Distraught homeowners have revealed they were hounded through the courts by Britain’s ‘largest’ solar panel installer after they complained about the company online.
A Shade Greener (ASG) promises free energy by installing solar panels that provide for a home’s needs, while receiving payments from the government-backed Feed-In Tariff scheme for any extra energy that’s generated.
The company says it has installed panels on more than 70,000 homes, which the firm claims make it Britain’s most prolific installer.
Yet ASG has attracted fierce criticism for threatening customers who complain, persuading them to sign up for 25-year leases they fear they can’t get out of and being opaque about what people need to pay for.
The firm is run by former Darlington Football Club chairman Stewart Davies, who strenuously denies the allegations that have been made, and like his firm, denies he has any customers, instead calling them ‘landlords’.
One of these so-called ‘landlords’ is Stuart Potter, 71, a disabled grandfather who lives in a former council house in Oldham, Greater Manchester, with his wife Karen, 65, who is also disabled.
Stuart sobbed as he described how desperate he and his wife had become. ‘I don’t want to give those b******s my house,’ he said. ‘I have to protect Karen.’
In tears, he added: ‘One night she sat down and said she would divorce me. She said it would stop the trouble. And she was crying her eyes out, saying, ”Because then they can’t take the house off us because we are separate people.”’
Disabled grandfather Stuart Potter, 71, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was sued for more than £320,000 by A Shade Greener (ASG), the company that installed solar panels on his roof
The company started a lawsuit against Stuart after he complained about them in a private Facebook group
He told MailOnline how he was dragged through the courts, despite only making £76 a week from pension credit
ASG also sued mother-of-three Maxine Murray, 59, from Hedon, near Hull, for £100,000 after she also complained about the company online
Her solar panels have been covered in pigeon poo but despite her understanding that she wouldn’t have to pay a penny, ASG said Maxine would have to front up the money herself to pay for bird guards
A Shade Greener is run by ex-Darlington FC chairman Stewart Davies, 73 (pictured)
Stuart and Karen have been married for 45 years and have two daughters and four grandchildren – two boys and two girls.
Stuart receives just £76 a week in pension credit. Even so, ASG sued him for more than £320,000. Stuart simply doesn’t have that kind of money.
Last week, ASG dropped the legal claims made against him last week in the face of threats to have a judge strike them out.
Even so, the disabled pensioner fears the company may take him to court again.
MailOnline can also reveal that government watchdog Ofgem is investigating the complaints made about A Shade Greener.
Some of the people who’ve complained on private Facebook groups have been sued by ASG for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
These disgruntled so-called ‘landlords’ say they don’t have the resources to defend the legal action and fear losing their homes, which legal experts told MailOnline could indeed happen if the company wins large damages in lawsuits against them.
It’s one of Stuart and Karen’s worst fears. ASG installed solar panels on the couple’s roof in December 2013. Stuart was charmed by what he understood to be the company’s promise of free energy, panels and maintenance.
He told MailOnline: ‘They said you don’t pay a penny ever. They had the panels up but then we started to notice it wasn’t generating what it was supposed to.
‘It came to 2021 and I said those aren’t generating anything. I said you’ll have to come out but they said it was up to me to pay for scaffolding and their stuff.’
Stuart wasn’t the only person won over by ASG’s promise of cheaper energy for free. MailOnline was told by other ‘landlords’ that they understood from the company that it would provide free maintenance but then charged them.
An ASG solar panel brochure given to one said: ‘We provide an ENTIRELY FREE service. No annual maintenance fee. NO survey fee. NO scaffolding costs. NO administration fee. NO ”one off” fee. NO contribution whatsoever. FREE means absolutely FREE. And no, there is NO ”Catch”!’
MailOnline has also seen multiple lease contracts with ASG. In them, the company said it would ‘at its own cost and expense keep the [solar panel] system in good repair, condition and working order… and furnish any and all parts, mechanisms and devices so required to keep the system in good working order’. It added: ‘For the avoidance of doubt there is no cost to the Landlord [the homeowner] under the terms of this lease.’
