NRG Reports Retail Customer Count Growth Year-Over-Year, Record Retail Adjusted EBITDA

NRG Energy reported retail growth year-over-year in terms of customer count and Adjusted EBITDA in announcing 2016 earnings

NRG's retail segment for reporting purposes now includes results from its business solutions segment, including C&I retail energy supply and other distributed and reliability products, which was previously included in NRG's generation segment.

Full year 2016 Adjusted EBITDA for NRG's retail segment was a record $811 million, $18 million higher than the $793 million reported in 2015, driven by lower costs, increased retail margins and favorable settlement of a Texas sales tax audit, partially offset by unfavorable impacts from selling back excess supply due to milder weather conditions in 2016 as compared to 2015 and lower volumes driven by lower average customer usage.

Fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA for NRG's retail segment was $134 million, $15 million lower than the fourth quarter 2015, due primarily to an increase in spend associated with customer growth initiatives.

NRG reported that the retail segment expanded its portfolio with the growth of approximately 63,000 recurring mass market customers over the year

Total retail customer count was reported as 2.88 million, versus 2.83 million for 2015.

Total retail volumes were 60.8 TWh for the year 2016, reflecting 41.9 TWh in the mass market, and 18.9 TWh in the C&I market.