U.S.-Based Retail Energy Parent Suspends Plan To Spin-Off European Retail Energy Supply Business

Genie Energy Ltd announced that it has suspended the previously reported planned public offering and spin-off of its European retail energy supply business, Oriel Energy, "in light of the impacts of the extreme volatility in the United Kingdom's energy markets on the retail energy supply industry."

"The turbulence in the United Kingdom's wholesale energy markets in recent weeks combined with the UK's price cap system has significantly impacted the ability of independent energy suppliers, including our UK subsidiary, Orbit Energy, to operate," said Michael Stein, Genie Energy's CEO. "Accordingly, we are suspending the planned capital raise and spin-off of our European operations while we exit the UK market and work to ensure continuity of supply for our customers. While our Orbit Energy subsidiary has a comprehensive program to manage near-term exposure to commodity price volatility, our decision reflects our assessment of longer term challenges in the market."

Genie Energy's Orbit Energy subsidiary served approximately 119,000 meters in the UK at June 30, 2021 including both electricity and natural gas customers.

"Since we will no longer be investing in new meter acquisition in the UK, we expect that our decision will positively impact our bottom line in the coming quarters. Elsewhere in our business, we are excited by the opportunities ahead across our markets. We continue to work to expand our Scandinavian and US retail customer bases and accelerate the rapid growth of our domestic renewables businesses," Mr. Stein added.