NRG ENERGY, INC. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K


☒						ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the Fiscal Year ended December 31, 2021.

☐						TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the Transition period from to .

Commission file No. 001-15891

NRG Energy, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)


Delaware (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)						41-1724239 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

910 Louisiana Street, Houston, Texas (Address of principal executive offices)						77002 (Zip Code)

(713) 537-3000

(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:


Title of Each Class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of Exchange on Which Registered
Common Stock, par value $0.01	NRG	New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large Accelerated Filer ☒

Accelerated filer ☐

Non-accelerated filer ☐

Smaller reporting company

☐

Emerging growth company

☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of the last business day of the most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the common stock of the registrant held by non-affiliates was approximately $8,611,281,553 based on the closing sale price of $40.30 as reported on the New York Stock Exchange.

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant's classes of common stock as of the latest practicable date.


Class						Outstanding at February 24, 2022
Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share						242,153,239

Documents Incorporated by Reference:

Portions of the Registrant's definitive Proxy Statement relating to its 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders

are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K

TABLE OF CONTENTS


	GLOSSARY OF TERMS	3
PART I		7
	Item 1 — Business	7
	Item 1A — Risk Factors	24
	Item 1B — Unresolved Staff Comments	39
	Item 2 — Properties	40
	Item 3 — Legal Proceedings	41
	Item 4 — Mine Safety Disclosures	41
PART II		42
	Item 5 — Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	42
	Item 6 — Reserved	43

	Item 7 — Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	44
	Item 7A — Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	73
	Item 8 — Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	76
	Item 9 — Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	76
	Item 9A — Controls and Procedures	76
	Item 9B — Other Information	79
	Item 9C— Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections	79
PART III		80
	Item 10 — Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	80
	Item 11 — Executive Compensation	80
	Item 12 — Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	80
	Item 13 — Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	81
	Item 14 — Principal Accounting Fees and Services	81
PART IV		82
	Item 15 — Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	82
	Item 16 — Form 10-K Summary	166
EXHIBIT INDEX		160

Glossary of Terms

When the following terms and abbreviations appear in the text of this report, they have the meanings indicated below:



ACE						Affordable Clean Energy
Adjusted EBITDA						Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
ARO						Asset Retirement Obligation
ASC						The FASB Accounting Standards Codification, which the FASB established as the source of authoritative GAAP
ASU						Accounting Standards Updates – updates to the ASC
AUC						Alberta Utilities Commission
Average realized prices						Volume-weighted average power prices, net of average fuel costs and reflecting the impact of settled hedges
Bankruptcy Code						Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code
Bankruptcy Court						United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division
Baseload						Units expected to satisfy minimum baseload requirements of the system and produce electricity at an essentially constant rate and run continuously
Brazos						Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc.
BTU						British Thermal Unit
Business						NRG Business, which serves business customers
CAA						Clean Air Act
CAISO						California Independent System Operator
CARES Act						Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
Carlsbad						Carlsbad Energy Center, a 528 MW natural gas-fired project located in Carlsbad, CA

CCR						Coal Combustion Residuals
CDD						Cooling Degree Day

Centrica						Centrica plc
CES						Clean Energy Standard
CFTC						U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Cleco						Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC
CO2						Carbon Dioxide
CO2e						Carbon Dioxide Equivalents
ComEd						Commonwealth Edison
Company						NRG Energy, Inc.
Convertible Senior Notes						As of December 31, 2021, consists of NRG’s $575 million unsecured 2.75% Convertible Senior Notes due 2048
Cottonwood						Cottonwood Generating Station, a 1,177 MW natural gas-fueled plant
COVID-19						Coronavirus Disease 2019
CPP						Clean Power Plan
CPUC						California Public Utilities Commission
CWA						Clean Water Act
D.C. Circuit						U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Distributed Solar						Solar power projects that primarily sell power to customers for usage on site, or are interconnected to sell power into a local distribution grid

DSI						Dry Sorbent Injection
DSU						Deferred Stock Unit
Dual fuel customers						Customer that have both electricity and natural gas service with the Company
Economic gross margin						Sum of energy revenue, capacity revenue, retail revenue and other revenue, less cost of fuels and other cost of sales
EGU						Electric Generating Unit


