Excellence in Energy Awards

Back to award details

Official Rules

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. ALL FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

NRG Energy, Inc. ("NRG"), is sponsoring the Excellence in Energy Awards ("Contest") for certain customers of NRG’s affiliates as further described below in the section entitled "Eligibility."

1. THE CONTEST:

These official rules ("Official Rules") shall govern the Contest. The Contest submission window opens at 12:01 a.m. Central Prevailing Time ("CT") on July 12, 2023 and ends at 11:59 p.m. CT on August 31, 2023 ("Contest Period"). The Contest is sponsored and administered by NRG, 910 Louisiana Street, Houston, Texas 77002 ("Sponsor"). The information provided as detailed below will only be used for promotion purposes.

2. TO ENTER:

By entering the Contest, the entrant agrees to be bound by the terms of these Official Rules. If an entrant nominates or submits an entry on behalf a third party, NRG will seek and must obtain the consent of that third party prior to any announcement of or the awarding of any prize to that nominee. Sponsor is not responsible for late, incomplete, void, corrupted, misdirected or otherwise erroneous entries or for any problems, malfunctions, or technical difficulties that arise in the entry process. Any incomplete or incorrect entries will be void. Each entrant may only submit one entry on its own behalf in each category (defined below), and only one entry per category if it is submitting on behalf of a third party. Any entrant nominated by a third party, must consent to these Official Rules or the nomination will be void. These nominated customers will receive an email requesting consent to proceed with the awards program and agree to these Official Rules. A response providing consent must be received no later than September 20, 2023. If consent is not received, the nomination will be withdrawn from consideration. Proof of submission will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by Sponsor. All entries submitted in compliance with these Official Rules and not disqualified are considered "eligible Entries."

Entries may be submitted via nrg.com/customerawards during the Contest Period in one of three categories below (each an "Entry") and in accordance with the entrant’s self-identified category: Community; Sustainability; Energy Efficiency. No other means of submission will be accepted.

3. JUDGING:

After the end of the Contest Period, five judges selected by Sponsor in its sole discretion ("Judges"), will review for each category all entries and the submitted essays describing an activity or set of activities by entrant that directly resulted in a measurable impact in the award category and that was completed between the most recent effective date of the entrant’s customer relationship with NRG and June 30, 2023, on the following basis:

  1. Community:
    • Evidences philanthropic gifts as indicated by financial and in-kind support of projects in the local community or nationally
    • Describes impact and achievements in philanthropy and/or community involvement
    • Evidences employees’ leadership roles in philanthropy and community involvement
  2. Sustainability:
    • Reflects a significant change in environmental impact and energy used, and includes provisions for ongoing monitoring, measurement, and improvement
    • Goes above and beyond standard sustainability practices
    • Includes other projects that are focused on social, economic growth, or pursuit of a sustainable environment
    • Achieves notable and sustained environmental and/or social benefits
    • Participates in demand response programs that shift electricity consumption away from peak load times
  3. Energy Efficiency:
    • Contributes to environmental goals in addition to efficiency gains
    • Reports expenditures or energy savings in terms of an achieved savings level over a stated time period
    • Provides savings associated with entrant’s new technology at the maximum technical potential and at the estimated achievable potential
    • Upgrades that resulted in energy savings and capital improvements
    • New technologies or solutions
    • Has completed an energy audit
    • Has achieved benchmark goals

A panel of judges will review the submissions and score the nominations based on the required essay which should describe the nominee’s success with the stated category. The nominee’s criterion will be scored between zero and ten. Zero equates to no information or not meeting any criteria. A score of five is meeting half of the criteria, and a score of ten is meeting all criteria in the category. The judges scores are then totaled. The decisions of Sponsor are final and binding on all matters relating to this Contest.

4. PRIZES:

Winners from among eligible Entries will be announced on November 16, 2023. A winner in each category and industry class ("Winner") will receive:

  • A trophy and award framed certificate.
  • A joint press release, prepared by Sponsor, with input from Winner, to be released by Sponsor and Winner; and
  • Featured article in Sponsor’s customer newsletter, drafted by Sponsor with input from Winner (collectively, the "Prizes")

A Prize may not be substituted or transferred by the Winner. Exact Prize details will be subject to the final editorial review or sole discretion of Sponsor. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to substitute a prize of equal or greater value. All additional expenses incurred by a winner in accepting and exercising the Prize will NOT be provided by the Sponsor.

Each Winner will be responsible for all federal, state and local taxes and surcharges related to winning a Prize, if any; Form 1099 documentation will be issued if and as required by law.

