On a November 2 earnings call, ADT announced it is restructuring its solar business it acquired from Sunpro in 2021. ADT Solar will be “focusing on the top performing markets and rationalizing the overhead and infrastructure of the business accordingly.”
ADT said its total solar revenue for Q3 2023 was $58 million, down 68% compared to Q3 2022. The company said the drop was driven by lower installations and weaker sales performance.
The company identified that 16 out of 38 branches made up approximately 70% of its sales volume and plans to close the 22 that weren’t performing as expected. ADT says it still expects to be a Top 10 residential solar player by volume in 2024.
Screengrab of the earnings call
The 16 branches remaining open:
- Atlanta
- Chicago
- Cincinnati
- Columbus
- Destin
- Germantown
- Houston
- Jacksonville
- Kansas City
- Miami
- Peoria
- Richmond
- St. Louis
- Tampa
- Temecula
- Carlsbad
The 22 branches closing:
- Albuquerque
- Brownsville
- Charleston
- Charlotte
- Dallas
- Denver
- Des Moines
- El Paso
- Fresno
- Greenville
- Las Vegas
- Little Rock/NW Arkansas
- Lubbock
- Mandeville
- Oklahoma City
- Omaha
- Phoenix
- Raleigh
- Sacramento
- San Antonio
- Savannah
- Valdosta
In a post on LinkedIn, ADT Solar president Jamie Haenggi addressed current customer concerns.
“As we refine our focus, we remain committed to our existing customers, ensuring their projects reach completion,” Haenggi said.
Poor lead ship led to this happening. They paid $898 million for the business in 2021, grossly overpaying.
The ADT leadership team has failed at everything they have touched since the integration with Protection One, including the failed integration with Brinks Home Security, a diamond in the alarm business.
Same old leaders keep failing forward.
I think anyone who was under Sun Pro (which did a great job on install and on problems that arose). Now I have a problem with an section of panels not reporting and just found out back in December 23 that ADT now owned Sun Pro. They keep putting me off saying I am in line for service but it could take 30 days before I hear from anyone. They don’t have a service department here in EL Paso and I just now see we were dropped by them. What can be done?
We had a system installed. It was a complex situation, as we also had them install a new roof prior to installation. It turns out they sub out roof installations, and the project manager they were supposed to send out was useless and almost never here. The roofing contractor put a nail through a gas line, which caused major issues for us. Once past that, getting the solar install scheduled was a major hassle, and we wound up coordinating with our city and HOA ourselves for ADT. We finally got it done, and we’ve been pleased with the final result, although we absolutely hated the process. We even did a referral for them — and of course, they never paid the referral fee that they promised they would pay.
I installed a solar panel system in New Orleans, LA (with battery backup), with Sunpro, in 2022. Sunpro was later acquired by ADT. I have no major complaints. Yes, it took 4 months to get permission from our local utility to begin operating, but once we did so the system has produced close to expectations – our 44 panels produced 19,020 kwh in 2023 (the first full calendar year of operation), vs. the 21,042 estimated by Sunpro. I love the fact that I can monitor production/consumption/imports/exports in real time, and historically, via the Enphase app. It is a shame that service has deteriorated so much since the acquisition by ADT.
The economics of the industry are likely being severely hurt by the recent increases in interest rates. I was able to finance all of the initial costs of the solar panels themselves (roughly $52,000 before tax credits) at 3.49% fixed for a 12-year loan. We later added the battery storage ($21,000 before tax credits) and effectively paid for that with all of the tax credits we received. With this favorable financing and the 30% tax credit, the ROI on the investment, while not spectacular, is acceptable. However, if we had to finance it at current rates that are closer to 7%, the ROI would be very low and perhaps even negative, and we would not do the project.
Our system took a year to be installed. It took ADT Solar 4 attempts to get the electrical power connected properly by technicians that could not speak English. Once finished a lady named Cindy came out to inspect the system before it could “go live”. She discovered a place on the roof that the wires were not covered by the conduit and was supposed to send an electrician out to fix it. That never happened. Our system had the Tesla battery backup. When we had a power failure our battery only powered our house for a few hours. When we called about it we got the run around. Once someone did call us back, we were told we were wired for a whole house system but we only have a half house battery. If we wanted whole house we needed 2 batteries. On that call they tried to locate our battery in their system and could not even find it. Someone was supposed to call us about that and never did. Our system hardly produces any power. We are making monthly payments to ADT and still have a large electric bill each month. Total of the two payments is more than the power bills was before we got the solar system. Time to contact a lawyer because making phone calls to ADT gets you nowhere.
ADT Solar is a scam. Took my money and now 9 months later they’re closing this division with no service provided for a significant down payment. Refund promised 5-7 days after contact(Dec 1, 2023) it’s now Dec 28, 2023. No check. ADT company has little idea on how to communicate with solar customers. Now I’m being told the check is in the mail. Hmmmm….. lawyers and tv/radio stations are next!
ADT collected $9000 from my elderly parents in Albuquerque in May and still have not installed the Solar. Now they sent a letter about shutting down the branch without any plan to refund the $9000. I called them back in August to find out what was going on on my parents’ behalf and they claimed they were still waiting on approval from the city. I was suspicious then and now I am really pissed that they weren’t up front at the time.
I am a current customer.they told me the system would take up 57% of my electric usage.
Itt has produced less than 10% I have recently went to my electric company to get usage print outs and about to contact an attorney cause I get no response from contacting ADT.
After looking at the list of closing sites, I have to have to ask why are some of these low performing? Seems to me they have a product quality or a installation quality issue.
We chose ADT solar based on name recognition and after18 months we are still without a working system. Now with the closure there is no hope of completion, and it is now time to start looking for an attorney. The company revenue is down because they have a reputation in the Solar space now as scam artists with poorly performing product and nonexistent service. We are now paying a month fee for the installed nonfunctioning system after enduring a summer of $800.00 electric bills on top of their billing. I wish we has researched their reputation in the solar space before engaging with them. They have a 1-star rating on yelp, and many stories of forged contracts, failed systems and FB pages dedicated to them and the complete and utter lack of service.
Hi Melissa,
Sorry for the trouble. If you want to respond with your service area, another installer may be able to help you. https://www.amicussolar.com/our-member-owners/ may be a good resource to find a reputable installer in your area.
Tony Hutton vs ADT Solar, LLC, formerly Marc Jones Construction, LLC, d/b/a SunPro Solar I got an arbitration award recently.
thank you for posting this. I think court is our only option to get better service because our panels are not getting us the estimated watts and now there is no customer support
I absolutely hate ADT solar. It would take me days to explain why I hate them so much. Just say this, I was so sick of them that I was considering selling my family home just to get out of the lease