EPA						U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPC						Engineering, Procurement and Construction
ERCOT						Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the Independent System Operator and the regional reliability coordinator of the various electricity systems within Texas
ESCO						Energy Service Companies
ESP						Electrostatic Precipitator
ESPP						NRG Energy, Inc. Amended and Restated Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Exchange Act						The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
FASB						Financial Accounting Standards Board
FERC						Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
FGD						Flue gas desulfurization
FPA						Federal Power Act
FTRs						Financial Transmission Rights
GAAP						Generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S.
GenOn						GenOn Energy, Inc.
GenOn Entities						GenOn and certain of its wholly owned subsidiaries, including GenOn Americas Generation, LLC, that filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court on June 14, 2017
GHG						Greenhouse Gas
GIP						Global Infrastructure Partners
Green Mountain Energy						Green Mountain Energy Company
GW						Gigawatts
GWh						Gigawatt Hours

HDD						Heating Degree Day
Heat Rate						A measure of thermal efficiency computed by dividing the total BTU content of the fuel burned by the resulting kWhs generated. Heat rates can be expressed as either gross or net heat rates, depending whether the electricity output measured is gross or net generation and is generally expressed as BTU per net kWh
HLBV						Hypothetical Liquidation at Book Value
HLW						High-level radioactive waste

Home						NRG Home, which serves residential customers
ICE						Intercontinental Exchange
ISO						Independent System Operator, also referred to as RTOs
ISO-NE						ISO New England Inc.
Ivanpah						Ivanpah Solar Electric Generation Station, a 393 MW solar thermal power plant located in California's Mojave Desert in which NRG owns 54.5% interest

kWh						Kilowatt-hours
LaGen						Louisiana Generating LLC
LIBOR						London Inter-Bank Offered Rate
LSE						Load Serving Entities
LTIPs						Collectively, the NRG LTIP and the NRG GenOn LTIP

MATS						Mercury and Air Toxics Standards promulgated by the EPA
MDth						Thousand Dekatherms
Merger						The merger completed on December 14, 2012 by NRG and GenOn pursuant to the Merger Agreement
Midwest Generation						Midwest Generation, LLC
MISO						Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.
MMBtu						Million British Thermal Units
MMDth						Million Dekatherms


MSU						Market Stock Unit
MW						Megawatts
MWe						Megawatt equivalent
MWh						Saleable megawatt hour net of internal/parasitic load megawatt-hour
NAAQS						National Ambient Air Quality Standards
NEIL						Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited
NEPOOL						New England Power Pool
NERC						North American Electric Reliability Corporation
Net Capacity Factor						The net amount of electricity that a generating unit produces over a period of time divided by the net amount of electricity it could have produced if it had run at full power over that time period. The net amount of electricity produced is the total amount of electricity generated minus the amount of electricity used during generation
Net Exposure						Counterparty credit exposure to NRG, net of collateral
Net Generation						The net amount of electricity produced, expressed in kWhs or MWhs, that is the total amount of electricity generated (gross) minus the amount of electricity used during generation
Net Revenue Rate						Sum of retail revenues less TDSP transportation charges
NOL						Net Operating Loss
NOx						Nitrogen Oxides
NPNS						Normal Purchase Normal Sale
NQSO						Non-Qualified Stock Option
NRC						U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
NRG						NRG Energy, Inc.
NRG GenOn LTIP						NRG 2010 Stock Plan for GenOn Employees (formerly the GenOn Energy, Inc. 2010 Omnibus Incentive Plan, which was assumed by NRG in connection with the Merger)
NRG LTIP						NRG Energy, Inc. Amended and Restated Long-Term Incentive Plan
NRG Yield, Inc.						NRG Yield, Inc., which changed its name to Clearway energy, Inc. following the sale by NRG or NRG Yield and the Renewables Platform to GIP
Nuclear Decommissioning Trust Fund						NRG's nuclear decommissioning trust fund assets, which are for the Company's portion of the decommissioning of the STP, units 1 & 2
Nuclear Waste Policy Act						U.S. Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982
NYISO						New York Independent System Operator
NYMEX						New York Mercantile Exchange
NYSDEC						New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
OCI/OCL						Other Comprehensive Income/(Loss)
ORDC						Operating Reserve Demand Curve
ORDPA						Online Reliability Deployment Price Adder
Peaking						Units expected to satisfy demand requirements during the periods of greatest or peak load on the system
Petra Nova						Petra Nova Parish Holdings, LLC

Pipeline						Projects that range from identified lead to shortlisted with an offtake, and represents a lower level of execution certainty
PJM						PJM Interconnection, LLC
PM2.5						Particulate Matter that has a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers
PPA						Power Purchase Agreement
PPM						Parts per million
PSU						Performance Stock Unit
PUCT						Public Utility Commission of Texas
Rayburn						Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative, Inc.
RCRA						Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976


