Wholesale solar equipment distributor AEE Solar issued a statement that it plans to permanently close its business on May 3, 2024. The company said it is placing its remaining inventory on clearance sale before closing operations.
“Our Customer Support Team and Territory Sales Managers are available to address any questions or concerns you may have during this time,” said AEE in a letter to customers. “We are committed to transparency and will keep you informed throughout the process, including confirmation of the final closing date, well in advance.”
The company noted SnapNrack solar racking customers can reach out to their AEE territory sales manager to explore purchasing options direct from SnapNrack going forward.
AEE Solar was founded in 1979, launched by David Katz from his home. The company expanded to specializing in off-grid equipment sales in 2002, reaching $8 million in sales that year. In 2005, Mainstream Energy invested in the company, and in 2012 the company opened an 80,000 square foot distribution center in Sacramento California. It was acquired by Sunrun, among the largest U.S. residential solar installers, in 2014.
“We want to express our sincere gratitude for your ongoing support. It has been a privilege serving you, and we wish you continued success. We look forward to serving you during this wind-down period,” said the company in its notification to customers.
Weakened distributed solar demand, particularly in California, has been posing a challenge for equipment providers for several months. A glut of unsold inventory has also been a mounting problem in much of western Europe.
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NEM3.0 at work in California. It was acquired by Sunrun, among the largest U.S. residential solar installers, in 2014. But Sunrun does not install off grid solar so why did they buy it? Most California municipalities require gid connected solar panel systems and only a few rural areas could even be allowed to buy and install them. Sun runs sales are down by 80% thanks to NEM3.0 and they need to cut back on what does not sell in California to stay in business. This is why I am choosing Sun Power over Sun Run because I want a company big enough to be there in 15 to 25 years when my system needs servicing. I want to switch over to Off-Grid when the grid is down rt the utilities act like unwanted landlords over my system.
It’s mistake was partnering with Sunrun.
In my opinion Sunrun is one of the many solar installers that employed sales tactics that never mentioned forthrightly the larger negatives in the solar systems they were often installing. Often the buyers were told the rate they would pay Sunrun for electricity would be below their utility rates. And they were, at first. But what buyers didn’t comprehend was that the automatic increases in the amount they were required to pay for electricity were applied annually and often within 3 to 6 years they were actually paying more per kilowatt of electricity than there utility was charging. People were stuck with solar systems where they were paying more per kilowatt hour than they would have been if they had remained solely with their utility.
Then Sunrun often had another “feature” in their contacts, the owner couldn’t sell their home unless the new buyer agreed to the contract that the seller had with Sunrun or they could agreed to purchase the installation outright at, again in my opinion, an overvalued valuation for used grid tied solar equipment. What sane buyer wants to either pay more per kilowatt than the utility would charge OR pay top dollar for old used equipment that was grid tied?
A quick inspection of Sunrun’s BBB listing reveals a company with an A rating AND thousands of filed complaints. Sunrun deflects the complaints by pointing out the complainers are only complaining about things they “agreed” to in their contract. And they are legally correct so the BBB marks the complaint as resolved.
Keep the above in mind whenever investigating a company on the BBB.