NRG Energy to Acquire Energy Plus Holdings, LLC

NRG Energy, Inc. announced this morning a definitive agreement to acquire Energy Plus Holdings, LLC for $190 million in cash.

Energy Plus supplies electricity services to over 160,000 customers in seven states, and also offers natural gas in New York and New Jersey.

NRG said that the acquisition, "will provide NRG an effective retail platform to expand its customer services and products in multiple retail markets, particularly the northeast."

More than 90% of Energy Plus' customers are in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois.

The transaction will also expand the NRG retail business line to include natural gas commodity sales. NRG's current retail suppliers exclusively sell electricity and electricity-related services (solar, EV, etc.).

"As we launch our retail expansion in the Northeast, Energy Plus adds a highly effective, absolutely unique and essentially non-replicable sales chain to our successful retail energy platform," NRG CEO David Crane said of the Energy Plus model, which relies on affinity rewards programs for customer acquisition.

Energy Plus also recently launched a subsidiary, Independence Energy, focused on network marketing sales.

"With Energy Plus' leading rewards programs, Reliant's strength providing smart energy solutions and Green Mountain's position as the nation's premier clean energy provider, NRG will offer three distinct retail value propositions," NRG said.

The quote above suggests that Energy Plus will continue as a separately run brand, similar to how Reliant and Green Mountain operate today.

The transaction, which is subject to customary regulatory approvals, is expected to close in October.

As only reported in Matters, Reliant has expanded residential service to four Northeast markets, with licenses granted or pending to serve additional states (7/1). Green Mountain Energy is also expanding, for non-residential service only at this time, its Northeast footprint beyond New York, with licenses granted or pending in several states (4/6).