NC solar company cuts 500 jobs just weeks after filing lawsuit over faulty devices

Editor’s note: This story was published on Sep. 12, 2022, and was updated on Sept. 14.

Pink Energy is laying off about 500 employees following its fallout with customers over equipment failure that the Mooresville solar company blames on its former business partner.

The layoffs began Monday, according to documents filed Wednesday with the N.C. Department of Commerce.

The layoffs are companywide throughout 16 states, company spokesman Roger Kuznia told The Charlotte Observer on Monday.

Of the 500 job cuts, 81 are in North Carolina, Kuznia said Wednesday.

Pink Energy’s installation facility at 270 International Drive NW Concord is closed, impacting 25 workers, he said, and its Raleigh sales office also is closed. Pink Energy has three other North Carolina offices in Mooresville, Charlotte and Fayetteville.

‘The company was not able to provide the required 60-days notice about the layoffs due to “unforeseeable business circumstances related to an unanticipated economic downturn affecting the demand for our products and services,” Hope Branch, vice president of human resources for Pink Energy said in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) report filing.

Roles vary from installers to field energy and customer service and payroll, Pink Energy founder and CEO Jayson Waller told The Charlotte Observer on Monday.

Pink Energy, formerly known as Power Home Solar, is suing Wisconsin-based Generac Power Systems Inc. in federal court in Virginia, citing negligence, breach of contract and other claims against Generac, the Observer reported last month.

Pink Energy blamed Generac for the layoffs saying its faulty equipment led to rampant consumer complaints.

“We trusted Generac because of its status as a publicly traded company to be honest and open about its firmware update being a permanent fix, and it was not,” Waller said in a statement Monday. “That’s led to thousands of unhappy customers and crippled all parts of our business, leading to our layoffs.”

Generac stands behind the safety of its products.

“We will be reviewing the matter and intend on vigorously defending ourselves,” Generac said in a statement to the Observer last month.

Other layoffs at Pink Energy

Earlier this year, Pink Energy cut about 600 jobs, blaming the Generac product issues. Of those layoffs in May and August, about 220 were in North Carolina, Kuznia said.

Pink Energy had over 2,100 employees at the start of the year before any of the layoffs, Waller said. “Our business has been more than cut in half,” he said.

The eight-year-old company had been rapidly growing. In June, Pink Energy opened a Charlotte call center at 8711 University East Drive. The company serves 35,000 residential solar customers in 16 states, including about 5,700 homes in North Carolina.

But now, Pink Energy will no longer be selling its solar services in North Carolina, Georgia or Texas, Waller told the Observer. Pink Energy will continue services to existing customers in those states. And, customer cancellations have tripled, Waller said.

“We’re trying to right-size the company,” Waller said. “We’re fighting for our lives here for survival and working to build trust with customers again.”

Pink Energy lawsuit claims

Pink Energy claims Generac’s devices, called SnapRS, used in its solar panels since 2020 failed.

The switches, which are supposed to cut off electricity to individual solar panels in case of lightning strikes or power surges, melted or exploded, according to Pink Energy’s lawsuit. The device failures caused Pink Energy customers’ house fires in South Carolina, Virginia and Ohio, the Observer reported.

Pink Energy has been swamped with complaints from unhappy customers, going from a typical 800 a month to 30,000, Waller said.

Having replaced about 50,000 SnapRS parts, Pink Energy has since terminated its relationship with Generac.

“We need Generac to take responsibility for these failing parts by issuing a national recall,” Waller said. “They haven’t done the right thing and Pink Energy is taking the blame.”

To reach Generac, customers can call 800-396-1281 or email solarsupport@generac.com. Pink Energy customers experiencing any other issues unrelated to Generac products can call 833-423-1132 or email customer@gopink.com.

This story was originally published September 12, 2022 at 3:50 PM.