Cost Less Energy’s storefront lets customers see solar products up close.
Cost Less Energy (No. 336 on the upcoming 2015 Top Solar Contractors list) has been in business in Yakima, Washington, for 36 years, consistently staying ahead of the curve. It hopped from one emerging industry to the next before confidently settling into solar a decade ago. Manager Don Mills said early adopters have been key to business as his company (originally known as Sights and Sounds) moved from installing cable television in 1979 to cell phones in the ‘90s and finally renewable energy today.
“We started off before most people in our area heard of cable TV,” he said. “We started by giving people something they wanted. A lot of times, it’s an early adopter thing—just people who wanted it or will pay a little more for it.”
Yakima is located near the center of Washington state, so often Mills’ storefront was the nearest place to find these futuristic technologies. He kept a stock of VCRs, beta players, cell phones and more for anyone interested. Since the store was the go-to spot for the latest technology trends, customers would come in with suggestions on products, and that’s how Cost Less Energy was introduced to energy efficiency products and renewable energy. Biodiesel was the company’s first major undertaking.
“We stocked and sold that, had some really good results,” Mills said. “People would come into our store to do their biodiesel class or buy their biodiesel processor, and they’d look around and ask if we had solar panels. After a few people asked about it—of course early adopters—here we are selling solar panels.”
Business transformed in the ‘90s to “anything that could save people money on their energy bill,” and Mills said today about 90% of Cost Less Energy’s sales comes from solar. Its storefront also helps gain customers, as it is one of the only places in the region where people can come in and see major brands of solar products and systems up close.
“[Staying ahead of the curve] has been our forte. It’s been really fun,” Mills said. “We’ve got a lot of wonderful customers that would bring ideas to us. We just took off with it. We’ve been doing solar longer than anything. It’s gone from early adopter to mainstream, and that’s what we really like.”
Originally installing maybe one system a month, Cost Less Energy has graduated to one or more a week and expects to hit the commercial market this year. Even if the ITC drops at the end of 2016, Mills said he’s not worried about business slowing down.
“We think we might be in sort of an early adopter phase again,” he said. “People need to be reacquainted with something that might cost a little more, but there are benefits over time. Because that has been our modus operandi for 36 years, we’re not worried about it.”
