For the past several years, I have been powering my home with renewable energy. I am certainly not the only homeowner taking this plunge for, at least in the mountainous area in which I live, wind power generated by one of the numerous wind farms in the area oftentimes proves to be cheaper than power generated by traditional fossil fuel-fired power plants. In addition, the great expectations by the market of alternative energy companies such as SolarCity (NASDAQ:TSLA) reinforce my conviction that this is a growth industry. Therefore, I have decided to take the time to begin investigating companies in the sector beginning with my own electrical provider, Green Mountain Energy.
Green Mountain Energy was founded in 1997 in order to take advantage of the trend of electric utility deregulation that was prevailing around the United States. The company became the first provider of alternative power to the Texas market and later expanded to the New York City market, providing renewable energy to customers in the Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) service territory. Ultimately, it was acquired by NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) in November 2010 and currently operates as a subsidiary of that company. Therefore, it is NRG Energy that the remainder of this article will discuss.
