Reliant customers are learning what the smart energy future looks like with the Reliant e-Sense® Home Energy Monitor. More than 3,500 Reliant customers have received the free in-home display and the company is giving away 6,500 additional monitors to help customers make smarter energy decisions based on the unprecedented, near real-time information about their electricity use and cost. The monitor is one of several innovative smart energy solutions from Reliant that will be on display at the NRG booth at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"It takes the guesswork out of managing electricity use," Reliant Vice President of Customer Care Bill Clayton said about the home energy monitor. "Our customers have information on how much electricity they are using and what it's costing them before the bill hits their mailbox. We are delivering the benefits of smart meter technology to our customers today and offering them a way to better understand their usage and make more informed, cost-saving decisions."

"At first I was freaked out by the daily cost of running the A/C on really hot days, and then I noticed the uptick on days when we ran the clothes dryer - I was really surprised," said Douglas Shoemaker, Reliant customer. "With the home energy monitor, we know how much it actually costs to use our appliances everyday. With that kind of information, my family and I can make better decisions about what we use and when as we try to reduce our energy bill."

The Reliant e-Sense® Home Energy Monitor lets customers view the amount of electricity they are using, with data updated as fast as every 10 seconds. And as customers turn on their home's electrical devices, the monitor will show them the incremental electricity usage - allowing them to understand their usage like never before. The home energy monitor also compares daily and weekly usage totals as well as daily, weekly and monthly costs.

Visitors at the Consumer Electronics Show will see first-hand how the monitor, along with other smart energy solutions, solar power and electric vehicle charging come together to give consumers the convenience and power to create a more sustainable energy lifestyle.

Reliant has already provided 3,500 home energy monitors free of charge to both early-adopter customers and low-income customers in Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth to help them better understand how they use electricity and ultimately give them more control over their electricity use and monthly electricity bill.

To receive a free home energy monitor consumers must be a Reliant customer, live in a single-family home in Houston or Dallas/Fort Worth and have a smart meter. Customers who qualify can request a free monitor by calling 877-338-7206 or visiting www.reliant.com/freemonitor while supplies last. Spanish speakers can visit www.reliant.com/monitorgratis.

Reliant leads Texas in bringing the benefits of smart energy technology to consumers with more than 500,000 Reliant customers already using Reliant e-Sense® smart energy solutions. The home energy monitor is one of several Reliant e-Sense products and services that give customers detailed information about how they use electricity at home, timely insights about their power use and cost, and the ability to take action to change how they buy and use power.

Other smart energy solutions include the e-Sense Weekly Summary email, which provides usage information from the previous two weeks, an estimate of total charges for the billing period and energy efficiency tips; and the e-Sense Time-of-Use plan which helps customers save money by shifting high-usage activities - like doing laundry or running the dishwasher - to a time of day when the plan offers lower-priced electricity. For more information about Reliant's e-Sense smart energy solutions, visit www.reliant.com/esense.

For more information about Reliant at the Consumer Electronics Show, visit www.nrgenergy.com/ces.

About Reliant

Reliant provides electricity, energy services and smart energy solutions to more than 1.5 million retail customers including homes, businesses, manufacturing facilities, government entities and institutions in Texas, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As part of NRG (NYSE: NRG), Reliant is backed by a Fortune 500 company that is at the forefront of changing how people think about and use energy. NRG is a pioneer in developing cleaner and smarter energy choices for its customers and its diverse power generating facilities can support over 20 million homes nationwide. For more information about Reliant products and services, visit www.reliant.com.

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Reliant
Pat Hammond, 713-503-5371
or Stephen Morisseau, 713-819-5881