NRG Energy is one of the largest competitive retail energy providers in the U.S., selling electricity and natural gas to roughly 8 million customers under brands including Reliant, Direct Energy, and Green Mountain Energy across 25 states, Washington D.C., and 8 Canadian provinces. NRG also owns Vivint Smart Home, a security and home automation business with approximately 2.4 million subscribers that charges a recurring monthly monitoring fee, with an average customer lifetime of roughly nine years. NRG's core energy business earns a margin between what it charges retail customers and its cost to source and deliver supply. In Texas — its largest market — NRG owns approximately 9.3 GW of generation, giving it a vertically integrated model that reduces wholesale price exposure. Outside Texas, NRG relies more on third-party procurement and hedging. NRG's primary growth strategy centers on signing long-term power purchase agreements with data center operators, structured as 10–20 year contracts with capacity payments and gas-indexed variable components. NRG has reserved roughly 6 GW of capacity for large-load customers, secured turbine supply through a joint development platform with GE Vernova, and signed 445 MW of data center PPAs as of year-end 2025, with a pipeline of over 5.4 GW under letters of intent. In January 2026, NRG closed the acquisition of roughly 13 GW of natural gas generation from LS Power, roughly doubling its owned generation fleet to approximately 25 GW. NRG is also expanding its retail footprint by bundling Vivint's smart home platform with energy products and building a residential virtual power plant in Texas.