HOUSTON — NRG Energy has tapped veteran Washington lobbyist Steve McBee to lead its newly-created NRG Home division, which will include its retail and residential solar businesses.
McBee’s lobbying and public relations shop included NRG among its clients, as well as other major firms like American Airlines, Google and Time Warner Cable.
Previously, NRG had divisions focused on retail, power generation and renewable energy. This summer, NRG announced plans to create the new NRG Home division as part of a reorganization.
NRG Home brings the company’s retail business and residential solar company under the same roof, along Goal Zero, a Utah-based developer of portable solar-powered products that NRG acquired earlier this year.
“He is just the leader we need to untether Americans from the socket and all that lies behind it,” NRG CEO David Crane said of McBee in a statement. “It is time for the American electric industry to join the 21st century.” McBee takes the new role Dec. 1.
NRG has highlighted its acquisition of Goal Zero as a way to gain a foothold in the area of distributed solar power and storage, which would allow customers to have some power generation at their own homes.
Some observers say the technology threatens the business of residential electric providers and utilities. But NRG is hoping to proactively embrace it.
NRG sought to drum up publicity for the new division by announcing a contest to “crowdsource” the hunt for a new NRG Home leader. It asked the public to nominate people to be considered for the job. Though NRG got more than 700 submissions, it acknowledged McBee was nominated by another NRG executive.
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