Just Energy Mass Market Customer Count Dips, Records Overall Growth On C&I Gains

Just Energy was serving 1.985 million mass market Residential Customer Equivalents (RCEs) as of March 31, 2015, versus 1.991 million mass market RCEs as of December 31, 2014 and 1.945 million mass market RCEs a year ago, the company said in reporting earnings

The loss of 6,000 mass market RCEs from December 31, 2014 to March 31, 2015 compares to an increase of 44,000 mass market RCEs from September 30, 2014 to December 31, 2014.

Just Energy added 149,000 gross mass market RCEs during the three months ended March 31, 2015.

Just Energy commercial RCEs were 2.701 million as of March 31, 2015, up from 2.671 million as of December 31, 2014 and 2.465 million a year ago.

Total Just Energy RCEs were higher at 4.686 million as of March 31, 2015, up from 4.662 million as of December 31, 2014 and 4.410 million a year ago.

For the year ended March 31, 2015, 21% of total energy marketing customer additions were generated from door-to-door sales, 50% from commercial brokers, and 29% through online and other non-door-to-door sales channels.

As of March 31, 2015, Just Energy's U.S., Canadian and U.K. segments accounted for 72%, 24% and 4% of the customer base, respectively.

The total attrition rate for Just Energy was 16% for the year ended March 31, 2015. Mass market attrition was 27%; commercial attrition was 7%.

Annual gross margin per mass market customer added or renewed in fiscal 2015 was $191, up from $166 a year ago, on the sale of premium products.

Annual gross margin per commercial customer added or renewed in fiscal 2015 was $79, up from $67 a year ago, as Just Energy shifted focus away from low-margin commercial customers.

The aggregation costs per customer for mass market customers signed by independent representatives and commercial customers signed by brokers were as follows:

              Mass Market    Commercial
Natural gas     $183/RCE      $46/RCE
Electricity     $143/RCE      $28/RCE
Average         $153/RCE      $29/RCE

For the three months ended March 31, 2015, Just Energy gross margin was higher at $194 million, up from $137 million a year ago (all $ Canadian)

The improvement was attributed to an increase in the customer base versus the year-ago quarter, currency-driven higher margins on U.S.-based contracts and the absence of heavy balancing charges which were recorded in the year-ago quarter due to the Polar Vortex

For the three months ended March 31, 2015, Just Energy Base EBITDA from continuing operations was higher at $68 million, from $57 million a year ago