SOUTH YARMOUTH – Ted Strzelecki, owner and president of Solar Wolf Energy LLC, has been barred from doing business in Connecticut, according to a press release from that state's attorney general, William Tong.

Tong announced in a Sept. 15 release his investigation into and enforcement against the unfair and deceptive sales practices of Solar Wolf Energy, Inc. for failures to complete, or even begin, promised residential work.

Multiple Connecticut consumers complained to the attorney general and the Department of Consumer Protection that Solar Wolf took their deposits for residential solar work or related projects and failed to start or complete them, and then never returned the money, the release stated.

More: Solar Wolf files for bankruptcy. Will this affect Yarmouth customers' money?

Connecticut complaints echo Yarmouth residents' experience

The story is a familiar one to some Yarmouth residents. Solar Wolf has also taken payments and deposits from more than 50 residents for solar panel installations that weren’t started or completed. The company was the contractor for the Solarize Yarmouth campaign.

Solar Wolf filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 23 after taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from Yarmouth residents who signed contracts for solar panel installations.

More: AG inquiry into Solar Wolf sought. Yarmouth to fight until 'local customers ... made whole'

According to the press release, there is now a Superior Court order blocking Solar Wolf from selling, advertising, offering, or marketing goods or services in Connecticut until it obtains permission from the court.

It is a violation of the Connecticut Home Improvement Act and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act when a home improvement contractor fails to perform substantial work and then fails to refund a consumer’s deposit within 10 days of a written request. 

State statute allows the Connecticut attorney general to take this action.

Yarmouth officials seeking ways to help residents

There is no such law on the books in Massachusetts.

Yarmouth town officials hope that residents will be able to see some return on their money through the Home Improvement Guaranty Fund. State and town officials are investigating possibilities to complete the installations and get them hooked up to the grid.

More: Solarize Yarmouth clients have unfinished projects, lost payments: Everything to know

Town Administrator Robert Whritenour Jr. said he has seen the same story and the same lies repeated in case after case concerning Solar Wolf and Yarmouth residents. There was never any intention for Solar Wolf to follow through on any of their promises, he said.

“We think some type of prosecution is warranted,” he said. “We feel that this project is not going to be over until the local customers have been made whole.

Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Connecticut bars Solar Wolf Energy from doing business in that state