Other renewables

Reliant Energy Customer Receives First Nissan LEAF Electric Vehicles in Texas

The Sauers signed up for the new Reliant Energy Electric Vehicle (EV) Owner’s plan with e-SenseTM Time-of-Use designed to meet the home electricity needs of EV drivers. The family is among the growing number of customers of the eVgosm network offered by NRG EV Services LLC which provides home charging equipment and access to a growing network of public charging stations for one low monthly subscription.

“It’s an honor for us to be the first in Texas to take delivery of a LEAF,” said Mr. Sauers. “We learned about a year ago that Nissan, working with Reliant and NRG Energy, had decided to make Houston one of the launch cities for the LEAF in the U.S. We were excited at the idea of a 100% electric vehicle, but since we are both engineers, we looked at all the aspects of buying and owning a LEAF. After a thorough analysis, we were thrilled to find that the LEAF fit our family’s needs at a reasonable cost. We didn’t hesitate in reserving one.”

Mr. Sauers is an NRG employee with Reliant Energy and Mrs. Sauers works at NASA. In November 2009 Reliant and Nissan announced an agreement to work together to make Houston a launch city for the broader use of electric vehicles.

“I am proud that the first LEAF owner in Texas is a Reliant customer and a fellow employee,” said Jason Few, Reliant Energy President. “With our parent company NRG we are making progress toward the electrification of personal transportation, which has benefits for our customers, our environment and our economy.”

NRG Energy is working for the broad adoption of electric vehicles in Houston and the Texas Triangle. The eVgosm charging network is the nation’s first privately funded comprehensive EV charging ecosystem.

In November 2009, Reliant began working with the city of Houston on a pilot program to install charging stations and convert several city hybrid vehicles to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The program included 10 charging stations, seven of which are available to the public today. At the time they were installed, those chargers were the largest electric vehicle charging system in the state.

The Reliant EV Owner’s Plan with e-SenseTM Time-of-Use includes power for both the home and the vehicle when charged at home. With time-of-use pricing, customers can shift their electricity use to times of the day when prices are lower.

The Reliant EV Owner’s plan is currently available in the Houston area. The company plans to expand the offer to other areas of the state as more electric vehicles arrive in Texas. Reliant is developing more plans and options specifically for EV owners. EV owners can call Reliant at 1-888-286-3387.

Reliant Energy provides electricity and energy services to more than 1.5 million retail customers—including homes, small and large businesses, manufacturing facilities, government entities and institutions across Texas. As part of NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG), Reliant Energy is backed by one of the nation’s largest power producers. NRG owns and operates nearly 26,000 megawatts of generation capacity, including more than 11,000 megawatts of capacity in Texas.

www.reliant.com