Relief from high water
A specialized NRG Energy vehicle is in town to help flood victims.
NRG Energy’s Power2Serve relief vehicle trekked to Houston this past weekend to begin serving volunteer crews and a new batch of residents forced out of their homes by floodwaters. It had just been stationed for 29 days in Deweyville, Texas, aiding flood victims there in March and April.
Princeton, N.J.- and Houston-based NRG is one of the region’s most recognizable brands, and the company places a focus on community engagement and volunteer work in the hyper-competitive world of retail electricity companies. NRG is the area’s largest retailer through its Reliant Energy brand and its smaller ones like Green Mountain Energy, Cirro Energy, Everything Energy and Pennywise Power.
While the state’s deregulated power market means bigger companies such as Reliant don’t always have the cheapest, bare-bones prices, their scale means they can do more through community work and by offering an array of integrated services like smart thermostats, home security systems, home solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations.
Elizabeth Killinger, president of NRG Retail and Reliant, saw flooding in April in her own Hearthstone neighborhood in northwestern Houston, so she wanted to check out the NRG relief vehicle.
“You have to know who a company is and what they stand for before you buy from them,” Killinger said. “We have competitively priced offers, and we’re a company people can trust. We want to be counted on.”
Even NRG’s T.H. Wharton plant in the Willowbrook area of northwestern Houston took almost 16 inches of rain, although its operations are now restored.
Other electricity retail companies contribute to the area, too. Dallas-based TXU Energy, for instance, gave money to its Harris County Community Services and Neighborhood Centers partners in Houston. It also touted its TXU Energy Aid to help customers through its bill-payment assistance program.
As for NRG’s Power2Serve efforts, the big rig comes with a setup of 36 solar panels, backup diesel power generation and lead-acid battery storage to serve as a home base for volunteers and flood victims with air conditioning, Internet service, charging stations, computer access, televisions and, maybe most importantly, shade from the un.
NRG launched the project three years ago in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, which hit the Northeast in 2012.
In Houston, the rig is at the Home Depot along Tomball Parkway near Louetta Road. It currently serves as the base camp for Team Rubicon — a nonprofit group mostly made up of military veterans who help people in response to disasters.