Receivables Securitization Facilities						Collectively, the Receivables Facility and the Repurchase Facility
RECs						Renewable Energy Certificates
Renewables						Consists of the following projects in which NRG has an ownership interest: Agua Caliente, Ivanpah, and solar generating stations located at various NFL Stadiums
Renewables Platform						The renewable operating and development platform sold to GIP with NRG's interest in NRG Yield.
Revolving Credit Facility						The Company's $3.7 billion revolving credit facility as of December 31, 2021, a component of the Senior Credit Facility, due 2024 was amended on May 28, 2019 and August 20, 2020
RGGI						Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
RMR						Reliability Must-Run
RPS						Renewable Portfolio Standards
RPSU						Relative Performance Stock Unit
RSU						Restricted Stock Unit
RTO						Regional Transmission Organization
SCR						Selective Catalytic Reduction Control System
SEC						U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Securities Act						The Securities Act of 1933, as amended
Senior Credit Facility						NRG's senior secured credit facility, comprised of the Revolving Credit Facility and the 2023 Term Loan Facility. The 2023 Term Loan Facility was repaid in the second quarter of 2019
Senior Notes						As of December 31, 2021, NRG's $4.6 billion outstanding unsecured senior notes consisting of $375 million of the 6.625% senior notes due 2027, $821 million of 5.75% senior notes due 2028, $733 million of the 5.25% senior notes due 2029, $500 million of the 3.375% senior notes due 2029, $1.0 billion of the 3.625% senior notes due 2031 and $1.1 billion of the 3.875% senior notes due 2032
Senior Secured Notes						As of December 31, 2021, NRG’s $2.5 billion outstanding Senior Secured First Lien Notes consists of $600 million of the 3.75% Senior Secured First Lien Notes due 2024, $500 million of the 2.0% Senior Secured First Lien Notes due 2025, $900 million of the 2.45% Senior Secured First Lien Notes due 2027, and $500 million of the 4.45% Senior Secured First Lien Notes due 2029
SNF						Spent Nuclear Fuel
SO2						Sulfur Dioxide
South Central Portfolio						NRG's South Central Portfolio, which owned and operated a portfolio of generation assets consisting of Bayou Cove, Big Cajun-I, Big Cajun-II, Cottonwood and Sterlington, was sold on February 4, 2019. NRG is leasing back the Cottonwood facility through May 2025
S&P						Standard & Poor's
STP						South Texas Project — nuclear generating facility located near Bay City, Texas in which NRG owns a 44% interest
STPNOC						South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company
Tax Act						The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
TDSP						Transmission/distribution service provider
Texas Genco						Texas Genco LLC
TSR						Total Shareholder Return
TWCC						Texas Westmoreland Coal Co.
TWh						Terawatt Hours
U.S.						United States of America
U.S. DOE						U.S. Department of Energy
VaR						Value at Risk

VIE						Variable Interest Entity
Winter Storm Uri						A major winter and ice storm that had widespread impacts across North America occurring in February 2021

PART I

Item 1 — Business

General

NRG Energy, Inc., or NRG or the Company, is a consumer services company built on dynamic retail brands. NRG brings the power of energy to customers by producing and selling energy and related products and services, nation-wide in the U.S. and Canada in a manner that delivers value to all of NRG's stakeholders. NRG sells power, natural gas, and home and power services, and develops innovative, sustainable solutions, predominately under the brand names NRG, Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Stream, and XOOM Energy. The Company has a customer base that includes approximately 6 million Home customers as well as commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers, supported by approximately 18,000 MW of generation as of December 31, 2021.

NRG sold 157 TWhs of electricity and 1,877 MMDth of natural gas in 2021, making it one of the largest competitive energy retailers in the U.S. As of the end of 2021, NRG had recurring electricity and/or natural gas sales in 24 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and 8 provinces in Canada. NRG's retail brands, collectively, have the largest share of competitively served residential electric customers in Texas and nationwide.

The following chart represents NRG's sales volumes for the year ended December 31, 2021:

Strategy

NRG's strategy is to maximize stakeholder value through the safe production and sale of reliable electricity and natural gas to its customers in the markets it serves, while positioning the Company to provide innovative solutions to the end-use energy or service customer. This strategy is intended to enable the Company to optimize its integrated model to generate stable and predictable cash flow, significantly strengthen earnings and cost competitiveness, and lower risk and volatility. Sustainability is a philosophy that underpins and facilitates value creation across our business for our stakeholders. It is an integral piece of NRG's strategy and ties directly to business success, reduced risks and enhanced reputation.

