Dive Brief:
- Talen Energy Marketing will stop selling to retail customers early next month and plans to transition them to an Ohio supplier, according to a report by The Morning Call.
- The company plans to focus on its core generation business, while pursuing commercial and industrial customers for retail sales.
- Last year, Talen was acquired by Riverstone Holdings in a deal valued at more than $5 billion. The private equity firm had already owned about 35% of the company, and indicated some changes might be in the works.
Dive Insight:
The impacts of Riverstone taking Talen Energy private are now being felt by customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where the company will exit the residential retail market.
A spokesman for Talen told The Morning Call that exiting the residential market would be a "strategic, complementary fit" for its 16,000 MW of generation. The company also serves commercial and industrial customers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.
Talen was created in 2014 when Riverstone combined its generation assets with those of utility owner PPL Corporation. Since then, low power market and natural gas prices have squeezed revenues at the generator, whose fleet was about 40% gas, 40% coal, and 15% nuclear plants when it was formed.
Talen also bought 2.5 GW of gas capacity in 2015, and announced last year it will cease operating the embattled Montana Colstrip coal-generating station. Riverstone revealed last year that it planned to cut $100 million annually in expenses from Talen and focus on increasing cash flow, according to the Morning call.
Most of Talen's generation is located in the Northeast and Texas. Residential customers will be shifted over to Interstate Gas Supply Inc. of Dublin, Ohio.
