Maura Clark - Opening Remarks

Maura Clark, President of Direct Energy Business Opening Remarks at May 27th News Conference

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

Governor Rendell, Secretary Hanger, Chairman Cawley, Deryk King, members of the media, guests and colleagues – thank you for joining us today.

My name is Maura Clark and I am the President of Direct Energy Business.

We are very excited to have you here with us today to celebrate two important milestones for Direct Energy Business.

First, we are here to celebrate our first year anniversary as Direct Energy Business in Pittsburgh, and second to mark the announcement of our multi-year “Committed to Pennsylvania” program.

Before I share some of my thoughts about our plans, I’d like to introduce the four distinguished gentlemen who have joined me on-stage.

Governor Rendell – Thank you again for making time in your hectic schedule to join us today. It is a tremendous honor to host you. We congratulate you and your administration for driving positive change in the energy sector and continuing to embrace competitive energy markets.

Secretary Hanger – Throughout your distinguished public service career as PUC Commissioner, founder of Penn Future and now as Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, you have championed the belief that competitive energy markets and market forces will help the environment. At Direct Energy Business, we could not agree more.

Chairman Cawley – You have been a strong leader within the PUC as both Vice Chairman and Chairman during tumultuous times when energy prices within the Commonwealth were rising at an unprecedented rate. Your leadership and vision have resulted in a pro-competition environment in Pennsylvania that will benefit customers with an array of competitive services and offerings from companies like Direct Energy Business.

Lastly, Deryk King, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Direct Energy – It was Deryk’s vision that has built Direct Energy into a leading North American integrated competitive energy supplier since its inception in 2000. Direct Energy’s strong track record of growth led to the acquisition of Pittsburgh-based Strategic Energy last year. This 300 million dollar transaction allowed us to double the size of our retail energy business serving commercial, industrial and government customers and positioned us as a leading industry participant.

Last year, Direct Energy Business posted annual revenues of about four billion dollars. We are dedicated to helping our customers make cost-effective choices to meet their electricity and natural gas needs. Our employees serve nearly 50,000 customers in 14 states, the District of Columbia and five Canadian provinces.

Direct Energy Business is North America’s fourth largest commercial and industrial competitive power retailer; when you include our gas business we rank #3. In the course of a year, we will deliver over 35 terawatts of power and 46 million dekatherms of natural gas to our customers across North America. In relative terms, that’s roughly enough energy to meet the power needs of a metropolitan area twice the size of Pittsburgh.

At our North American headquarters, here in Pittsburgh, we employ 230 people who service businesses across North America, along with local enterprises including Heinz Field, the majority of school districts in Allegheny and Beaver counties, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and Duquesne University. We also serve national brands such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Simon Properties, Sears, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Macy’s. We take pride in being our customers’ energy partner.

When we first acquired Strategic Energy, we had a choice of where to locate our corporate headquarters. With regional offices in Canada, the US Northeast and Texas, there were several options to choose from. We chose Pittsburgh. We chose Pittsburgh because of its diversified economy, its deep talent pool and because it is a great place to live and work.

We are especially excited about the prospects for the growth of our business in the PA marketplace over the coming months and years which allows us to have a stronger business presence in PA than ever. I know that all of us are excited about being a growing part of the vibrant Pittsburgh community. We believe in this community. We believe in its future. We expect to be here for a long time as active and involved Pennsylvanians.

From a financial perspective, as a result of housing our North American headquarters in Pittsburgh, we expect to spend over 25 million dollars a year on salaries and benefits, rent, taxes, community investment and other activities in the state. As some of you may know, we are in final negotiations to sign a lease for space in downtown Pittsburgh.

To demonstrate what kind of community involvement you can expect from Direct Energy Business, I am pleased to announce today that we plan to invest up to 2.5 million dollars over the coming years to support various community organizations. These funds will be targeted towards a variety of initiatives including combating homelessness, energy conservation, renewable resources and greening our urban areas.

Following Governor Rendell’s remarks, the Governor and I will be presenting our first disbursement check, of these funds, to Tom Saunders, CEO of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

This is not just a corporate donation. Direct Energy Business has a highly committed team with a long history of volunteerism in the Pittsburgh community. From being the leading corporate donor in Pittsburgh’s recent Susan G. Komen walk to beat breast cancer, to greening the streets for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy during Earth Week, to raising money every Friday for the Homeless Children’s Fund, our employees are generous with their time and money. As a team, we take pride in being active, contributing members of this community.

As it relates to the environment specifically, Direct Energy Business recognizes that protecting the environment through sustainable business practices, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency strategies has become essential for today’s businesses. To demonstrate our commitment, we have purchased renewable energy certificates and carbon offsets to cover the travel of our guests and the electricity used at this event. On the easel to my right, you can see a larger version of the certificate we will be providing Governor Rendell which will offset the carbon emissions resulting from his travel to join us today.

Direct Energy Business is committed to helping businesses succeed by offering competitive electricity to small, medium and large organizations across Pennsylvania.

Direct Energy Business is committed to helping the region succeed through our community investment plan.

And, Direct Energy Business is committed to demonstrating the benefits that competitive retail energy can provide to the entire Commonwealth.

Thank you again for joining us.