| Xcel solar power plan catching on
Xcel Energy Inc., Colorado's largest utility, connected its 1,000th small-solar customer to the grid on Monday. Xcel's "Solar*Rewards" program, which gives customers rebates to help cover the cost of buying and installing solar panels on their homes and small businesses to generate electricity, has grown rapidly in the last 18 months. Xcel (NYSE: XEL) is based in Minneapolis. It has 1.3 million electricity customers in Colorado. To date, Xcel has handed out $19.5 million in rebates and payments for "Renewable Energy Credits" for customers offering solar power for use in their homes, businesses and to the utility. The money comes from a special charge on every Xcel customers' bill in Colorado. Currently, customers pay an extra 0.6 percent, or roughly 36 cents on a $60 monthly electricity bill.
How to brand like the big guys
Scott Jungles is the owner of the PRstore (www.prstore.com) in Wilmington, a full-service marketing store offering advice and creative services to help small business owners establish and communicate their message and increase their sales. Contact him at (302)995-1944.Branding: why small businesses should act like big businessesMost of us recognize brands we use everyday. Picking coffee at Starbucks, visiting Trader Joe's for groceries or stopping by Home Depot for materials for the weekend home improvement project are things we often do without thinking.Yet the reason we buy something, visit a store or contribute to a particular effort is based on how we know about it, how we understand it, and how we value it — its brand. Even paying attention to something we know nothing about is a conscious decision and could be a rejection of known brands.Most brands we easily identify and use tend to be large, national companies.
Startup Bank Predicts New Traditions In East Pasco
A new bank started with $20 million from local investors and business people will open its doors Dec. 10. Florida Traditions Bank expects to lend to small-business owners, farmers and ranchers, said Bud Stalnaker, president of the new venture. The bank also wants to cater to those customers' personal financial needs, including checking accounts, and auto and home-equity loans. Its target market is east Pasco County and Spring Hill. Stalnaker, a career banker, said some customers want a bank with locally based staff and executives. "They can walk in here and talk to the president," he said. "They can't do that in a lot of places, and we'll come to their businesses and open their accounts for them if they can't get here." Florida Traditions is opening in the former Wachovia bank at 14033 Eighth St.
Small Businesses: A Con Man's Best Hunting Grounds, Warns Jack Payne
The increase in small and home-based businesses has spawned a new breed of scam artists, according to business expert Jack Payne, author of 55 business books and the legal thriller Six Hours Past Thursday (ISBN 1-59113-502-8, Impact Books, http://www.sixhrs.com). Scammers are more sophisticated, more adaptable and more ruthless than ever before -- and they're targeting unsuspecting entrepreneurs. .
JREF lends $175K to new Columbia day-care center
Small business financier JREF has loaned $175,000 to Columbia's One Love Childcare Learning Center LLC. One Love is a newly opened day-care center that is an expansion of a home-based child care business founded by Paulette Gunter. One Love's new location is the former site of Columbia Academy on Deepage Drive. The firm describes its mission as "to foster the development of each child through positive emotional, social, academic and physical stimuli." Gunter's husband, Winston Gunter, and her brother Sylbert Delroy Blackwell are co-owners of the business. JREF has supported other start-up child care facilities that have grown and thrived, executive director Michael Mobley said in a news release. JREF is a private, nonprofit funding source for start-up and emerging firms in Howard County.
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