Crowdsourced Executive and Entrepreneur to Lead NRG Effort to Empower Consumers with Innovative, Simple and Smart Energy Options

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 2014-- Today, NRG Energy announced Steve McBee as the first-ever President and CEO of NRG Home, effective December 1, 2014. McBee and the NRG Home team are tasked with bringing NRG’s vision of empowered energy consumers, generating much of their own electricity with distributed generation, into the home and into the lives of our individual customers, keeping them connected wherever they are, whatever they are doing for as long as they are doing it.

“The clean energy potential of the home is ready to be unlocked through the seamless integration of distributed solar, system power and smart energy automation in a way that will empower the American homeowner and provide resilience against the occasional failings of the increasingly antiquated grid,” said David Crane, President and CEO of NRG Energy. “Steve McBee has a proven ability to change industries, create an innovative business approach and drive reinvention. He is just the leader we need to untether Americans from the socket and all that lies behind it. It is time for the American electric industry to join the 21st century.”

NRG’s consumer electricity business has grown rapidly during 2014. NRG Retail, under Elizabeth Killinger, has grown intrinsically and through acquisitions to serve almost three million retail customers with a growing suite of retail products and services. NRG Home Solar, led by Kelcy Pegler, Jr., has similarly expanded with the acquisition of Pure Energies to be one of the biggest residential solar companies nationwide. Finally, NRG Retail has acquired Goal Zero, bringing the benefits of distributed solar power and storage to every American wherever they live, regardless of whether they are a homeowner.

This rapid growth in footprint and capabilities gives NRG Home the momentum needed to accelerate the race for a clean energy future.

"The world's biggest problems need the world's biggest solutions – and addressing global energy challenges is no different,” said McBee. "I am excited to join a company that, under David Crane's leadership, understands that today's global energy challenges represent an opportunity to build our business and change lives. The NRG Home business plan is based on a very simple principle – consumers benefit from every investment and innovation available across our business so that their energy is as clean and convenient as they'd like it to be.”

NRG Home’s business model has three tenets:

1. Leveraging the synergies of NRG’s current consumer-facing business units so the company is a hub for all of the clean energy needs of its customers;

2. Creating products and services, simple and seamless, that will empower consumers to have greater control over how they manage their energy usage and their personal energy production;

3. Enabling energy customers to make a difference with their personal energy choices so that they can serve a higher societal purpose while freeing themselves from the limitations of the conventional electricity system.

McBee was identified as a result of NRG's crowdsourcing initiative launched in August, which received over 700 nominations and identified and hired multiple exceptional candidates for several other critical positions within NRG. Since McBee was nominated by an NRG executive who is not eligible to receive the $100,000 crowdsourcing cash prize, NRG has donated the $100,000 to that executive's charity of choice, Where Hope Lives.

About NRG

NRG is leading a customer-driven change in the U.S. energy industry by delivering cleaner and smarter energy choices, while building on the strength of the nation’s largest and most diverse competitive power portfolio. A Fortune 250 company, we create value through reliable and efficient conventional generation while driving innovation in solar and renewable power, electric vehicle ecosystems, carbon capture technology and customer-centric energy solutions. Our retail electricity providers serve almost 3 million residential and commercial customers throughout the country. More information is available at www.nrgenergy.com. Connect with NRG Energy on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy.

NRG Safe Harbor Disclosure

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions and include NRG’s expectations regarding NRG Home and the NRG Home business. Forward-looking statements typically can be identified by the use of words such as “expect,” “believe,” and similar terms. Although NRG believes that its expectations are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct, and actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated above include, among others, general economic conditions, hazards customary in the power industry, competition in the retail electricity markets, the volatility of energy and fuel prices, failure of customers to perform under contracts and our ability to achieve the expected benefits of the NRG Home business. NRG undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The foregoing review of factors that could cause NRG’s actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements included in this news release should be considered in connection with information regarding risks and uncertainties that may affect NRG’s future results included in NRG’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

Source: NRG Energy

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