Empowering our Houston customers through a variety of power plans, home security, and services isn’t the only way Reliant supports the cities and neighborhoods where we live and work. We go beyond providing electricity and believe in being a positive force in the communities we all share together. Collectively, our Texas giving efforts in 2015 totaled over $2.75 million in donations and 8,500 employee volunteer hours.

In 2016, our goal is to top $3 million in donations, and we are adding a program called Reliant Gives where every Texan has the opportunity to cast their “vote” for where some of our charitable dollars are spent.

With your help, nearly $350,000 of our 2016 giving will be donated to nine select nonprofits — our first round of giving launched May 1, and we have two more rounds later this year — and you get a say on who the recipients are. We also offer other great programs that let our customers support worthy initiatives that meet one of our four key pillars of giving: community/economic development, human welfare, education, and environment. Read on for more details.

Let the public vote!
This is your chance, Houston! Through May 13, you can participate by voting in the inaugural round of Reliant Gives. This crowdsourcing program first engaged our employees to nominate Texas nonprofit organizations as potential recipients of donations. Our employees selected three organizations of special interest to them:

• Houston Area Women’s Center: Dedicated to helping individuals affected by domestic and sexual violence in their efforts to move their lives forward.
• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Texas Gulf Coast Chapter: Dedicated to a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma, and improving the quality of life of patients and their families.
• Retreet: A Dallas nonprofit that volunteers to replant communities in the wake of disaster, thereby redefining the concept of disaster relief.

Now it’s your turn to help direct our donations. These three organizations will receive $100,000, $10,000, and $5,000, respectively, based on the number of votes tallied. Voting ends soon, so make sure your voice is heard. We’ll announce the results the following week as part of Reliant and NRG’s Global Giving Day, where hundreds of our employees will volunteer across numerous sites in Texas to continue our community support in person.

Protecting natural Texas for generations
In between rounds of voting for Reliant Gives, Reliant also offers other great programs to support different nonprofits across Texas. With the sheer amount of folks in the Lone Star State, Texans have the opportunity to make a difference for our great state’s natural treasures. That’s why at Reliant we offer our customers the opportunity to support the reduction of carbon emissions.

In conjunction with EarthShare of Texas, an umbrella group of more than 35 environmental and conservation organizations across the state, Reliant customers have contributed more than $450,000 over the last four years through the EcoShare program.

New and existing Reliant customers can choose to join EcoShare, selecting one of two options that can be added to their monthly electricity bill. EcoShare Gold includes a $2 donation to EarthShare of Texas and the purchase of 1,000 pounds of carbon offsets, while EcoShare Silver includes a $1 donation to EarthShare of Texas and the purchase of 500 pounds of carbon offsets.

Thanks to our customers’ support, nearly 92,500 metric tons of carbon offsets have been purchased and retired through EcoShare, which represents a verifiable reduction and offset of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide as a result of using electricity or driving a car. In fact, these carbon offset purchases are equivalent to taking almost 18,000 cars off the road for a year.

From a healthy environment to healthy babies
What better reason is there to work towards providing a cleaner, more beautiful environment than to leave the world a better place for the youngest among us? That’s why Reliant supports local March of Dimes, the nonprofit organization dedicated to healthy pregnancies and babies. Every April, Reliant customers and employees come together to fundraise by participating in Houston’s annual March for Babies walk. During the 2016 walk this April, more than 200 Reliant employees helped raise nearly $125,000 for the cause.

Reliant makes it easy for the public to lend a hand as well by offering the Reliant BabyPower 12 plan, giving new and existing customers the chance to donate to this amazing cause. The BabyPower 12 plan is a low fixed-price, 12-month electricity plan that includes a $100 donation to the March of Dimes and a $100 bill credit for the customer.

For more information on the Reliant Gives initiative, EcoShare program, or the BabyPower 12 Plan, visit www.reliant.com. As you can see, there’s a little something for everyone who wants to give back to Texas, and Reliant is proud to partner with you to make that happen.

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Elizabeth Killinger is president of NRG Retail and Reliant. PUCT Certificate #10007.