HOUSTON, July 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Reliant Energy today
announced that it will be providing Houston-area residential customers a
credit of $25, if the Public Utility Commission approves the negotiated
settlement also announced today, to reduce CenterPoint Energy rates.
In December 2005, the Public Utility Commission ordered CenterPoint
Energy to undergo a rate proceeding to determine whether its existing rates
were reasonable. Reliant Energy, along with other customer representatives,
negotiated a settlement with CenterPoint Energy to achieve a $77.9 million
package of rate reductions and other benefits. The settlement includes
reduced transmission and distribution rates, $10 million per year in
funding for low-income programs and $10 million per year in additional
funding for energy efficiency programs in the Houston area.
Residential customers in the CenterPoint Energy service area, who have
been served continuously by Reliant for the six months ending January 1,
2007, will see a credit of $25 in their February bill. Additional credits
will be provided once a year for three years and will equal the reduced
rate for transmission and distribution charges.
"This agreement provides substantial benefits to our Houston area
customers," said Joel Staff, chairman and chief executive officer, Reliant
Energy. "This is another example of Reliant working to reduce costs and
provide value to its customers. In addition to lowering bills for all of
our customers, we are also pleased to see substantial aid going to our most
at- risk customers through increased funding for our CARE program, a
low-income discount, and low-income weatherization programs."
Reliant Energy expects funding for its CARE energy assistance program
to increase by approximately $2 million as a result of the settlement. In
addition, at Reliant's request and with CenterPoint's agreement, $1 million
will be provided to Rebuilding Together Houston to fund low-income energy
efficiency programs. Rebuilding Together Houston is a non-profit
organization that provides home repair services for low income, elderly
and/or disabled Houston-area homeowners.
Reliant Energy, Inc. (NYSE: RRI) based in Houston, Texas, provides
electricity and energy services to retail and wholesale customers in the
United States. In Texas, the company provides service to approximately 1.9
million retail electricity customers, including residential, small business
and commercial, industrial, governmental and institutional customers.
Reliant also serves commercial, industrial, governmental and institutional
customers in the PJM (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland) market. The
company is one of the largest independent power producers in the nation
with approximately 16,000 megawatts of power generation capacity across the
United States. These strategically located generating assets utilize
natural gas, fuel oil and coal. For more information, visit
http://www.reliant.com/corporate .
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 Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements are statements that
contain projections, estimates and assumptions about our revenues, income,
earnings and other financial items, our plans and objectives for the
future, future economic performance, or other projections or estimates
about our assumptions relating to these types of statements. These
statements usually relate to future events and anticipated revenues,
earnings, business strategies, competitive position or other aspects of our
operations or operating results. In many cases you can identify
forward-looking statements by terminology such as "anticipate," "estimate,"
"believe," "continue," "could," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential,"
"predict," "should," "will," "expect," "objective," "projection,"
"forecast," "goal," "guidance," "outlook", "effort", "target" and other
similar words. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the
statements are not forward-looking. We have based our forward- looking
statements on management's beliefs and assumptions based on information
available to management at the time the statements are made. Actual results
may differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking
statements as a result of many factors or events, including legislative and
regulatory developments, the outcome of pending lawsuits, governmental
proceedings and investigations, the effects of competition, financial
market conditions, access to capital, the timing and extent of changes in
commodity prices and interest rates, weather conditions, changes in our
business plan and other factors we discuss in our other filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including "Risk Factors" discussed in
our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Item 1A. Each forward-looking
statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement, and we
undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
SOURCE Reliant Energy, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.reliant.com/corporate
CONTACT:
Pat Hammond, media, +1-713-497-7723, or
Dennis Barber, investors, +1-713-497-3042, both of Reliant
Energy, Inc.
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