From identifying more accurate qualifications and better targets to enhancing assessments and ROI calculations, solar providers stand to gain a tremendous competitive advantage with the help of cost and consumption data from utility bills.
Accelerating Solar Sales with Utility Bill Data
Matt Kuo | Urjanet
The evolution of the solar industry over the last thirty years has been swift. From solar cells powering satellites in space expeditions to residential panels powering homes across the globe, solar has scaled to the masses.
In the last decade alone, the solar industry has grown at an average rate of 59 percent account to GTM Research. And while growth is surging, margins for the solar industry continue to weaken as a plethora of new regional and national players enter the market to gain a slice of the pie.
In this increasingly competitive landscape, solar providers of all sizes need to shift their focus to find a way to cut through the noise. Utility bill data can help solar companies create a competitive advantage and dramatically improve their sales process and results.
Here, we will outline 3 ways for solar companies to leverage utility invoice data to accelerate their sales:
Enhance lead qualification and identify better targets:
Solar providers can use on-demand and historical utility data to identify utilities and specific regions with the highest tariffs and rate increases in recent years. With detailed insights into demand charges, seasonal peaks, time-of-use rates, and general energy costs for both residential and commercial properties, providers can make more informed decisions about identifying target markets to improve their conversion rates.
Provide stronger value propositions:
Historical utility bill data is a critical component to properly assessing the value of a solar investment for a prospect. By accessing historical usage and cost data, providers can accurately show the prospect how much they would save with differently sized solar systems and different financial arrangements, including leases, power purchase agreements, and loans. These savings can be represented in both energy units and dollars.
Increase access to capital and drive growth:
Solar systems are generally financed by a third-party financing company or by a solar provider’s internal finance branch. Utility bill data is extremely valuable for these groups for two main reasons. First, it enables to them to properly calculate the ROI of the system by comparing solar loan payments to the decrease in monthly utility costs after installation. Second, they can command a higher resale price when selling their portfolio of solar loans in a larger market.
Solar companies can leverage utility bill data in a variety of ways to accelerate their sales process. From identifying more accurate qualifications and better targets to enhancing assessments and ROI calculations, solar providers stand to gain a tremendous competitive advantage with the help of cost and consumption data from utility bills.
In order to realize the full benefits, they must have a scalable process in place to quickly assess accurate utility data when needed. With these advantages, solar companies can edge out their competition and succeed in the future as this industry continues to grow.
About Matt Kuo
Matt brings with him over a decade of experience bringing to market innovative new products for technology companies. He has a passion for building world-class products and loves technology – especially when it's well architected, scalable, and delights customers.
At Urjanet, he leads the company’s overall product strategy and development, mobilizing cross functional teams to rapidly develop and launch new offerings. Prior to joining Urjanet, he has held strategic product roles at Kabbage, CNN Digital, Apple and IBM. Matt holds a Computer Engineering degree from Georgia Tech.
The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of AltEnergyMag
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