To effectuate the Company’s strategy, NRG is focused on: (i) serving the energy needs of end-use residential, commercial and industrial, and wholesale customers in competitive markets through multiple brands and channels; (ii) offering a variety of energy products and services, including renewable energy solutions, that are differentiated by innovative features, premium service, sustainability, and loyalty/affinity programs; (iii) excellence in operating performance of its assets; (iv) optimal hedging of its portfolio; and (v) engaging in disciplined and transparent capital allocation.

The 2021 fiscal year was pivotal for the Company. NRG completed the acquisition of Direct Energy, doubling the size of its retail portfolio, while further decreasing its physical generation through the sale and planned retirement of certain assets, each as further discussed below. The completion of these significant activities positioned NRG for the next phase of its strategy focusing on growth.

The Company implemented a four-year plan beginning in 2022 to invest up to $2 billion in order to achieve growth through optimization of the Company's core power and natural gas sales, as well as integrated solution sales within its core network in both power and home services.

Significant Acquisitions, Dispositions and Announced Retirements

On January 5, 2021, the Company acquired Direct Energy. Direct Energy is a leading retail provider of electricity, natural gas, and home and business energy-related products and services in North America, with operations in all 50 U.S. states and 8 Canadian provinces. The acquisition increased NRG's retail portfolio by over 3 million customers and complemented its integrated model. It also broadened the Company's presence in the Northeast and in states and locales where it did not previously operate, supporting NRG's objective to diversify its business. NRG realized its planned synergy target of $175 million in 2021 and expects to realize annual synergies of $225 million and $300 million in 2022 and 2023, respectively. See Item 15 — Note 4, Acquisitions, Discontinued Operations and Dispositions, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion of the acquisition of Direct Energy.

On December 1, 2021, the Company sold approximately 4,850 MWs of fossil generating assets from its East and West regions of operations to Generation Bridge, an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners. As part of the transaction, NRG entered into a tolling agreement for the 866 MW Arthur Kill plant in New York City through April 2025. See Item 15 — Note 4, Acquisitions, Discontinued Operations and Dispositions, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.

During the second quarter of 2021, the results of the PJM Base Residual Auction for the 2022/2023 delivery year were released, leading the Company to announce the near-term retirement of approximately 1,600 MW of its PJM coal generating assets in June 2022. On July 30, 2021, PJM identified reliability impacts resulting from the proposed deactivation of one of those assets, Indian River Unit 4. On August 27, 2021 the Company notified PJM that it would continue operations at Indian River Unit 4 until the reliability upgrades identified by PJM were completed, provided that the unit receives a satisfactory and compensatory reliability must run arrangement. See Item 15 — Note 11, Asset Impairments, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion. The Company is continuing to evaluate the viability of the remaining PJM generating assets.

Extreme Weather Event in Texas During February 2021 and expected Uplift Securitization proceeds

During February 2021, Texas experienced unprecedented cold temperatures for a prolonged duration as a result of Winter Storm Uri, resulting in a power emergency, blackouts, and an estimated all-time peak demand of 77 GW (without load shed). Ahead of the event, NRG launched residential customer communications calling for conservation across all of its brands, and initiated residential and commercial and industrial demand response programs to curtail customer load. The Company maximized available generating capacity and brought in additional resources to supplement in-state staff with technical and operating experts from the rest of its U.S. fleet.

The Texas Legislature passed House Bill ("HB") 4492, which among other things, authorized ERCOT to obtain $2.1 billion of financing to distribute to LSEs that were charged and paid to ERCOT exceptionally highly priced ORDPA and ancillary service costs during Winter Storm Uri (the "Uplift Securitization"). NRG will receive $689 million from ERCOT based on LSE-level detail published by the PUCT on December 7, 2021.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, Winter Storm Uri's pre-tax financial impact to the Company was a loss of $380 million, which reflects the recovery of $689 million of cost of operations as a result of the proceeds NRG will receive from the Uplift Securitization discussed above, with receipt expected to occur during the second quarter of 2022. The Company continues to pursue additional mitigants including, but not limited to, customer bad debt mitigation, counterparty default recovery, and additional ERCOT default recovery.

Business Overview

The Company’s core business is the sale of electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial and wholesale customers, supported by the Company's wholesale generation. NRG manages its operations based on the combined results of the retail and wholesale generation businesses with a geographical focus.

