CenterPoint Energy is a Fortune 500 electric and natural gas utility serving several markets in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. It was formerly known as Reliant Energy (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. Some of its notable subscribers include Retail Electric Providers (REPs), such as NRG Energy, Champion Energy, Dynowatt, Ambit Energy, Texas Power, Bounce Energy, MXenergy, Direct Energy, Stream Energy, First Texas Energy Corporation, Gexa Energy, Cirro Energy, and Kona Energy.
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History
When the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, the former Houston Lighting & Power (HL&P) was split into several companies. In 2003 HL&P was split into Reliant Energy, Texas Genco, and CenterPoint Energy.
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, Northeast Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas)
In late 2004, four private equity firms--the Texas Pacific Group, the Blackstone Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Hellman & Friedman--combined forces to purchase Texas Genco from Centerpoint. Later in 2006, Texas Genco was sold to NRG Energy of Princeton, N.J.
Hurricane Ike 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.
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 for a pilot program in Texas centered on 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.
CenterPoint Energy has been working with IBM. In 2013, IBM helped CenterPoint Energy develop the Customer Vision Platform. The Customer Vision Platform will give CenterPoint a 360-degree view of their 5 million metered customers, incorporating their gas, electric and home services customers. It's going to give customers a range of choices around how they want to interact with CenterPoint while also providing a consistent experience across the board.
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Criticism
On December 16, 2005, CenterPoint Energy Inc. said it would restate its finances for 2004 and the first three quarters of 2005 to correct accounting errors that overstated revenue and natural gas expenses.
In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized CenterPoint Energy for spending $2.65 million on lobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008-2010, instead getting $284 million in tax rebates, despite making a profit of $1.9 billion, and having an executive pay between $12 and $13 million for its top 5 executives.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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