CEO Outlines Vision For Energy Industry; Role of Disruptive Technologies

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr. 22, 2013-- NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) President and CEO David Crane today announced an expansion of its successful partnership with Nest Labs, Inc., to competitive markets nationally through two of its retail companies, Reliant and Green Mountain Energy. Company. The announcement came just before Crane and Nest Founder and CEO Tony Fadell spoke together about innovation and the future of modern energy management at the 2013 Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York.

Last year, NRG’s largest retail company, Reliant, became the first competitive electricity provider in the U.S. to offer the Nest Learning Thermostat^TM. Reliant offered the Nest as part of a fixed-price electricity plan to help customers better understand and conserve energy. Beginning this summer, both Reliant and NRG’s renewable energy provider, Green Mountain Energy, will provide the Nest Learning Thermostat as part of their local electricity plans.

• Reliant customers throughout Texas will have three ways to save electricity with Nest: the Reliant Learn & Conserve^SM plan featuring the Nest Learning Thermostat^TM which includes a free Nest; the new Reliant Free Weekends^SM plan with Nest, the first plan to offer free energy charges all weekend, along with a Nest thermostat; and the Degrees of Difference program with Nest, which gives customers the opportunity to earn credits when they conserve during times of expected high electricity usage and lets them access both of Nest’s new services Rush Hour Rewards and Seasonal Savings.
• Green Mountain Energy customers in Texas, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania who sign up for the Pollution Free™ Efficient with Nest plan will receive Nest’s Seasonal Savings Service beginning this summer. Green Mountain Energy is Nest’s only retail electricity partner that is dedicated to cleaner energy.

“The success of our relationship with Nest and the enthusiasm of our Texas customers for their learning thermostat speaks to the elegant simplicity of Nest, and Americans’ desire to be individually empowered with smarter energy choices,” Crane said. “It is NRG’s goal to deliver innovative energy options like the Nest, and we see this technology as an important step toward reimagining how energy is produced and consumed in the American home.”

Energy Industry Innovation

At the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit, Crane discussed a re-imagined industry in which consumers choose how much – if any – energy they draw from the power grid for their daily use. NRG is investing in disruptive technologies like home solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations and smart energy solutions that will answer customers’ demands for energy choices in their daily lives.

“Strategic partnerships like this not only bring much needed innovation to our very traditional sector of the economy, but are also a prime example of how we are shifting the focus from what utilities and their regulators want to what our customers need and want,” Crane added.

The Nest learns about customers’ lifestyles to automatically adjust the temperature when they’re away and creates a personalized schedule based on temperature-change history. It also guides users to energy-efficient temperatures when they’re home.

“By expanding our relationship with NRG, we can continue working together to turn the conversation away from cost alone toward a broader discussion about energy choices,” Fadell said. “Bundling the Nest Learning Thermostat with energy plans was a great first step. Now, the integration of Nest’s new Rush Hour Rewards and Seasonal Savings services promises to spark even more conversations about energy among NRG’s customers.”

NRG, through its retail companies, is leading the smart grid revolution with more than 700,000 customers using one or more of its smart energy solutions. In just three years, the company has launched a series of 10 innovative new products and services designed to give customers the tools and information they need to manage their electricity use and change the way they think about energy.

For more information about NRG’s energy conservation efforts and corporate values, visit www.nrgenergy.com/responsibility/.

About NRG Energy

NRG is at the forefront of changing how people think about and use energy. We deliver cleaner and smarter energy choices for our customers, backed by the nation’s largest independent power generation portfolio of fossil fuel, nuclear, solar and wind facilities. A Fortune 300 company, NRG is challenging the U.S. energy industry by becoming the largest developer of solar power, building the first privately-funded electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and providing customers with the most advanced smart energy solutions to better manage their energy use. In addition to 47,000 megawatts of generation capacity, enough to supply nearly 40 million homes, our retail electricity providers – Reliant, Green Mountain Energy and Energy Plus – serve more than two million customers. More information is available at www.nrgenergy.com. Connect with NRG Energy on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy.

Source: NRG Energy, Inc.

NRG Energy, Inc.
Pat Hammond, 713-537-2157
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