The Company's business is segmented as follows:

•Texas, which includes all activity related to customer, plant and market operations in Texas;

•East, which includes all activity related to customer, plant and market operations in the East;

•West/Services/Other, which primarily includes the following assets and activities: (i) all activity related to customer, plant and market operations in the West and Canada, (ii) the services businesses, (iii) activity related to the Cottonwood facility, (iv) the remaining renewables activity, including the Company’s equity method investment in Ivanpah Master Holdings, LLC, and (v) activity related to the Company’s equity method investment for the Gladstone power plant in Australia; and

•Corporate activities.

As of December 31, 2021, in Texas, the Company’s generation supply is fully integrated with its retail load. In the East, the Company’s retail load is more dispersed throughout the region and not fully integrated with the Company’s generation supply due to the locations of its power plants in that region. In the West/Services/Other, the Company’s business is primarily serving retail load and services customers.

The Company’s integrated model consists of three core functions: Customer Operations, Market Operations and Plant Operations, which directly support each other in each geographic region. The Company’s integrated model in Texas provides the advantage of being able to supply a significant portion of the Company’s retail customers with electricity from the Company’s assets, which reduces the need to sell electricity to and buy electricity from other institutions and intermediaries, resulting in stable earnings and cash flows, lower transaction costs and less credit exposure. The integrated model also results in a reduction in actual and contingent collateral through offsetting transactions, thereby reducing transactions with third parties.

Customer Operations

Customer Operations is responsible for growing and retaining the customer base and delivering an outstanding customer experience. This includes acquisition and retention of all of NRG’s residential, small commercial, government and commercial & industrial customers. NRG employs a multi-brand strategy that leverages a wide array of sales and partnership channels, direct face-to-face sales channels, call centers, websites, and brokers. Go-to-market activities include market strategy planning and development, product innovation, offer design, campaign execution, marketing and creative services, and selling. Customer portfolio maintenance and retention activities include fulfillment, billing, payment processing, collections, customer service, issue resolution, and contract renewals. NRG provides energy and related services at either fixed, indexed or month-to-month prices. Home customers typically contract for terms ranging from one month to five years, while Business contracts are often between one year and five years in length. Throughout all Customer Operations activities, the customer experience is kept at the forefront to inform decision-making and optimize retention, while creating supporters and advocates for NRG’s brands in the market. Following the expansion of the customer base with the acquisition of Direct Energy, Customer Operations now comprises three end-use customer facing teams: NRG Home, which serves residential customers, NRG Business, which serves business customers, and NRG Services, which primarily includes the services businesses acquired.

Product Offerings

NRG sells a variety of products to residential and small commercial customers, including retail electricity and energy management, natural gas, home security, line and surge protection products, HVAC installation, repair and maintenance, home protection products, carbon offsets, back-up power stations, portable power, portable solar and portable lighting. Home and Services customers make purchase decisions based on a variety of factors, including price, incentive, customer service, brand, innovative offers/features and referrals from friends and family. Through its broad range of service offerings and value propositions, NRG is able to attract, retain, and increase the value of its customer relationships. NRG's brands are recognized for exemplary customer service, innovative smart energy and technology product offerings, and environmentally-friendly solutions.

The Company provides power and natural gas to the business-to-business markets in North America, as well as retail services, including demand response, commodity sales, energy efficiency and energy management solutions to Business customers. The Company is an integrated provider of supply and distributed energy resources and focuses on distributed products and services as businesses seek greater reliability, cleaner power and other benefits that they cannot obtain from the grid. These solutions include system power, distributed generation, renewable products, carbon management and specialty services, backup generation, storage and distributed solar, demand response, and energy efficiency and advisory services. In providing on-site energy solutions, the Company often benefits from its ability to supply energy products from its wholesale generation portfolio to Business customers.

Market Operations

Market Operations has two primary objectives: (i) to supply energy to our customers in the most cost-efficient manner; and (ii) to maximize the value of the Company's assets after satisfying its customer load requirements. These objectives are intended to reduce supply costs and maximize earnings with predictable cash flows.

Power and natural gas are the two main commercial groups within market operations.

Power

The power commercial group is responsible for end-use electricity supply including power plant optimization and certain fuel supply. To meet the market operations objectives, NRG enters into supply, power and gas sales and hedging agreements via a wide range of products and contracts, including (i) physical and financial commodity instruments, (ii) fuel supply and transportation contracts, (iii) renewable PPAs and (iv) capacity and other contracted revenue sources, as further discussed below.

