Direct Energy Parent Acquires Leading Demand Response Aggregator, Will Leverage For North American DR Growth

Centrica plc has acquired REstore NV, which Centrica described as, "Europe’s leading demand response aggregator," for €70 million (£62 million) in cash.

Headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium, REstore manages 1.7GW of peak load from a portfolio of industrial and commercial customers across Belgium, the UK, France and Germany, generating value for businesses through ancillary services including frequency response and capacity markets.

Centrica said that the company’s software and international patents are currently used by over 150 of Europe’s largest energy users, including chemical, steel and food manufacturers.

The business will form part of Centrica’s international Distributed Energy & Power unit, "which provides energy insight, asset optimisation and energy solutions to large energy users under the Centrica Business Solutions banner," Centrica said

"Through this acquisition, demand response aggregation will become a core part of the offer to customers and is expected to represent a significant growth opportunity for Centrica as global electricity markets evolve," Centrica said

"REstore brings key capabilities in asset optimisation, one of the five strategic pillars of Centrica Business, and is complementary to those provided by Centrica’s previous acquisitions of Panoramic Power, Neas Energy and ENER-G Cogen. The acquisition will also further expand Centrica’s geographic footprint into new European markets," Centrica said. After acquiring such other companies, Centrica has expanded their offerings, such as Panoramic Power and ENER-G Cogen to North America via Direct Energy Business

Jorge Pikunic, Managing Director of Centrica Distributed Energy & Power, said: "This acquisition is an important step forward in the delivery of our strategy, expanding on our offer to business customers to help them take control of their energy and gain competitive advantage."

REstore’s co-founders Pieter-Jan Mermans and Jan-Willem Rombouts, said: "There is clearly a momentum in the market right now so we are thrilled to be working with Centrica to further scale the go-to-market of REstore’s software solutions and demand response services in the UK, North America and other international markets."

Headquartered in Antwerp, REstore was founded in 2010 by co-CEOs Pieter-Jan Mermans and Jan-Willem Rombouts and is a privately held company. Mermans and Rombouts will now join Centrica Distributed Energy & Power’s senior leadership team.

REstore has approximately 50 employees, the majority of whom are based in Belgium with sales teams in the UK, France, Germany and California.