Moxie Solar CEO and owner Jason Hall is no longer with the North Liberty-based solar company following struggles it faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy.
Company lawyer Siobhan Briley with Coralville law firm Pugh, Hagan Prahm told the Iowa City Press-Citizen that Hall is no longer employed with Moxie Solar company. Briley did not confirm the circumstances of his departure.
It is unknown whether Hall was forced out or resigned from the company he led for more than a decade before it faced significant struggles that lead to several lawsuits and dozens of consumer complaints, according to a Press-Citizen investigation in March.
Briley said the company has undergone restructuring and change of control since January. Moxie Solar Inc. split, creating a separate entity, MSI Diversified Inc., on May 5.
According to filings to the Iowa Secretary of State, Travis Eichelberger of Iowa City is the new CEO of New Moxie Solar, a company created on June 14. Jason Hall remains the president and CEO of MSI Diversified Inc.
Hall is not the only person to depart from the company in recent months. The Press-Citizen previously reported Mark Nolte, a local entrepreneur and former president of the Iowa City Area Development Group, left shortly after declining to run for Iowa governor in 2022. Instead, Nolte pursued a project to build a $10 million manufacturing plant proposed by Moxie Solar, which never came to fruition.
North Liberty Mayor Chris Hoffman, who was vice president of solar sale at Moxie, left the company in May to work for Eagle Point Solar out of Dubuque as a senior solar energy consultant. A news release from the company said Hoffman would cover the Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and North Liberty corridor and surrounding communities in Iowa and was tasked with building strong client relationships and educating the public on the environmental and financial benefits of solar.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to continue to grow my career in the solar industry with a strong, well established and growing firm like Eagle Point Solar. The solar industry has seen explosive growth during the past decade and Eagle Point Solar is well positioned to meet the continued demands of the market while helping clients reach their goals of energy independence,” Hoffman said in the news release.
Despite the change in leadership, restructuring and departure of three significant figures in the company, the Moxie Solar name has accrued even more consumer complaints and an additional lawsuit from a major Iowa City company.
Axiom Consultants sues Moxie Solar; adds to pile of lawsuits against the company
Axiom Consultants, an engineering consulting and design firm in Iowa City, filed a lawsuit in September against MSI Diversified Inc., doing business as Moxie Solar, alleging the solar company did not make full payments for services Axiom provided the company, including structural support products and electrical line evaluations, totaling $42,605, between July 2021 and April 2022.
Axiom alleges in its lawsuit the solar company did not respond when it demanded payment in full or in increments of $5,000 plus interest on or before Sept. 15, 2022. The company also never made a payment, Axiom alleges.
The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and unjust enrichment. Axiom has asked for a jury trial.
In an answer to the lawsuit, lawyers for Moxie Solar denied any wrongdoing. They said Axiom failed to state a claim for which relief can be granted and blamed Axiom for any injuries or damages.
Lawyers for Axiom Consultants could not be reached for comment.
The conduct alleged by Axiom follows a pattern alleged in another lawsuit that is going to trial, dozens of consumer complaints submitted to the Iowa Attorney General's Office and negative customer reviews. Moxie Solar's A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau has been revoked.
The lawsuits, complaints and reviews allege Moxie Solar failed to complete its services in 2021 when the company was facing difficulties during the pandemic and then left its clients in the dark for months even though many had already paid thousands of dollars to Moxie Solar.
A civil lawsuit brought by Josh and Mackenzie Bates, of North Liberty, is set to go to trial in in September 2023. Moxie Solar is fighting this lawsuit, and has changed lawyers twice. Briley now represents the company.
Consumer complaints to Iowa Attorney General nearly triple for Moxie Solar since March
Moxie Solar's struggles are not unique among solar companies, as reported by the Iowa Capital Dispatch this year. From 2019 through 2021, 15 complaints about solar energy systems were submitted to the Iowa AG's Consumer Protection Division.
The Press-Citizen reported in March that nine complaints were submitted alone to the Iowa AG about Moxie Solar. Between late March and Aug. 29, 22 more complaints were submitted against Moxie Solar, bringing the total to 31.
They come from Iowa, Virginia, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Idaho and Minnesota.
The customers allege they paid Moxie Solar between $871 and $117,000 for services. Most paid the company more than $15,000. A common theme: after already making thousands of dollars in payments, customers said Moxie Solar did not communicate why their projects weren't advancing.
New complaints also reveal customers had issues after panels were installed, and Moxie Solar did not resolve them for months.
Some of the complaints cited the Press-Citizen's investigation.
One customer, Bruce Thayer of Iowa City, wrote in a complaint he signed a contract with Moxie Solar on March 19, 2021, and gave the company a $17,136 deposit to begin engineering design. That was completed, and Thayer then paid an additional, identical payment.
"At that point nothing had been done on site by Moxie at all. And that is where it remains today 18 months after the contract signing," Thayer said in the filing.
Thayer said there were "long silent periods" and Moxie sent no status updates or communications. He hired an attorney and sent a letter to the CEO of Moxie Solar, which he said also went unanswered, Thayer said.
Thayer said if Moxie continues to abandon the project, he will have to start over engineering with a new contractor. He said the only satisfactory outcome would be Moxie Solar completing installation or issuing a refund.
Some signs show Moxie Solar, under new leadership, could be heading toward recovering
Despite the clear indications that Moxie Solar continued to struggle as a company over the last several months, there are signs the company is working to rebound.
Its Better Business Bureau profile contains two alerts, one that its BBB accreditation was revoked in March and the other alerting customers to a "pattern of complaint."
But under the second alert, it also says, as of September, Moxie Solar is working with the BBB to resolve previously unaddressed complaints. Moxie Solar has a 1.43 out of 5-star rating. One hundred of its 107 complaints were submitted to the BBB in the last year.
And no one has submitted a consumer complaint against Moxie Solar to the Iowa AG in at least two months.
The company is very active on social media, encouraging residential and rural homeowners to invest in solar. It promoted a savings deal on Facebook this summer for homeowners to consider solar to address rising energy costs.
George Shillcock is the Press-Citizen's local government and development reporter covering Iowa City and Johnson County. He can be reached at (515) 350-6307, [email protected] and on Twitter @ShillcockGeorge