No, this village in Seine-et-Marne is not the El Dorado of solar panels

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It was reports made during the summer that alerted the municipality. Several residents of Perthes-en-Gâtinais (Seine-et-Marne) or surrounding villages were recipients of emails, calls or messagesproposing the installation of photovoltaic panels supposedly authorized in the municipality.

Abusive canvassing: an alert launched by the town hall of Perthes-en-Gâtinais

“On my mobile, I received two requests to install solar panels, which specified that the town hall of Perthes-en-Gâtinais was doing it for free,” recalls Pierre Segretdeputy mayor of Chailly-en-Bière. I don’t live in Perthes, but I immediately warned my colleagues about these fraudulent approaches, to prevent people from being taken in.”

Alerted, the municipality communicated on its website and social networks to warn residents. “The names of the companies can change, but it’s always the same type of message,” says Perthes town hall. “We are sometimes on the verge of harassment with people receiving emails every two days. This summer, there were several waves, but we continue to receive them.”

The advertisements sometimes mention state aid for the installation of solar panels, sometimes aid for the insulation of one’s house. All these works require prior authorization from the town planning department. “These installations are very regulated, in particular by the local urban planning plan,” they continue at the town hall.

These works are indeed subject to declaration and special vigilance is also put in place in an area around the church. In the document of the Departmental Unit of Architecture and Heritage of Seine-et-Marne, it is specified that the installation of panels is never authorized, except in exceptional circumstances.

“Apart from cases of integrated architectural creation, the panels must not be visible from the public domain and must be installed at the rear of the land, on the ground or on ancillary volumes,” the document specifies.

France Rénov’ and reports on Signal Conso

To protect against inconvenience during work, the municipality recommends selecting approved companies or requesting the French Gâtinais Regional Natural Park (PNRGF)which offers support for energy renovation work on housing, as part of the system France Renov.

This public service, which depends on the National Housing Agency (Anah), offers neutral and independent advice to individuals for a renovation project. Since 2020, a law has been enacted to put an end to aggressive telephone canvassing practices and combat fraudulent calls.

Since that date, all telephone canvassing has been prohibited in the energy renovation sector, even if the person is not registered on the Bloctel platform. Consumers can also report any canvassing that they consider abusive on Conso Signal (signal.conso.gouv.fr/fr), the platform set up by the government.

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