PSEG's Izzo Says Company Still Looking At Retail, But "Not A Big Fan"

During an earnings call on Friday, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) CEO Ralph Izzo updated investors on the company's review of a potential entry into retail electricity marketing, emphasizing that while the company continues to look at it, any such move would be defensive

Asked by an analyst whether "retail" remained in the company's lexicon, Izzo said, "Yeah, it still is. But it remains in the lexicon as a defensive move to help us make sure we can be more effective in managing our basis risk, and Keys [PSEG's recently acquired Keys Energy Center combined cycle plant in Maryland] is going to go a long way to that, and it's not a retail play, so there are things we can do other than retail. But we are disciplined and cautious, as you know, I'm not a big fan of the retail business. I think everybody falls in love with it in a declining price environment, that's typically when you can make a lot of money in retail. It's when prices rise, and people are caught short for whatever reason, that life isn't quite so pleasant. So we would look at it purely as a small part of our output purely for defensive purposes and managing basis risk, and we're still looking at that and working on it."