EcoFactor Teams Up With Reliant to Provide Customers Effortless Energy Savings

REDWOOD CITY, CA--(Marketwire - Sep 17, 2012) - EcoFactor®, the leading residential energy management company, has announced an agreement with Reliant that enables the retail electricity provider to offer a smart energy management program to help customers save energy, while also reducing load on the grid. To help combat high bills and reduce the risk of grid overloads, both retail electricity providers and consumers need an effective, efficient, and proven way to manage electricity use. EcoFactor and Reliant have teamed up to address this growing need.

"Many of our energy services partners are looking for ways both to increase customer satisfaction and improve the way they manage the demand for electricity on the grid," said Roy Johnson, CEO, EcoFactor. "Adding EcoFactor to their portfolio of services will help Reliant meet those goals and better manage energy consumption peaks."

EcoFactor's service adjusts customers' thermostat settings automatically to optimize the way they cool their homes. The service reduces the amount of time they run their air conditioning and saves them money as a result. According to data from current EcoFactor deployments, using the service can save customers up to 36 percent off the cost to heat and cool their homes. It can deliver these savings by giving customers access to:

• Smart, automated adjustments to their thermostat settings that help them heat and cool their homes more efficiently
• An easy way to create a personalized schedule and keep it updated depending on customers' activities and lifestyles

The service also allows customers to stay connected to their homes, enabling them to adjust their thermostats anytime, anywhere from their smartphone or computer. EcoFactor is the only service that caters to customers' comfort and need for control while at the same time shifting electricity loads during peak demand times to benefit the electric grid.

"Temperatures in Texas can run close to 100 degrees in the summer months, and we want to provide our customers with smart energy solutions that allow them to both stay cool and automatically reduce electricity consumption so they can save money," said Bill Harmon, Vice President of Residential Marketing & Product Innovation, Reliant. "With EcoFactor, our Ideal Temp program does just that: providing savings to our customers without asking them to lift a finger or change their level of comfort even in the summer heat."

Packaged as the Reliant e-Sense® Ideal Temp program, Reliant is currently offering EcoFactor's service to customers in the Houston and Dallas areas. The package includes an Internet-enabled thermostat to communicate with EcoFactor's cloud-based platform, as well as remote access to control thermostat preferences from any computer or mobile device. For additional information about EcoFactor's service through Reliant, visit www.reliant.com/idealtemp.

About EcoFactor
EcoFactor is the leading residential energy management company that enables home service providers to offer an intelligent energy management service to their customers. Homeowners get an automated way to reduce energy consumption, save money and stay comfortable, and partners have the opportunity to take advantage of broader initiatives for energy efficiency, demand response and load shaping. Based in Redwood City, California, EcoFactor was founded in 2006 to provide an automated alternative to behavior-based residential energy management solutions. The company has been awarded nine patents to date for its residential energy management technology and methodology. EcoFactor is privately held and funded by Claremont Creek Ventures and RockPort Capital Partners.

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.