Three Experts. One Mission.

We’ve each spent years helping solar companies operate effectively and compliantly. We’ve seen the industry at its best — and we’ve seen how quickly consumer protection becomes an afterthought when growth is the priority.

The Representative LLC exists because homeowners deserve the same quality of expertise on their side that solar companies have on theirs — and because attorneys handling these cases deserve experts who genuinely understand the industry they’re litigating against.

Work With Our Team →

Expert Witnesses

Meet Our Team

Carol Smith

Founder & Principal Consultant | Expert Witness

Carol Smith is the founder of The Representative LLC and an active expert witness in residential solar industry matters. She has more than 14 years of executive-level experience across the full residential solar value chain, with leadership roles at SunPower, Complete Solar/Complete Solaria, and SolarWorld Americas.

Her operational background spans residential sales channel design and management, dealer program structure and oversight, sales team management and training, and the implementation of third-party financing programs. She has worked directly with the major residential solar finance platforms, including EverBright, Sunrun, LightReach, Sunlight Financial, and Mosaic, giving her firsthand insight into how dealer fees, loan structures, lease and PPA mechanics, and platform underwriting requirements shape what consumers are actually sold and what they actually receive.

At Complete Solar, Carol managed the company’s compliance function. Her responsibilities included contractor licensing across multiple states, oversight of consumer protection and disclosure practices, and the handling of all escalated complaints, ranging from CSLB filings through pre-litigation demand letters and pending lawsuits. This work gives her a working knowledge of how installer organizations actually respond to regulator inquiries, how internal records are generated and retained, and where common documentation gaps tend to appear in discovery.

Earlier in her career, while at SolarWorld Americas, Carol managed the response to an Amphenol H4 connector field issue affecting installed residential systems—an experience directly relevant to product liability, recall management, and component-level defect matters. Her current expert witness practice focuses on residential solar disputes and includes cases involving misrepresentation of tax credits, undisclosed dealer fees and loan structure, system design and sizing defects, production shortfalls, NEM and utility interconnection issues, contractor licensing, PPA and lease performance guarantees, and installation defects. She produces detailed, court-ready expert reports grounded in primary data sources, including utility interval data (Green Button), inverter-level production data (Enphase and others), CSLB and state licensing records, and contract and disclosure documents.

She is available nationwide and accepts engagements from both plaintiff and defense counsel.

Areas of Expertise

Residential solar industry standards and practices
Solar sales and dealer programs
Sales team management and training
Residential solar financing: loans, leases, PPAs
EverBright, Sunrun, LightReach, Sunlight Financial, Mosaic
Dealer fee disclosure and TILA-related issues
Federal solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC)
Net Energy Metering (NEM 1.0, 2.0, 3.0/NBT)
CSLB licensing, complaints, and multi-state contractor licensing
Consumer protection and disclosure compliance
PPA and lease performance guarantees
System design, sizing, and shading analysis
Production shortfall analysis
Utility interval data analysis (Green Button)
Enphase and inverter-level production data
Installation defect analysis
Amphenol H4 connector issues; solar product liability and recall management
Pre-litigation complaint resolution

Paige Croswhite

Expert Consultant | Solar Distribution & Channel Operations

Paige Croswhite is a solar industry executive with more than a decade of leadership in solar distribution, channel sales strategy, and national partner network development across residential and commercial markets.

As Director of Channel Sales and Director of Partner Experience at Complete Solar, Paige led a partner experience team supporting over 100 installation partners and helped drive annual revenue exceeding $55 million, contributing directly to the company’s 2023 IPO. She has held senior sales leadership roles at SolarWorld, Flex, SunEdison, and Bosch/aleo Solar, building dealer channels and partner programs across the country from the ground up.

Paige provides expert witness analysis through The Representative LLC in matters involving solar distribution and dealer network practices, channel sales structures, partner and installer agreements, residential solar market operations, and the financing frameworks through which solar is sold to consumers.

Areas of Expertise

Solar dealer and distributor networks
Channel sales structures and partner agreements
Residential solar market operations
Solar financing and sales practices
Product commercialization and market expansion

Benjamen P. Simon

Expert Consultant | Sales Operations & Residential Solar Contracts

Benjamen Simon is an energy industry executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience across residential solar, distributed energy technologies, and energy storage markets — with direct involvement in the dealer programs, customer acquisition models, and contractual frameworks now frequently at issue in solar litigation.

Ben served as Director of Dealer Programs at SunPower, where he oversaw the operational frameworks governing independent installer participation in one of the largest residential solar dealer networks in the country. He has held executive roles at Arka Energy, Commonwealth Energy MA, and NVIRIQ, and earlier served as Regional Service Manager for Tesla across New England.

Through The Representative LLC, Ben provides expert witness analysis and testimony on residential solar sales practices, solar leases, PPAs, financing disclosures, dealer network operations, and customer representations. He is also a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins University, where his research examines barriers to residential solar adoption — including consumer trust, financial literacy, and risk perception — giving him a uniquely rigorous lens on the consumer dynamics at the heart of solar disputes.

Areas of Expertise

Residential solar sales practices
Solar leases, PPAs, and financing disclosures
Dealer network operations and installer agreements
Customer representations and production claims
Energy storage integration
Consumer behavior in distributed energy markets

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse