Friday, October 10, 2008

AG fines South Coast wind turbine installer company

By Mass High Tech Staff

The Massachusetts Attorney General yesterday slapped former Democratic state representative Mark Howland of East Freetown and his company, WindTech-Co., with nearly $500,000 in fines for failing to install wind turbines paid for by consumers and providing unsafe installations where such structures were erected.

Under the agreement, filed in Fall River Superior Court, Howland will have one year to repay $488,000 in restitution. If he fails to make that payment within one year Howland will be responsible for $638,000.

In addition, Howland is “permanently prohibited from operating a business involved in the sale and installation of alternative energy systems, specifically, wind turbine and hybrid wind turbine/photo-voltaic systems,” according to a statement from Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office.

According to the Attorney General’s statement, Howland and his company made false and misleading representations in the promotion of the sale of wind turbines, primarily in Southeastern Massachusetts.

The complaint, which was originally filed in March of 2007, alleges that Howland misrepresented the power generation capabilities of the turbine systems, that he did not disclose to consumers that certain local permitting was necessary and that the installations did not meet the specifications of the turbine’s manufacturer.

In addition, Howland allegedly misrepresented to consumers that the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) would automatically reimburse consumers for a large portion of the purchase of the turbine systems under an existing program from the quasi-state agency. In fact, the MTC sets a cap on the amount of pending projects by a single contractor that may seek reimbursement, and WindTech-Co. surpassed that cap, leaving some consumers disqualified from the reimbursement program. 

The MTC referred the matter to the Attorney General in January 2007 after receiving numerous complaints from Howland’s customers.