Just Energy Sees Return to Mass Market Customer Growth

After two quarters of declining mass market customer count, Just Energy saw net growth in its mass market customer book for the three months ended September 30, 2014.

Just Energy was serving 1.947 million mass market Residential Customer Equivalents (RCEs) as of September 30, 2014, up from 1.942 million mass market RCEs as of June 30, 2014, and 1.977 million a year ago.

The net growth of 5,000 mass market RCEs from June 30 to September 30 compares to a net loss of 3,000 mass market RCEs from March 31 to June 30, and a net loss of 15,000 mass market RCEs from December 31, 2013 to March 31, 2014.

Gross mass market additions during the three months ended September 30, 2014 were 174,000 RCEs.

The September 30, 2014 mass market customer base also includes 31,000 smart-thermostat customers (versus 30,000 as of June 30, 2014)

Just Energy commercial RCEs increased to 2.657 million RCEs as of September 30, 2014, versus 2.595 million RCEs as of June 30, 2014, and 2.345 million RCEs a year ago.

The net growth of 62,000 commercial RCEs since June 30, 2014 compares to net growth of 130,000 commercial RCEs from March 31, 2014 to June 30, 2014.

Total Just Energy customer count was 4.604 million RCEs as of September 30, 2014, versus 4.537 million as of June 30, 2014, and 4.322 million a year ago.

Just Energy Base EBITDA from continuing operations for the three months ended June 30, 2014 was $31.7 million, up from $28.3 million in the prior comparable quarter (all $ Canadian).

The increase is attributable to the 17% increase in gross margin, offset by higher operating costs. The increase in gross margin is associated with the 7% increase in customer base, lower electricity balancing costs, a favorable impact from the recovery through fees of certain costs to serve as well as the increase in contribution from the JustGreen product offerings.