Houston Industries (HI) is reconfiguring its organization tocapitalize on the convergence of gas and power. HI formed HoustonIndustries Wholesale Energy Group to combine its power generation,gas transportation, and wholesale energy trading and marketingcapabilities of the company.

“Houston Industries is positioned to compete across the energychain, and capturing the value creation opportunities that existbetween our businesses is a key part of our corporate strategy.Nowhere are those opportunities more pronounced than they arebetween our power generation business and our wholesale energytrading and marketing business,” said Steve Letbetter, HIpresident. “This consolidation of two previous business groups,Houston Industries Trading and Transportation (HITTG) and HoustonIndustries Power Generation (HIPG), positions us to be a leader inthis rapidly evolving ‘upstream’ industry.'”

The HI Wholesale Energy Group will be led by Charles Oglesby,CEO, and Joe Bob Perkins, president and chief operating officer.Oglesby had been president and chief operating officer of HITTGwhere he was responsible for interstate pipelines, natural gasgathering and wholesale energy trading. Perkins had served aspresident and chief operating officer of HIPG where he wasresponsible for all of HI’s domestic power generation activitiesand assets.

“We have jointly been developing strategies and pursuingopportunities with early success-this combined organization will bein an even stronger position to compete across the upstream energychain where we are already one of the leading players,” saidOglesby. “It will build on the close working relationships alreadydemonstrated in our successful California generation and tradingoperations as well as the coordinated development efforts behindseveral announced greenfield projects.”

The new HI Wholesale Energy Group represents 17,800 MW ofgenerating capacity and 1,400 MW of projects under construction ordevelopment as well as 8,200 miles of interstate gas pipeline and4,000 miles of gathering pipeline. Wholesale trading volumes total4.0 Bcf per day of gas and 80 million megawatt-hours of electricityannually, making the company a top-10 marketer in both gas andpower.

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