However, letters suggest that ASG tried to charge a tenant at least £1,150 for scaffolding costs and fitting bird guards. Others, like Stuart, have complained of similar costs.
A brochure from A Shade Greener promised an ‘entirely free service’ with ‘no scaffolding costs’ and added, ‘free means absolutely free’
In a letter, A Shade Greener said costs to fit bird deterrents and have scaffolding up would cost £1,150 plus an additional 20 per cent for VAT
There are 29 limited companies, 26 LLPs and one PLC connected to the A Shade Greener name. Lease contracts for those who sign up with ASG are with a variety of these companies, which appear to be run out of the same building in Barnsley.
Stuart said he was left confused by the documentation he received. He said: ‘The lease I saw was four or five pages long. When it came from the planning registry it was 14 pages.’
Stuart started talking to people about his issues and posted about them on private Facebook groups.
That’s when the legal threats began.
‘All the legal letters started coming,’ he said. ‘It’s gone from worse to worse to worse.
‘It’s a nightmare. They have the money to take you to the cleaners. You have got the legal expenses. They have got you.
In ASG’s lawsuit against Stuart and other complainants, the company claimed their complaints had threatened the company’s £100million ‘hydrogen initiative’ that would be ready for Ofgem approval this year.
However, confusingly, both Ofgem and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) told Stuart they didn’t have a record of ASG having applied for such a contract.
Ofgem said: ‘We have been unable to determine what contract is being referred to.’
DESNZ said: ‘DESNZ does not have anything that fits the description ”hydrogen initiative contracts”.
‘We have conducted searches of applications to funding rounds for the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and for the first hydrogen allocation round (HAR1) and can find no record of an expression of interest or application from A Shade Greener.’
ASG told MailOnline its £100m initiative was ‘well advanced’ and was a ‘pending application for government funding’.
It described the project as a ‘carbon free hydrogen car ICE conversion running completely on green hydrogen produced from wind power and the sun’ that was already running a car ‘being approved by the DVLA for road testing’.
The company has submitted six patent applications in relation to its project, although the Intellectual Property Office made clear this does not mean the patents will necessarily be approved.
The DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) said it it was ‘at present unable to confirm this’ and said it would need the ‘full details of the vehicle in question’ for a full investigation.
A DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) spokeswoman said there was ‘no record’ of a road testing application and added: ‘We can’t find anything in relation to the company.’
In its lawsuit against Stuart Potter, ASG said his complaints online had ‘the potential to have a major detrimental effect on a new £100,000,000 hydrogen initiative with a £600,000,000 floatation, which will be ready for approval by Ofgem and the government in 2024
Neither Ofgem or the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero found any record of an application for such a contract
In a Freedom of Information response, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it ‘does not have anything that fits the description ”hydrogen initiative contracts”’
Stuart added: ‘You can never stop thinking about it. Can they put us on the street? Had I known, I would never have gone down this lane. We want them out of our lives. We want the panels gone.’
On July 17, ASG dropped the defamation claim against Stuart but confirmed it was still suing him for more than £320,000, alleging harassment and breach of covenant of quiet enjoyment.
Five days later, on July 22, the company confirmed it was dropping all of its claims. It’s a win for Stuart but the pensioner said he was still wary the company would come after him again.
Stuart is not the only person who feels unfairly targeted by ASG.
Mother-of-three Maxine Murray, 59, works in a doctor’s surgery near where she lives in Hedon, near Hull in East Yorkshire.
She told MailOnline: ‘I put some complaints on Trustpilot and they sent me an LBA [letter before action].
‘The panels were installed in July 2012. At the time I thought it was a good idea.
‘It doesn’t save that much but any little helps when you have three kids at home.
‘We had an issue with the roof. On the contract, I understood that I could remove the panels for up to three months.
In 2004, Davies became chairman of Darlington FC when the group of lenders he was part of took over the football club after it went into administration
Stewart Davies has called customers who complain about his company ‘evil co-conspirators’. Pictured: Davies with one of his colleagues
Stewart Davies is a keen helicopter pilot who passed his test in 2017
‘But they said it would take up to a year and they would charge £1,000.
