TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Two weeks ago Titusville company, Brevard Solar, abruptly shut down doors leaving numerous customers with unfinished jobs.
Now other solar companies are stepping in to finish the jobs Brevard Solar left behind, for little to no profit, according to Ed Sweat, the owner of AllSolar Energy Inc.
“These people really wanted to save energy. They wanted to save money and someone took advantage of it,” Sweat said. “Whether it was by misfortune or mismanagement is irrelevant, what ends up happening is it puts a black eye on the industry.”
Sweat's company has been in business for 20 years.
When he heard about Brevard Solar closing its doors, he said it was a numbers game.
“There are 300 people that are unhappy. They’re going to tell 15 more people,” he said. “Well, that’s going be 6,000 people, in our market, who won’t want to go solar.”
Sweat was so concerned about the reputation of the entire industry, he took action.
He reached out to News 6 after we reported the closure asking to contact the customer in that story, Steven Vandercook.
"It was really nice to see someone that was actually trying to really help people like me who have been stuck in this situation," Vandercook said.
Sweat is contacting many customers who had unfinished jobs and contracts with Brevard Solar.
Sweat also got other solar companies and suppliers on board and they plan to finish the jobs at cost.
Sweat explained that he and the other companies would all lose money if public opinion of the solar industry went south.
"It took an explanation of here's what’s going to happen if we don't, and they get it and they say ok yeah, we'll do it too," Sweat said.
Kylie Mason, a press secretary for Attorney General Ashley Moody, released a statement to News 6 confirming it was working with other agencies.
"We are actively reviewing complaints we have received against Brevard Solar," according to the statement.
Moody's office confirmed it has received 65 formal complaints against Brevard Solar, but Sweat believes many others have not filed complaints.
"This is just the first time I've seen it on such a grand scale," Sweat said.
Sweat started the website www.BrevardSolarVictims.com for those who still need their jobs finished.
He hopes to have Vandercook's installation complete within the next couple of weeks.
"It does give you a little bit of faith, restoration in humanity, it gives you the feel goods again that someone is willing to help out," Vandercook said.
The owners of Brevard Solar, Sandra and Jim Spann, sent this statement through their attorney.
"We regret terribly that we had to close our company. We did our best to save the financial structure, but failed. Our intentions were always to continue providing the community with state of the art equipment and service. The business is not filing a bankruptcy petition since it was left with minimal to no assets. Personally, we became bankrupt and will be filing personal bankruptcy as per our lawyers’ advice."
In the meantime, Ed Sweat and his partners hope to have those unfinished jobs completed within 3-6 months.