Pavel Molchanov: Appreciate that. Following up, we now have the lowest unemployment rate in 50-odd years. Are any of your installers complaining about labor shortages or rising wage rates and anything along those lines? And if so, where geographically is that more an issue?
Peter Faricy: We’ve been very fortunate. And I think part of the reason we’ve been fortunate with labor is that we are on a special mission to make a positive difference in the world. So I was just out with a number of our installation teams over the past two weeks throughout California. For those who haven’t had a chance to go out and see a customer installation, it’s so inspiring. I mean customers are delighted. And our teams are like professional athletes up there on the roof, getting all this hard work done. So despite the fact that it’s challenging work and the weather conditions vary widely throughout the year, we really have had an opportunity to being able to hire as we need to hire and stay sufficiently staffed. One of the things that’s critical for us and our core values is how important safety is.
And when I’m out in the field that I’m talking to our installers, the number one value that I talk about first is how much we care about their safety. So we’re constantly making sure they have the best equipment in terms of helmets and no cut gloves. We’re constantly doing safety audits to see if we can improve our performance. And I think at the end of the day that sincere value of safety, in addition to the mission, comes through, and I think many people really want to work for a company like SunPower. So we’ve been fortunate so far. We have not really been impacted by labor shortages. Beginning of last year, we had a couple of specialty areas that were more difficult to hire for, but we were still able to hire and stay on plan throughout last year.
And so far this year, I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll be able to do the same.
Pavel Molchanov: Got it. Thanks very much.
Peter Faricy: Yes. Thank you. We’ve got time for one or two more questions. Thank you.
Operator: Certainly. And possibly, our final question for today comes from the line of Ned Baramov from Wells Fargo. Your question, please.
Ned Baramov: Hi, guys. Thanks for squeezing me in. You talked about backlog growth due to customers in California, rushing to submit their application before April 15. Is there a risk for customers that end up in your backlog to be effectively stolen by other installers offering better terms or faster installation times, or is there a mechanism that you have in place to lock in the customer, so that they remain in your backlog until you get to the installation of their systems, even if that falls in the third quarter?
Peter Faricy: Yes. Thank you for the question. So our customers who choose SunPower, normally choose SunPower, because we have the highest-rated customer experience in the United States for residential solar. And that’s a combination of the high-quality panels, the world-class consumer confidence warranty and the long history we have at serving customers well. So it’s our expectation that once customers sign up with us and sign a contract that they’ll remain with us throughout that time period. One of the things we’re trying to do in California is try to give some good guidance for customers on when their installation could take place. We know that for customers who have a more simple installation, it is likely that they’ll still be able to be installed in the next few months.
But for those who have more complicated installations and that could include a reroof or main panel upgrade, it will take us longer to get to those customers as they have a fair amount of work to do on their home before we arrive. So, it’s our expectation that these customers will remain with SunPower, and we feel very good about the reason they’ve chosen us to begin with, and we think that many of them will stick through us as we work through our backlog.
Ned Baramov: That makes sense.
Peter Faricy: Thanks very much everybody today — yes. Sorry, go ahead. You can finish up.
Ned Baramov: I just had one quick question on the additional platform investment, the $55 million in 2023. Is this a reflection of previously unforeseen requirements to get you to where you want to be, or just accelerating investments to improve the EBITDA per customer?
Peter Faricy: Accelerating investments to drive more growth and provide more growth opportunities. So, the last page I went through in our opening comments, these new panel agreements, the GM arrangement, the new battery we’re working on, those are examples and then programs like VVP and grid services are other examples of things that we’re quite excited about investing heavily in. We really think of this as my role for this company is not just to make sure we deliver results between now and 2025. But I’m constantly purposing back and forth between today and our future. And we’re trying to invest in what, I would call, seeds of growth, new business opportunities that by the time we reach 2025 will become material. One of the best examples of it is probably VPP.
It’s a business that we’re in today on a smaller scale. It won’t be material this year. It will begin to gain some momentum again in 2023 and 2024, but it’s the kind of business that we would count on being more material by the time we get to 2025. So, we’re being very smart about — we have a strong balance sheet. It’s a land grab here in the US. We’re leaning in, and that’s all part of our strategy is to lean in and invest and build and grow something special.
Peter Faricy: Big thanks to all of you for all the questions, and we look forward to sharing our results and our details with you for a terrific 2023. Thanks very much.
Operator: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today’s conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day.