‘That set the chain going. When we first agreed to all this, we understood there would be cover if there were issues.
‘It’s just been a nightmare. I hadn’t smoked in 19 years and I’ve started vaping. I have arranged counselling but I shouldn’t have to go through that.
‘We want them off the roof. We will downsize [at some point]. I don’t want to have to devalue my property just to sell it.
‘We have pigeons nesting on the roof. They are trying to make out it’s our responsibility to look after their property. They should fit the [pigeon] guards.’
Just like Stuart, Maxine also posted her concerns on a private Facebook group dedicated to issues with A Shade Greener.
ASG sued Maxine for defamation for £100,000, claiming she had ‘lost them a multi-million-pound contract’.
Yet it was deemed the threshold for a company to bring a libel action was not met and ASG dropped their claim.
Maxine said: ‘They just don’t want to talk to anyone. There’s nothing pleasant with them.
Mother-of-three Maxine Murray, 59, (pictured) said she suffered from stress because of ASG’s lawsuit against her
Maxine’s roof has been plagued by pigeons nesting beneath the solar panels installed by A Shade Greener
![She told MailOnline: 'We want them off the roof. We will downsize [at some point]. I don't want to have to devalue my property just to sell it'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/25/16/87454331-13627247-She_told_MailOnline_We_want_them_off_the_roof_We_will_downsize_a-a-13_1721922397146.jpg)
She told MailOnline: ‘We want them off the roof. We will downsize [at some point]. I don’t want to have to devalue my property just to sell it’
‘It’s just unbelievable. We just want them off our roofs and out of our lives.
‘I don’t imagine we are the only ones they have targeted over the years.’
She said her court summons came ‘right at Christmas, one of my favourite times of the year’.
Maxine said she suffered from stress because of ASG’s actions.
The mother-of-three added: ‘You go to work, you pay your mortgage. £100,000 – the stress of it. You think, ”Am I going to lose my house?”’
Other ASG customers who preferred not to reveal their names also spoke to MailOnline.
One said she had received threatening letters from ASG after posting a critical review about them on a private Facebook groups about the company.
The homeowner said: ‘I was told by the estate agent I would have to take £10,000 off to sell my home because of the lease on the airspace.
‘I can’t sleep at night. I just don’t know what they are going to do. We’ve gone to every governing body you can imagine.
‘We are not going away. It’s affecting every aspect of my life. I feel anxious, all of this pressure trying to hold everything together.
‘I would like to know why it not properly explained to me.
One ASG customer said she had received threatening letters from the firm after posting a critical review
The company has sued people who had its panels fitted for hundreds of thousands of pounds
‘People are scared of what they are going to do, that they are going to be finished off financially.
‘I was reassured because I thought it was a government scheme.’
A common issue with the solar panels seems to be pigeons nesting beneath them. MailOnline has been told that if pigeon poo covers parts of the panels facing the sun, it could impact on electricity generated.
The woman said: ‘If the panels weren’t there, they wouldn’t have this problem.
‘I’m shocked. I dread the post coming. I dread coming home at night to find a recorded delivery.
‘I believe they will come for me. That’s what it’s doing to me. The impact on my. It’s all taking its toll now.’
Another customer from South Derbyshire got panels from ASG between 2014 and 2015.
She said: ‘We had been thinking of putting panels up for some time, to save money.
‘Two men turned up and we invited them in. I was a bit concerned because it was a 25-year lease but my husband just saw the word ”free”.
A common issue with the solar panels seems to be pigeons nesting beneath them
One woman said: ‘I believe they will come for me. That’s what it’s doing to me. The impact on my. It’s all taking its toll now’
”’Anything you use you get for free, anything extra it goes to them and they get paid for it”, they said.
‘They never came in the house or in my loft.
‘We were thinking about having an attic conversion and they said, ”No worries, we will take them down for free for three months”.
‘They said ”free means free”. They repeated the words ”government scheme” many times.’
A few days later she had second thoughts and rang the company but she said she was told she was tied in.
