homeowners

Despite record growth in the solar industry last year, software startup Aurora Solar has laid off 20% of its staff of about 500 people, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The company, which provides software to help solar installers manage their sales, project design and installation process, has missed its growth targets for the past year, a source said. It’s possible that Aurora Solar hit stiffer headwinds than expected in California, where changes in net metering led to homeowners getting paid about 75% less for power sold back to utilities. With net metering rates slashed, the state has decided to offer richer incentives for solar installations that include batteries. While Aurora Solar says its software is used by 90% of the top 100 solar installers, it also has more than 7,000 customers, many of which likely fall in the long tail of the distribution, those that say they’re under the most pressure.

Despite record growth in the solar industry last year, software startup Aurora Solar has laid off 20% of its staff of about 1,000 people, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The company, which provides software to help solar installers manage their sales, project design and installation process, has missed its growth targets for the past year, a source said. It’s possible that Aurora Solar hit stiffer headwinds than expected in California, where changes in net metering led to homeowners getting paid about 75% less for power sold back to utilities. With net metering rates slashed, the state has decided to offer richer incentives for solar installations that include batteries. While Aurora Solar says its software is used by 90% of the top 100 solar installers, it also has more than 7,000 customers, many of which likely fall in the long tail of the distribution, those that say they’re under the most pressure.