In addition, because changes in power prices in the markets where NRG operates are generally correlated to changes in natural gas prices, NRG uses hedging strategies that may include power and natural gas forward purchases and sales contracts to manage the commodity price risk.

Physical and Financial Commodity Instruments

NRG trades electric power, natural gas and related commodities, environmental products, weather products and financial products, including forwards, futures, options and swaps. NRG enters into these instruments primarily to manage price and delivery risk, optimize physical and contractual assets in the portfolio, manage working capital requirements, reduce the carbon exposure in its business and comply with laws.

Fuel Supply and Transportation Contracts

NRG's fuel requirements consist of various forms of fossil fuel and nuclear fuel. The prices of fossil fuels can be volatile. The Company obtains its fossil fuels from multiple suppliers and through multiple transporters. Although availability is generally not an issue, localized shortages, transportation availability, delays arising from extreme weather conditions and supplier financial stability issues can and do occur. The preceding factors related to the sources and availability of raw materials are fairly uniform across the Company's business and fuel products used. NRG's primary fuel requirements consist of the following:

Natural Gas — NRG operates a fleet of mid-merit and peaking natural gas plants. Fuel needs are managed by the natural gas commercial group, on a spot basis, especially for peaking assets, as the Company does not believe it is prudent to forward purchase natural gas for these types of units as the dispatch is highly unpredictable.

Coal —NRG actively manages its coal requirements based on forecasted generation, market volatility and its inventory on site. The Company believes it is adequately hedged, using forward coal supply agreements, for its domestic coal consumption for 2022. As of December 31, 2021, NRG had purchased forward contracts to provide fuel for approximately 88% of the Company's expected requirements for 2022 and 2023. For the domestic fleet, NRG purchased approximately 16.1 million tons of coal in 2021, almost all of which was Powder River Basin coal. For fuel transport, NRG has entered into various rail transportation and rail car lease agreements with varying tenors that will provide for most of the Company's transportation requirements of Powder River Basin coal for the next three years.

Nuclear Fuel — STP's owners, including NRG, satisfy their fuel supply requirements by: (i) acquiring uranium concentrates and contracting for conversion of the uranium concentrates into uranium hexafluoride; (ii) contracting for enrichment of uranium hexafluoride; and (iii) contracting for fabrication of nuclear fuel assemblies. Through its proportionate participation in STPNOC, which is the NRC-licensed operator of STP that is responsible for all aspects of fuel procurement, NRG is party to a number of long-term forward purchase contracts with many of the world's largest suppliers covering STP's requirements for uranium concentrates with only approximately 25% of STP's requirements outstanding for the duration of the original operating license (through 2027/2028). Similarly, STP has begun the process of covering fuel supply requirements into the extended license period and has secured a fabrication contract with Westinghouse through 2047/2048. Other fuel requirements such as uranium, conversion and enrichment remain open at this time.

Renewable PPAs

The Company's strategy is to procure mid to long-term renewable generation through power purchase agreements. As of December 31, 2021, NRG has entered into PPAs totaling approximately 2.6 GW with third-party project developers and other counterparties. The average tenor of these agreements is twelve years. The Company expects to continue evaluating and executing similar agreements that support the needs of the business. The total GW entered into through PPAs may be impacted by contract terminations when they occur.

Capacity and Other Contracted Revenue Sources

NRG's revenues and cash flows, primarily in the East and West, benefit from capacity/demand payments and other contracted revenue sources, originating from market clearing capacity prices, resource adequacy contracts, tolling arrangements and other long-term contractual arrangements.

The Company's largest sources of continuing capacity revenues are capacity auctions in PJM and NYISO. PJM operates a pay-for-performance model where capacity payments are modified based on real-time performance and NRG's actual revenues will be the combination of revenues based on the cleared auction MW plus the net of any over- and under-performance of NRG's respective generation assets. The Company primarily sells physical and financial capacity forward through bilateral contracts for our New York state assets. To the extent NRG is not able to enter into physical bilateral contracts, NRG will sell the remaining capacity into the NYISO six-month strip, monthly or spot auctions.

In California, there is a resource adequacy requirement that is primarily satisfied through bilateral contracts. Such bilateral contracts are typically short-term resource adequacy contracts. When bilateral contracting does not satisfy the resource adequacy need, such shortfalls can be addressed through procurement tools administered by the CAISO, including the capacity procurement mechanism or reliability must-run contracts.

