CenterPoint Energy
Encyclopedia
Electric utility
An electric utility is a company that engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major provider of energy in most countries. It is indispensable to factories, commercial establishments,...
and natural gas utility serving several markets in the U.S. states of Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. It was formerly known as Reliant Energy
Reliant Energy
RRI Energy, Inc. , based in Houston, Texas, United States, was an energy company that provided electricity to wholesale customers in the United States. The company was one of the largest independent power producers in the nation with more than 14,000 megawatts of power generation capacity across...
(from which it is now separated), NorAm Energy, Houston Industries, and HL&P. The company is headquartered in the CenterPoint Energy Tower at 1111 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston
Downtown Houston
Downtown Houston is the largest business district of Houston, Texas, United States. Downtown Houston, the city's central business district, contains the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is an extensive network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district...
. Some of its notable subscribers include Retail Electric Providers (REPs), such as Reliant Energy
Reliant Energy
RRI Energy, Inc. , based in Houston, Texas, United States, was an energy company that provided electricity to wholesale customers in the United States. The company was one of the largest independent power producers in the nation with more than 14,000 megawatts of power generation capacity across...
, Dynowatt
Dynowatt
Dynowatt, headquartered in Dublin, Ohio is an American electricity supplier to residential customers from Dallas to Houston to Corpus Christi to Odessa and most places in-between....
, Texas Power, Bounce Energy, MXenergy
MXenergy
MXenergy is a retail natural gas and electricity supplier in North America. It was founded in 1999 to provide natural gas and electricity in deregulated energy markets. In 2006, MXenergy was named fourth on Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing private companies in America on the basis of...
, Direct Energy
Direct Energy
Direct Energy is a North American retailer of energy and energy services. The company was founded in 1986. With over six million customer relationships in Canada and the United States, it is the largest energy and home services retailer in North America. The current President and Chief Executive...
, Stream Energy, First Texas Energy Corporation, Gexa Energy
Gexa Energy
Gexa Energy, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an American retail electricity provider which sells electricity service to residential and commercial customers in all deregulated markets in Texas.The company is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources...
and Cirro Energy.
History
Until December 15, 2004, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessors operated in its various markets under these names; they were used separately prior to Reliant Energy, and later in conjunction with the Reliant Energy and CenterPoint Energy names:- Minnegasco (Natural gas throughout parts of Minnesota)
- Houston Lighting and Power (or HL&P) Houston-Galveston electric provider
- Entex (Natural gas throughout South and East Texas, Southern Louisiana and Mississippi)
- Arkla (Natural gas throughout Northern Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas)
In late 2004, four private equity firms—the Texas Pacific Group
Texas Pacific Group
TPG Capital is one of the largest private equity investment firms globally, focused on leveraged buyout, growth capital and leveraged recapitalization investments in distressed companies and turnaround situations. TPG also manages investment funds specializing in growth capital, venture capital,...
, the Blackstone Group
Blackstone Group
The Blackstone Group L.P. is an American-based alternative asset management and financial services company that specializes in private equity, real estate, and credit and marketable alternative investment strategies, as well as financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions ,...
, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Hellman & Friedman
Hellman & Friedman
Hellman & Friedman is a private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman, that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts and minority growth capital investments....
—combined forces to purchase Texas Genco
Texas Genco
Texas Genco is a major power generation firm, active in the deregulated Texas electricity market and owns several major power plants in the Houston area that serve area power needs....
from Centerpoint. Later in 2006, Texas Genco was sold to NRG Energy
NRG Energy
NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company headquartered in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, near Princeton.-Electrical Power Generation Operations:...
of Princeton, N.J.
September 2008 power outage
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...
caused great disruption of service in the Greater Houston Area, wiping out 2.1 million of CenterPoint Energy's 2.26 million clients' electricity. This was the largest power outage in the company's 130 year history, and the largest in the state's history.
Smart meter pilot program
In March 2009, the company’s five-year smart meter deployment began, delivering enhanced smart meter functionality to Retail Electric Providers (REPs).
The company worked with the Department of Energy
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
for a pilot program in Texas centered around energy consumption.After working with 500-residential electricity customers in the Houston area, it was found that by using a smart meter, consumers cut down on energy use for the home.The pilot program was funded in part by the $200 million it received from the federal stimulus act.
See also
- Deregulation of the Texas electricity marketDeregulation of the Texas Electricity MarketElectricity deregulation in Texas was the result of the coming into force of Texas Senate Bill 7 on January 1, 2002. According to the law, deregulation is to be phased in over several years....
- Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
- Sheffield NelsonSheffield NelsonSheffield E. Nelson is a lawyer, businessman, and politician from Little Rock, Arkansas. Originally a Democrat, Nelson in 1990 ran for governor of Arkansas as a Republican against then governor and future U.S. President Bill Clinton and in 1994 against the Democratic Governor Jim Guy Tucker.Nelson...