Reliant Energy is an electric utility in Houston, Texas. Texas' electricity industry was deregulated in 2002; since that time consumers have been able to purchase electricity from multiple providers, rather than single, regulated regional retailers. Reliant Energy is one of these utilities. Additionally, Reliant sells some of the electricity it produces at wholesale rates to other electric utilities.

In 2007, Reliant served nearly 1.8 million residential customers in the state of Texas and over one million of these are in Houston. Between 2006 and 2007, Reliant lost nearly 12% of its residential customers in Houston, putting a dent in its revenues. Historically, Reliant has had to compete with a few incumbent retail electric providers, but since the industry's deregulation, more and more companies have been entering the Texas market, cutting into Reliant's market share. Reliant says that this trend has the possibility of continuing.^[1]

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