Natural Gas

The natural gas commercial group is responsible for all costing, logistics and supply for all of NRG's residential, commercial & industrial and wholesale customers. The Direct Energy acquisition, which closed on January 5, 2021, significantly increased our capabilities and scale across the natural gas value chain. NRG has acquired contractual rights to natural gas transportation and storage assets across its footprint that allow for optimal supply economics in support of our various businesses. Our diversified load coupled with this asset portfolio enables us to deliver supply economically while providing incremental optimization activities when market conditions allow. The scale of the natural gas operation extends from the wellhead (through our producer services business) to our end use customers (through our various sales channels). This scale, coupled with our associated assets, gas system platform and people, create significant opportunity across North America.

Plant Operations

The Company owns and leases a diversified wholesale generation portfolio with approximately 18,000 MW of fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable generation capacity at 25 plants as of December 31, 2021, including approximately 1,600 MW of its PJM coal fleet with an announced retirement date of June 2022. The Company's wholesale generation assets are diversified by fuel-type and dispatch level, which helps mitigate the risks associated with fuel price volatility and market demand cycles. NRG continually evaluates its generation portfolio to focus on asset optimization opportunities and the locational value of its generation assets in each of the markets where the Company participates, as well as opportunities for the development of new generation.

The following table summarizes NRG's generation portfolio as of December 31, 2021:



	(In MW)(a)
Type	Texas	East	West/Services/Other	Total
Natural gas	4,775	1,881	1,494	8,150
Coal	4,174	3,140	605	7,919
Oil	—	455	—	455
Nuclear	1,132	—	—	1,132
Utility Scale Solar	—	—	219	219
Battery Storage	2	—	—	2

Total generation capacity	10,083	5,476	2,318	17,877

(a)All Utility Scale Solar are described in MW on an alternating current basis. MW figures provided represent nominal summer net MW capacity of power generated as adjusted for the Company's owned or leased interest.

Plant Operations is responsible for operating the Company's generation facilities at the highest standards of safety and reliability, and includes (i) operations and maintenance, (ii) asset management, and (iii) development, engineering and construction.

Operations & Maintenance

NRG operates and maintains its generation portfolio, as well as approximately 7,377 MW of additional coal and natural gas generation capacity at 12 plants operated on behalf of third parties as of December 31, 2021 using prudent industry practices for the safe, reliable and economic generation of electricity in compliance with all local, state and federal requirements. The Company follows a consistent set of operating requirements, including a solid base of training, required adherence to specific safety and environmental limits, procedure and checklist usage, and the implementation of continuous process improvement through incident investigations.

NRG uses best-in-class maintenance practices for preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance planning. The Company’s strategic planning process evaluates equipment condition, performance, and obsolescence to support the development of a comprehensive work scope and schedule for long-term performance.

Asset Management

NRG manages all aspects of its generation portfolio to optimize the lifecycle value of the assets, consistent with the Company’s goals. The Company evaluates capital projects required for continued operation and strategic enhancement of the assets, provides quality assurance on capital outlays, and assesses the impact of rules, regulations, and laws on business profitability. In addition, the Company manages its long-term contracts, PPAs, and real estate holdings and provides third party asset management services.

Development, Engineering & Construction

NRG develops, engineers and executes major plant modifications, “new build” generation and energy storage projects that enhance the value of its generation portfolio and provide options to meet generation growth needs in the retail markets we serve, in accordance with the Company’s strategic goals. Projects have included gas-fired generation development and construction, coal to gas conversions, grid scale energy storage development, grid scale renewable construction, and asset demolition, remediation and reclamation work.

Operational Statistics

The following statistics represent the Company's retail load and customer count:


	Year ended December 31,
	2021	2020	2019
Sales volumes - Electricity (in GWh)
Home - Texas	42,397	38,473	38,958
Home - East	14,108	10,221	9,918
Home - West/Services/Other	2,252	—	—
Business - Texas	34,367	17,928	18,976
Business - East	53,204	1,596	1,214
Business - West/Services/Other	10,625	—	—
Total Load	156,953	68,218	69,066

Sales volumes - Natural gas (in MDth)
Home - East	74,920	23,509	23,359
Home - West/Services/Other	97,272	—	—
Business - East	1,595,533	—	—
Business - West/Services/Other	109,021	—	—
Total Load	1,876,746	23,509	23,359


	Year ended December 31,
	2021	2020	2019
Customer count - Electricity customers(a)(b) (in thousands)
Home - Texas
Average retail	3,055	2,449	2,358
Ending retail	3,024	2,451	2,450
Home - East
Average retail	1,484	1,019	990
Ending retail	1,402	970	1,070
Home - West/Services/Other
Average retail	510	—	—
Ending retail	498	—	—

