Net Churn Continues At Crius Energy, Unit Margins Expand

Crius Energy saw net churn continue during the three months ended December 31, 2014, though at a slower pace than earlier in the year, while also seeing expanded unit margins.

As of December 31, 2014, Crius Energy was serving 569,000 residential customer equivalents (RCEs), versus 580,000 RCEs as of September 30, 2014, and 615,000 RCEs a year ago

The net loss of 11,000 RCEs from September 30, 2014 to December 31, 2014 compares to a net loss of 20,000 RCEs from June 30, 2014 to September 30, 2014

As of December 31, 2014, Crius Energy was serving 497,000 electric RCEs and 72,000 natural gas RCEs.

Since the close of the 2014 fiscal year, Crius Energy has agreed to acquire TriEagle Energy, and its 200,000 RCEs. During an earnings call, Crius said that it continues to have a "strong" pipeline of acquisition opportunities.

Following the acquisition of TriEagle, Crius said that it expects robust growth from entering the Texas market with other Crius Energy marketing channels, starting with its network marketing channel in the second half of 2015.

Crius Energy reported expanded units margins for the three months ended December 31, 2014.

Electricity gross margin per unit was $28.51/MWh, up from $16.20/MWh for the three month period ended December 31, 2013. Higher gross margins per unit primarily resulted from the decision in the first quarter of 2014 to increase retail rates on a staggered basis, so cost recovery related to the polar vortex conditions experienced in the first quarter would occur over time and mitigate customer attrition.

Natural gas gross margin per unit was $2.44/MMBtu, up from $1.77/MMBtu

For the three months ended December 31, 2014, Crius adjusted EBITDA of $14.4 million, up 136.1% from $6.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2013

Fourth quarter revenue was $134.3 million, up 4.5% from $128.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2013

For the full year 2014, Crius' solar business contributed $6.1 million in revenue and $3.4 million in adjusted EBITDA on total generation capacity sold of 10.7 MW in 2014. Crius ramped up gross system sales in 2014 from approximately 350 in the first quarter to nearly 1,000 in the fourth quarter and expanded into the commercial solar segment in the fourth quarter of 2014