TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Steve Gaskins took pride in the solar panels on his house.

He said he wanted to save money and help the environment, and that everything was fine until he needed to replace his roof last summer.

He paid his solar company, Sunrun Solar, $8,900 to remove the panels and then replace them after the new roof was on. But nine months later, the panels are still stacked in his backyard.

“So I’m being charged by Duke Energy for my normal utility bills and not getting the services that I contracted for and wish to get and so I’m a little perturbed about that,” Gaskins said. “I keep getting the runaround that they’re waiting on permits from the county. One lady called me just last week, called me to set up a removal, and I said I’ve already got them removed. I need them reinstalled.”

Gaskins said the answer that they are waiting on Pinellas County to approve the permit does not make sense.

“I’ve noticed if you look up and down this road that we are on right here there’s three neighbors that have brand new roofs that they’ve gotten since August so they were able to get their permits to do an entire roof and all we’re doing is reinstalling what was already here previously so the delay is very frustrating.”

Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken contacted Sunrun and then received a text message from a representative thanking her for bringing this to their attention and saying they are in contact with the customer and resolving the issue.

She also contacted Pinellas County Permitting and was told there is no delay on their end. In fact, the county said the permit application was never even filed.

Behnken emailed the media spokesperson for Sunrun repeatedly to ask why the permit application wasn’t filed and why Gaskins was told there were permitting delays. No one has responded to those questions.

Gaskins said that after questions from Better Call Behnken, the company reached out and said they are diligently working on the permitting issue and there were even talks about a reimbursement since he has not been able to use the solar panels.