Customer count - Natural gas customers(b) (in thousands)
Home - East
Average retail	360	156	122
Ending retail	364	166	158
Home - West/Services/Other
Average retail	452	—	—
Ending retail	434	—	—

Total Customer count
Average retail - Home	5,861	3,624	3,470
Ending retail - Home	5,722	3,587	3,678
(a) Includes services customers
(b) Dual fuel customers are included within electricity customer counts only

The following are industry statistics for the Company's fossil and nuclear plants, as defined by the NERC:

Annual Equivalent Availability Factor, or EAF — Measures the percentage of maximum generation available over time as the fraction of net maximum generation that could be provided over a defined period of time after all types of outages and deratings, including seasonal deratings, are taken into account.

Net Heat Rate — The net heat rate represents the total amount of fuel in BTU required to generate one net kWh provided.

Net Capacity Factor — The net amount of electricity that a generating unit produces over a period of time divided by the net amount of electricity it could have produced if it had run at full power over that time period. The net amount of electricity produced is the total amount of electricity generated minus the amount of electricity used during generation by the station.

The tables below presents these performance metrics for the Company's generation portfolio, including leased facilities, for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:


	Year Ended December 31, 2021
			Fossil and Nuclear Plants (a)
	Net Owned Capacity (MW) (b)	Net Generation (In thousands of MWh) (a)	Annual Equivalent Availability Factor		Average Net Heat Rate BTU/kWh	Net Capacity Factor

Texas	10,083	36,920	70.6	%	10,717	42.4	%
East	5,476	7,494	79.8	%	11,877	8.8	%
West/Services/Other	2,318	7,949	88.0	%	7,337	47.2	%


	Year Ended December 31, 2020
			Fossil and Nuclear Plants (a)
	Net Owned Capacity (MW)	Net Generation (In thousands of MWh) (a)	Annual Equivalent Availability Factor		Average Net Heat Rate BTU/kWh	Net Capacity Factor

Texas	10,082	31,385	76.0	%	10,781	35.9	%
East	9,482	4,102	81.7	%	12,329	4.8	%
West/Services/Other	3,234	9,171	88.0	%	7,338	52.3	%

(a)Excludes equity method investments

The generation performance by region for the three years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019 is shown below:


	Net Generation
(In thousands of MWh)	2021	2020	2019
Texas
Coal	18,876	15,701	21,985
Gas	8,846	6,006	6,315
Nuclear (a)	9,198	9,678	9,695
Total Texas	36,920	31,385	37,995
East
Coal	5,774	1,888	4,435
Oil	201	322	209
Gas	1,519	1,892	2,269
Total East (b)	7,494	4,102	6,913
West/Services/Other
Gas	7,941	9,165	9,450
Renewables	8	6	12
Total West/Services/Other (c)	7,949	9,171	9,462

Total generation performance	52,363	44,658	54,370

(a)Reflects the Company's undivided interest in total MWh generated by STP

(b)Includes gas generation of 855 thousand MWh, 870 thousand MWh and 903 thousand MWh and oil generation of 199 thousand MWh, 322 thousand MWh and 209 thousand MWh for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively, that was sold to Generation Bridge

(c)Includes gas generation of 2,445 thousand MWh, 3,002 thousand MWh, and 2,203 thousand MWh for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively, that was sold to Generation Bridge

Competition

While there has been consolidation in the competitive retail space over the past few years, there is still considerable competition for customers. In Texas, there is healthy competition in deregulated areas and customers can choose providers based on the most appealing offers. Outside of Texas, electricity retailers compete with the incumbent utilities, in addition to other retail electric providers, which can inhibit competition depending on the market rules of the state. There is a high degree of fragmentation, with both large and small competitors offering a range of value propositions, including value, rewards, and sustainability-based offerings.

Wholesale generation is highly fragmented and diverse in terms of industry structure by region. As such, there is wide variation in terms of the capabilities, resources, nature and identities of the Company’s competitors depending on the market. Competitors include regulated utilities, municipalities, cooperatives, other independent power producers, and power marketers or trading companies, including those owned by financial institutions.

Seasonality and Price Volatility

The sale of power and natural gas to retail customers are seasonal businesses with the demand for power generally peaking during the summer, and the demand for natural gas generally peaking during the winter. As a result, net working capital requirements for the Company's retail operations generally increase during summer and winter months along with the higher revenues, and then decline during off-peak months. