Many homeowners want to reduce their carbon footprints by using a greater mix of renewable energy in the electricity they buy each month from their local utility company, but doing so has been difficult in years past. Many homeowners are daunted by the prospect of installing solar panels on their roofs; additionally, renters lacking the authority to modify the structures in which they reside have traditionally been denied from accessing greener energy options.
Fortunately, a new suite of programs designed to make converting some share of one’s electricity use to renewable sources is taking hold in the U.S. These programs –often known as “Community Solar” projects — involve no construction or investment on the homeowner’s part. Instead, the homeowner (or renter) simply subscribes to a Community Distributed Generation (CDG) program. After subscribing, the homeowner receives credits from their utility company each month that reduce their monthly electricity bill.
Dan Kartzman, of Community Power LI, knows a lot about these new programs and the good they can do to decarbonize energy use in the U.S., and his company is among the first to begin actively subscribing people to a CDG program on Long Island. Part of the challenge for Dan was the fact that effectively selling his company’s services requires building trust among consumers as well as educating them on the nuts and bolts of the sign-up process. Here, an inhouse sales team equipped to answer granular questions from prospects was required to bring people to a level of comfort so that they were ready to subscribe.
In the complete interview, below, Dan — who is also a client — discusses Community Power LI’s origin story, how the program works, the program’s recent success in gaining customers, the use of top-of-funnel marketing channels to build brand trust, Dan’s experience with Didit, future expansion plans for Community Power LI, and other issues relevant to marketing, digital marketing, and the development of non-fossil energy sources in the New York region.
