There was a laughable initiative in California called the Renewable Fuel Standard. You owned electric industrial vehicles you could get a rebate every quarter. It was not an incentive but you could get the rebates if you coverted your fleet (golf carts, forklifts, etc) . So a lot of major companies that required electric forklifts just got the gimmes even though they need electric lifts to run their operations. It was based on methane and ethanol production. Insane. And if you find cheap gas in Ca check the lable because etahnol sucks as a fuel. BTU’s much less that diesel or petroleum . Stupid CA grift
One of his other buddies or friends ran another solar operation. They would form a corp of some sort. The contracts to vendors would stipulate they would pay in 3-6 months. Reality was 6-12. Whether his friends were foreigners or they partnered with a Spanish company that was part of it. Everything ran through Santander bank. I’d never heard of it.
So we. Suppliers. Would have to pay our people. And supplies. Wait 6-12 months to get paid. They usually would screw up the payment? Purposeful? Mmmmmm I suspected. And that appeal took yes. Another 6 months. Now we have invoices cross crossing all over the place because they only paid some.
Meanwhile when they did pay us they took like 2% off for timely pay which was astounding because of how late they were. They demanded we pay the wire fees including when they screwed up and had to pay again.
the entire time the government or whoever they’re building it for is paying them timely. $5 million at this stage. $5 million at that stage.
then as the project headed into the final 6-12 months I am super nervous. We are really small at the time. And they owe us gosh. Probably $20k past due. That was a lot for us back then. It’s just a day or so now. But then? Made me nervous!!
So they’re behind $20k and magically one week we get paid $20k which brings them current and 3 days later we get another $20k.
We debated for hours on whether to return the money. What was the right thing to do. I mean they’re always behind. Now they actually will be current. Keep it right? And when the project is over just tell them they’re cool. We are even. Don’t worry about that last $20k of invoices.
Never got there. The project ends. I still have the $20k and by now they’ve used another $20k and on cue I get a bankruptcy letter. Those scumbags has gotten their payments. And screwed every vendor they’d worked with for 5 years out of their last 6 months of pay.
Our letter told us to file our claim and tada we had the $20k and wound up even. I pitied the other hard working guys who got railed. I never told the whole story to the company or the bankruptcy people because I kinda felt like in the end I got what I deserved. Did work. Got paid. Shut up.
Not long after I read that the company. Abener teyma I think it was called. Had some connection or its owners did with the people you just mentioned and were part of that Obama solar universe.
To this day I feel like I dodged a bullet on that one. Not sure I could have afforded it at the time. Life’s tough when dad gives you all this money to be a trust fund baby and operate out in Hesperia you know lol
There was a laughable initiative in California called the Renewable Fuel Standard. You owned electric industrial vehicles you could get a rebate every quarter. It was not an incentive but you could get the rebates if you coverted your fleet (golf carts, forklifts, etc) . So a lot of major companies that required electric forklifts just got the gimmes even though they need electric lifts to run their operations. It was based on methane and ethanol production. Insane. And if you find cheap gas in Ca check the lable because etahnol sucks as a fuel. BTU’s much less that diesel or petroleum . Stupid CA grift
One of his other buddies or friends ran another solar operation. They would form a corp of some sort. The contracts to vendors would stipulate they would pay in 3-6 months. Reality was 6-12. Whether his friends were foreigners or they partnered with a Spanish company that was part of it. Everything ran through Santander bank. I’d never heard of it.
So we. Suppliers. Would have to pay our people. And supplies. Wait 6-12 months to get paid. They usually would screw up the payment? Purposeful? Mmmmmm I suspected. And that appeal took yes. Another 6 months. Now we have invoices cross crossing all over the place because they only paid some.
Meanwhile when they did pay us they took like 2% off for timely pay which was astounding because of how late they were. They demanded we pay the wire fees including when they screwed up and had to pay again.
the entire time the government or whoever they’re building it for is paying them timely. $5 million at this stage. $5 million at that stage.
then as the project headed into the final 6-12 months I am super nervous. We are really small at the time. And they owe us gosh. Probably $20k past due. That was a lot for us back then. It’s just a day or so now. But then? Made me nervous!!
So they’re behind $20k and magically one week we get paid $20k which brings them current and 3 days later we get another $20k.
We debated for hours on whether to return the money. What was the right thing to do. I mean they’re always behind. Now they actually will be current. Keep it right? And when the project is over just tell them they’re cool. We are even. Don’t worry about that last $20k of invoices.
Never got there. The project ends. I still have the $20k and by now they’ve used another $20k and on cue I get a bankruptcy letter. Those scumbags has gotten their payments. And screwed every vendor they’d worked with for 5 years out of their last 6 months of pay.
Our letter told us to file our claim and tada we had the $20k and wound up even. I pitied the other hard working guys who got railed. I never told the whole story to the company or the bankruptcy people because I kinda felt like in the end I got what I deserved. Did work. Got paid. Shut up.
Not long after I read that the company. Abener teyma I think it was called. Had some connection or its owners did with the people you just mentioned and were part of that Obama solar universe.
To this day I feel like I dodged a bullet on that one. Not sure I could have afforded it at the time. Life’s tough when dad gives you all this money to be a trust fund baby and operate out in Hesperia you know lol