Green Mountain discontinues service in two states, has layoffs
Austin Business Journal
Green Mountain Energy Co. will discontinue service in Ohio and has laid off nearly 50 employees.
The Austin-based "green" power provider has terminated its agreement to supply the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council program, citing regulatory hurdles. Roughly two weeks ago, the company said it would also cease providing power in the State of Pennsylvania.
Power supply to both states will cease by December 31, says Paul Thomas, CEO and president of Green Mountain.
The combination of terminating supply to those states and the decision to outsource billings and operations prompted the company to lay off nearly 50 employees. Approximately 35 of the positions were in the Austin area.
The company now has a total of 120 full time employees.
Thomas says business in Ohio is " a very significant part of our revenue," but didn't disclose a specific anticipated loss.
"It's frustrating to leave because we're convinced there's demand there for our product," Thomas says. "It pains us to leave any market where customers are hungry for cleaner electricity. We certainly look forward to the day that regulatory barriers don't impede competitive progress."
The company says a "series of regulatory events" for terminating Ohio service.
Specifically, it says business was harmed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's implementation of Seams Elimination Charge Adjustment and its resulting litigation, in addition to unexpected charges associated with the start of Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Inc.'s Day II energy markets.
The NOPEC retail electric aggregation program is the largest in the United States, serving over 450,000 residential and small commercial customers in Northeast Ohio. Since September of 2001, NOPEC's retail electric aggregation customers have realized an estimated $50 million of savings over the past four years compared to what they would have paid under their utilities' rates, Green Mountain estimates. Customers also avoided about 306,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, similar to not driving approximately 835 million miles.
"We pride ourselves on our ability to understand and deal with reality," Thomas says. "We are refocusing our business on a core that's profitable and positioned to grow -- and we're going to pursue that aggressively."
Thomas says states like Texas will be key in the company's future growth.
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