Is Calpine Thinking of Starting a Retail Supplier? Here's What CEO Thad Hill Said

With one of its largest pure-play generation rivals, Dynegy, entering the retail electric supply business last year, Calpine is increasingly unique among merchant generators in not owning a retail book as a hedge for its generation to counter the cyclical nature of the business.

Other originally pure-play merchant generators (NRG Energy) entered the retail space years ago, while others (Mirant) have become associated with retail books through various acquisitions.

An analyst during a Calpine earnings call Friday asked if Calpine believed adding a retail channel aligned with its hedging strategy.

Here's what Calpine CEO Thad Hill had to say:

"As far as the retail business goes, we have stuck to staying a pure-play generator. It doesn't mean that we aren't spending more time getting closer to load though. [Chief Commercial Officer] Steve Pruett talked about a couple of different load deals in Texas. And I think you can expect more, [for] us to be closer to load. I'm not willing to say today that we're going to be a retailer though. But we are spending a lot of time getting closer to [load]."