To all our Long Island neighbors and especially to the extended SUNation Solar Systems family.
Tomorrow, Newsday will be reporting on the sudden closing of one of our competitors, Level Solar. Three to four years ago when third party leasing was allowed in NY, we knew the national companies would quickly enter the Long Island marketplace. The Wall Street backed companies like Solar City, Vivint, NRG Home Solar etc. saw an opportunity to enrich themselves and took it. They delivered value to themselves, their shareholders and Wall Street at the expense of Long Island homeowner tax dollars but rarely delivered value to the homeowner. All the while they had zero stake in our island. When Wall Street began to pull back, the national companies began withdrawing from the Long Island market as their business models focused on growth with no consideration for profit and debt. Unfortunately, poor business models catch up with you and that is what happened. One by one, companies such as Sun Edison, Sungevity, Solar City, NRG Home Solar (who made the best effort but as a distributed energy business based in coal and fossil fuels, they pulled out of the market because the returns weren’t quick enough) have disappeared from the Long Island marketplace. Joining these companies yesterday was Level Solar, who unfortunately terminated all of their employees without notice. Over one hundred of our Long Island neighbors now find themselves out of work and SUNation is hard at work trying to help as many of these people to rebound quickly by joining our family.
So why is SUNation growing while are these other companies are closing or abandoning the Long Island market? Simply put, we care.
We deliver the highest quality customer experience, the most professionally installed and aesthetically pleasing systems possible, and we are always available. Every one of our customers has my personal cell phone number and email address. We don’t do leasing so our customers can keep the savings they realize from the various tax incentives available. Our work team is our family, they matter. We do not have a board of directors located out of state that only see numbers. Long Island is our home and we understand it better than anyone else. Our customers are more than just numbers on a spreadsheet, they are part of the SUNation family and their well-being and customer experience is what we live for. Our clients are our greatest source of referrals and are not passive, they are raving fans of SUNation. We are a brick and mortar, family owned business working ONLY on Long Island since 2001 and reinvesting in our community always. We have over 3,000 satisfied clients and over 30 megawatts of installed solar systems generating power at substantial savings for our neighbor’s homes, businesses, and schools.
The Long Island solar industry is vibrant and sustainable and SUNation isn’t going anywhere. That is my promise to my staff, my island and my industry. Furthermore, we are actively engaged with many of these companies that left the Long Island market to provide support and maintenance services to the Long Island homeowners who have purchased systems from them. Those customers are our neighbors and even though they didn’t choose SUNation, we will be there for them. To all the many people that dedicated themselves to this industry with Level Solar and who have found themselves unemployed or underemployed, please know that we continue to grow and have opportunities here. I invite you to contact our Director of Human Resources at tara@sunationsolarsystems.com.
The message is clear. Do your due diligence and spend your money locally. Take no comfort in the size of a national player and be proud to support the LI economy.
More to follow but please share, share, share this. The most important thing is to educate people. The unfortunate events leading to the closing of Level Solar is merely a correction in the local market. SUNation will proudly lead the Long Island solar industry into a brighter tomorrow. Solar is vital, Solar is right and Solar will grow. That is my promise.
My Best,
Scott Maskin
CEO and Co-Founder
SUNation Solar Systems