Reliant Energy
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Reliant Energy, Inc. Template:NYSE is an energy company providing electricity and natural gas to houses in Houston, Texas, its metro area, Dallas, Texas, and the rest of the Metroplex. Reliant subsidiaries also provide electricity in much of the western United States.
The company is based in Houston. The Reliant Park is named after the company, as well as the Reliant Astrodome and the Reliant Stadium, which are inside Reliant Park.
Reliant has been under investigation for its alleged role in the California electricity crisis of 2000 and 2001. Reliant is suspected of gaming the market by decreasing energy production at its large plants, which caused the spot price for electricity to surge. Hourly contracts are based on the average spot market price for that hour, so by doing this, they increased their profits. After the price went up, they would ramp up production so that they would be at the appropriate level when the California Independent System Operator checked their output. Most power plants are not designed to operate like this, particularly the older ones that Reliant operates. Some plants take hours for large increases or decreases in production. As a result of this abuse, Reliant suffered an large amount of breakdowns. However, even with the expensive repairs, they likely made substantial profits because of the high prices they were paid for electricity. In January of 2003, Reliant reached a settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in which they paid back $13.8 million it earned in California by restricting the supply from its power plants. However, Reliant did not admit any wrongdoing in this settlement.
In March of 2004, Reliant announced that federal prosecutors are seeking a criminal indictment against subsidiary Reliant Energy Services and four of its employees for their alleged role in the California electricity crisis. [1] (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/09/business/09reliant.html) The indictments were filed on April 8, 2004. [2] (http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/04/08/energy.indictments/index.html)
External Links
- Reliant Energy website (http://www.reliant.com)
Data
- Yahoo! - Reliant Energy, Inc. Company Profile (http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/102/102536.html)