HVAC companies take hit in warm winter

The warm winter weather might be good for your electric bill, but some businesses are taking a hit from the absence of Old Man Winter.

Marty Kopack, a service technician with the heating and air-conditioning business Allen Kelly & Co. says that this time of the year there should be plenty of repair jobs on furnaces and heaters.

"But when it's 72 degrees and you can open your windows, you're not going to be running a lot of heaters," he said.

Across the board, Allen Kelly's business is down about 20 percent compared to previous winters, sales and marketing manager Brett Chappell said.

"We need the unit to operate in order to create more business," he said. "But it is what it is."

Raleigh Heating and Air has also seen a 20 percent drop, service manager Brian Barber said.

"This is probably one of the worst (winters for business) in a good while," he said.

It's been so bad, he said, that the company has had to temporarily lay off some workers. They are expected to be hired back in about a month.

"With the repair prices, a lot of people either don't have the money or they're not wanting to spend it because the winter is so mild," Barber said. "They're just trying to get through until summer."

That's why representatives with both companies say they are offering deals to attract customers. They say that with a mild winter, there is no better time to do a maintenance check and have someone like Kopack show up for a house call.

Kopack says that in the meantime, companies are using the downtime to send their technicians to get more training.

"I can honestly say it's been slow for all the service companies in town," he said.