Energy Plus Enters "Asset Purchase Agreement" to Acquire Customer Accounts

Energy Plus Holdings LLC has entered into a transaction to acquire a book of customers from another retail supplier.

Specifically, Energy Plus Holdings LLC informed the Pennsylvania PUC that the company has, "entered into an asset purchase agreement," with a retail supplier, whose identity was redacted in a public filing, for the "acquisition" by Energy Plus of certain retail electric supply customer accounts in Pennsylvania.

Energy Plus also states that the unnamed supplier, "has assigned to Energy Plus," the customer accounts. The number of customer accounts assigned was redacted.

Energy Plus and the supplier are sending a 30-day notice to the impacted customers to inform them of the "contract transfer."

The effective date of the transfer is expected to occur as of the meter read date after September 30, 2013.

NRG Energy, the parent of Energy Plus, told EnergyChoiceMatters.com that the acquisition by Energy Plus is a, "relatively small acquisition to acquire customers in multiple states in PJM. It is part of our continued growth strategy."

While the identity of the customer book was not clear, Matters believes that NRG Energy, to this point, has not moved all of the customers on its legacy Independence Energy brand to one of its other retail energy brands (for example, as of July 31, Independence Energy was still serving customers in Connecticut, per PURA data). Matters merely notes this for reference, and makes no intimation, express or otherwise, regarding the identity of the customer book acquired by Energy Plus in Pennsylvania.

The Independence Energy brand was created as a network marketer, but as first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com (click here), NRG elected to cease new enrollments under the brand early this year, as the channel did not fit its retail strategy.

While the term "asset purchase agreement" is used by Energy Plus in the above-described notice to the Pennsylvania PUC, Matters does not view that term as dispositive in deciphering whether or not the transaction may have been the assignment of contacts to Energy Plus from a separate NRG affiliate.