‘I let it go. A few years ago my neighbours said, ”Is there anything you can do about all those pigeons nesting under your panels?”
‘The majority of their poo was falling on their property.
‘She was concerned because her husband has leukaemia. She heard that pigeon poop was quite toxic.
‘I said, ”Don’t worry because this company is maintenance free.”’
She rang ASG but they didn’t call back.
‘Three days later I had a letter saying, ”We understand you want bird guards.” They said it would be over £1,000, even though they said [at the start] it was all free.’
When she phoned back, they said it was her own responsibility to put up bird guards.
She said: ‘I can’t believe how rude they were to me. Then I went on Facebook and joined a group.
‘Two days later I got a letter before action threatening me.
‘[They said] I was accountable for every post posted on Facebook.
‘They classed us as evil conspirators. It’s a private [Facebook] group. It seems ASG has got moles on there. Everybody is absolutely terrified now.
After a customer complained about A Shade Greener online, Stewart Davies tried to add her on Facebook. Pictured: Davies’s friend request
He also sent her an email saying she was associating with ‘evil conspirators’
The ASG boss even seemingly sent her a text message, which she said made her ‘panic’ as she had a new phone and only told a few people her number
‘I replied to Stewart Davies saying this is absolutely ridiculous.
‘I woke up to a text on my personal mobile. It was new so not many people had this number.
‘That made me panic. Over email, he told me I was associating with evil conspirators. I also got a friend request from Stewart Davies on Facebook.
‘It seems he has my email, phone number, address. I have been personally contacted by the CEO of the company. That plays on my mind.
‘All this is just bizarre. It feels like I don’t own my house. What happens if I need my roof doing?’
She added: ‘It feels like they are trying everything not to get out of those leases.’
Another customer, who ASG also sued for defamation for £100,000 before his case was dropped, said he was infuriated by the company’s insistence that it has no customers.
He said: ‘[Davies is] describing his customers now as landlords. I’m not a landlord, I’m a customer.
ASG and its boss Stewart Davies have claimed again and again that its solar panel business doesn’t actually have any customers.
But ASG’s claims are confusing when set against its previous statements.
The company previously said homeowners who complained about ASG were ‘landlords’ as the solar panel firm is in a tenancy agreement to rent the airspace above their roofs.
ASG said: ‘The complainants are landlords. They are acting as property freeholders and as potential landlords and certainly not as consumers and none of them have ever been a ”customer” of any of the A Shade Greener companies.’
It told MailOnline that while ASG Maintenance has a customer service team, this is ‘for the sole purpose of liaising between their customers which are the Tenants (system owners), and the Landlords (the property owners)’. It added that ‘other ASG companies do have customers, but these are not related to Solar, they are Gas Boiler customers’.
However, ASG’s section on ‘solar’ FAQs on its website, its solar panel brochures and its original response to MailOnline’s request for comment all refer to homeowners as ‘customers’. ASG even has what it calls a ‘dedicated customer relations team’ that ‘homeowners’ are asked to send forms to.
On its website, A Shade Greener refers to ‘customers’ and its ‘dedicated customer service relations team’
In A Shade Greener’s response to MailOnline’s request for comment, the company’s legal team referred to ‘landlords’ as ‘customers’
A company brochure about their solar panels even had a section entitled ‘What some of our customers say about us’
Who is A Shade Greener boss Stewart Davies?
Stewart Davies, 73, is the boss of A Shade Greener (ASG), a solar panel company that promises free energy and excellent support to its 70,000 customers.
Davies is listed as a director of 32 companies. All but two are registered with the same address in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The two others are registered at the building next door.
He refused to comment on his style of business when approached by MailOnline.
In 2004, Davies became chairman of Darlington FC when the group of lenders he was part of took over the football club after it went into administration.
Pictured: A Shade Greener boss Stewart Davies, 73
Stewart Davies was Darlington FC’s chairman from 2004 to 2006
The club’s former chairman was George Reynolds, a former convict who reportedly borrowed £2million in 2002 from Sterling Consortium, which included Davies and other partners at accountancy firm BKR Haines Watts.
