7 On Your Side: Alamo man seeks help after solar energy system fails

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The sun stopped shining for an Alamo man after the solar energy system at his home stopped working. When his efforts to get it fixed failed, he turned to 7 On Your Side.

A month had gone by before a Contra Costa County man even realized his system had gone down. Getting it back up proved to be a big challenge.

A screen shows how much power is being generated at any given time by the solar panels, but it was a different story eight months ago when Ray Cocchi of Alamo found out the power being generated was zero.

"I discovered that we had stopped generating power in July," Cocchi said.

Cocchi estimates he saved an average of $250 a month on his PG&E bill converting to solar. Not having his solar power was costing money.

A1 solar came out to look at the problem. But Cocchi says they didn't get back to him with a solution. The company kept asking for more time. He says nearly five months went by before he contacted 7 On Your Side.

"It was terrible. There was nothing I could do. I had called them, left messages on their phone, wrote letters," Cocchi said.

7 On Your Side contacted A1 Solar and they said "We at A1 Solar Power Inc. have been trying to resolve Mr. Cocchi's issue all along. Once we found out what the problem was we corrected it."

The company not only fixed Cocchi's solar system, it reimbursed him more than $1,100 for his added energy costs while the system was down.

"I just think 7 On Your Side was able to influence them enough to really start moving on it," he said.

A1 Solar says its glad it was able to make Cocchi happy.