5. ELIGIBILITY:

The Contest is only open to participants who are, as of July 12, 2023: (i) either (a) a current customer of Sponsor’s affiliates Reliant Energy Retail Services, LLC, Reliant Energy Northeast LLC (d/b/a NRG Business), NRG Curtailment Solutions Inc., NRG Business Services LLC, Direct Energy Business, LLC ("Sponsor affiliates"), Cirro Energy, or Green Mountain Energy for commodity supply; or (b) a customer of a Sponsor affiliate for energy efficiency, sustainability services or Demand Response; and (ii) not a "small commercial customer" or a "residential customer" under applicable law.

6. LICENSE/USE OF ENTRIES:

By entering the Contest, and to the extent allowed by law, each entrant warrants and represents that Sponsor and its designees shall have a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable, unconditional and transferable license to photograph, video, and/or otherwise record (together, "Recordings") each entrant’s participation in the Contest including interviews with winners after completion of the Contest, and use such Recordings and/or edit, adapt, modify, publish or exploit such Recordings or the Entry in any way and in any and all media now known (including, but not limited to, online, in social media) or other media hereinafter discovered or devised, worldwide for trade, advertising, promotional, public relations and/or other purposes as Sponsor and/or its designees may determine in its sole discretion, without further permission from, or notification or consideration to, entrant or any third parties. Each entrant further agrees to abide by these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which shall be final and binding. Each entrant’s submission of an Entry constitutes its representation of eligibility, consent to participate in the Contest, and consent for Sponsor to obtain, use and transfer their name, logo and Entry, and Recordings, for the purpose of Contest administration, the creation of the Prizes, and for advertising and promoting the Contest and Sponsor, without further compensation.

7. RELEASE:

By entering the Contest, each entrant agrees to the Official Rules and decisions of Sponsor. In addition, by entering the Contest, each entrant agrees to release, defend, hold harmless and indemnify Sponsor and its respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, contractors, directors, officers, governors, employees, and agents against any and all liability, damages, or causes of action (however named or described), with respect to or arising out of any injuries, losses, or damages of any kind arising out of the Contest and caused by the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of a Prize awarded in the Contest, including, but not limited to, any claims for damage to property, personal injury, death, claims based on defamation, rights of privacy or rights of publicity, or if an Entry is submitted on behalf of a third party any claims against Sponsor by such third party.

Sponsor shall not be liable to a Winner for failure to supply the Prize, or any part thereof, for any reason out of Sponsor’s reasonable control, including, without limitation, any acts of God, any action, regulation, order or request by any governmental or quasi-governmental entity (whether or not the action, regulation, order or request proves to be invalid), equipment failure, terrorist acts, earthquake, war, fire, flood, explosion, unusually severe weather, hurricane, embargo, labor dispute or strike (whether legal or illegal), labor or material shortage, transportation interruption of any kind, work slow-down, civil disturbance, game cancellation, insurrection or riot.

Entrants participate in the Contest at their own risk. Sponsor shall not be liable to any entrant for damages arising out of (i) any printing or typographical errors in these Official Rules or any other materials associated with the Contest or (ii) any errors in the administration of the Contest, including, without limitation, the processing of Entries. Sponsor is not responsible for and shall not be liable for any condition caused by events beyond their control that may cause the Contest to be disrupted.

Acceptance of a Prize by an entrant constitutes the grant by that entrant to Sponsor, its successors, agents, and assigns a perpetual, non-revocable right to: (i) use that entrant’s name, voice and/or likeness, and (ii) take photographs and/or video of that entrant and to make originals and copies of, and to copyright and use, same, for purposes of advertising and promoting the Contest through other media outlets (television, radio, online) without further compensation, except where prohibited.

8. GENERAL:

The Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to amend, change, cancel or suspend the Contest (or any portion of the Contest) at any time for any reason and randomly award the prize from among eligible Entries received at the time of such action, should tampering or other causes beyond the Sponsor’s control corrupt the administration or proper execution of the Contest (as determined in the Sponsor’s sole discretion).

The Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any entrant found or suspected to be: (i) tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or (ii) acting in violation of these Official Rules. Any attempt by an entrant to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be in violation of criminal and civil laws, and the Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such entrant to the fullest extent permitted by law.

The Sponsor reserves the right to amend or change the Official Rules at any time, in its sole discretion. By entering the Contest, the entrant consents to be bound by any and all amendments that may be made.

9. WINNER LIST:

To obtain the name of the winners, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to NRG Energy, Inc., Attn: Elizabeth Fronczak, 910 Louisiana Street, Houston, Texas 77002. Requests for the winner list must be received by December 31, 2023.

10. CHOICE OF LAW:

Under no circumstances will an entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and entrant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental or consequential damages, even if Sponsor is notified of the possibility of same in advance, or any other damages, including attorneys’ fees, other than entrant’s actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e., costs associated with entering this Contest), and entrant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of entrants and Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the substantive laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its choice of law rules. All proceedings shall take place in Harris County, Texas.

Back to Top