Sterling Consortium reportedly lent money at high interest rates to other football clubs in a financial jam including Cambridge United, Scarborough, Barnsley and Chesterfield.
A bag was found by police containing more than £500,000 in cash in the boot of George Reynolds’s car
George Reynolds arrives at Newcastle Crown Court on October 21, 2005, after admitting to tax evasion
When Reynolds was caught with £500,000 of cash in the boot of his car in June 2004, the police started investigating him for money laundering.
His lawyer said the money came from Reynolds’s solicitor’s account.
Reynolds pleaded guilty to tax evasion, with the money laundering charge ordered to lie on file. He was jailed for three years.
The customer added: ‘We got the panels for green reasons and to save money. It’s turned out to be a flaming nightmare.
‘My wife and I wanted to downsize, so we had the house up for sale.
‘The estate agent said people are [worried] because the panels are leased.
‘Three years ago we were getting pigeons nesting in them. The panels might not be working because they are peppered with excrement.
‘I contacted ASG and they said it was my responsibility to pay for [dealing with] it even though it’s their panels and they are responsible for maintenance.
‘I joined the support group on Facebook. Last August I got a legal email before action telling me that I had committed illegal acts.
‘I have been on medication because I can’t sleep. It’s absolutely rubbish.’
Since the start of 2014, the Financial Ombudsman Service has upheld 58 complaints about A Shade Greener. A spokeswoman for the ombudsman said the number was not ‘necessarily indicative of good or bad practice’.
Ofgem is aware of consumers’ claims and is working with DESNZ and other bodies on a series of investigations into them. Ofgem is also in touch with ASG.
Freedom of Information requests show that since April last year, at least 22 MPs have complained to DESNZ about A Shade Greener.
A DESNZ spokesman told MailOnline: ‘These are worrying allegations and Ofgem, as the administrator of the scheme, will be continuing its investigations.
‘If they find any act of non-compliance, we will not hesitate to support them in using all their powers appropriately.’
In an FOI, DESNZ added: ‘The Department is currently investigating the troubling issues facing householders regarding rent-a-roof arrangements linked to the Feed-in Tariff and Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive schemes.’
The Renewable Energy Consumer Code (RECC) said: ‘RECC is aware of consumer complaints about A Shade Greener Ltd.
‘Since 2011 many consumers have accessed our dispute resolution process and we have supported consumers to successfully resolve complaints about A Shade Greener Ltd.
‘We have secured resolutions such as financial compensation up to £7,000 and a range of nonfinancial resolutions including completion of remedial work, removal of panels and provision of contractual documents.’
When approached by MailOnline, ASG boss Stewart Davies claimed he could provide proof that the allegations made against him and his company were false.
He said: ‘We don’t have any customers. We sue for defamation if they are guilty of defamation.’
He added that those complaining about his company were ‘malicious and frivolous people’.
In a letter sent to MailOnline by ASG, Mr Davies added that a Facebook complaint group about his company was ‘a hate group spearheaded by a handful of landlords who are unhappy with the resolutions they have been offered’ and were hoping to see ASG closed down.
He added: ‘My companies are honest and full of committed, hardworking employees who do not deserve the unrelenting attack on a daily basis.’
A Shade Greener said: ‘These allegations are untrue, unfounded and grossly defamatory.
‘We could provide over a thousand reviews and comments from customers that are extremely happy with the service they receive.
‘Your comments are absolutely unrepresentative of the landlords we deal with collectively. These complaints are not statistically significant or representative, even if they had been genuine which they are not.
‘Even if we were ever to receive 2,000 complaints from people using our electricity this would still be less than one per cent of the people we help every day to enjoy free electricity in their homes.’
ASG added: ‘None of the claims are accurate, most of them are completely untrue, and those that are partially true, if reported, will render you open for a defamation suit.
‘You have been grossly misinformed by Stuart Potter and his co-conspirators.’
Are YOU a customer with A Shade Greener? Email chris.matthews@mailonline.co.uk
