaints, 35 are already in mediation between the parties. While 31 are in the award hearing process, another 17 are in the inspection stage, and 11 are in the evaluation phase.

“The prompt resolution of consumer complaints filed with DACO is important. For example, in the photovoltaic energy systems, the famous ‘solar panels’, the process has been streamlined to the point that there are currently 94 unadjudicated complaints out of a total of 416 filed up to February 2023. Of those 94, the majority, or 66, are already being resolved in the coming weeks,” Torres Montalvo said.

The DACO Secretary praised the work of the Renewable Energy Affairs Office, attached to the DACO Secretary’s Office, which was created on December 12, 2022, to address concerns associated with photovoltaic energy systems.

“Since its inception, the Office of Renewable Energy Affairs staff has worked to reduce the time it takes to resolve conflicts, and that work is what we see today with the low number of pending complaints. Of the 71 cases the Office has received since its creation, 14 have been resolved, while 40 are in the final phase of the mediation process, six are under final processing, and two do not fall under DACO’s jurisdiction,” he added.

Torres Montalvo said that in addition to the centralization of complaints, the functions of the new Office are developing a short and long-term tactical and strategic plan to deal with complaints quickly, reviewing DACO regulations and administrative orders, creating a pre-intervention system model to facilitate conflict resolutions and the presentation of recommendations regularly.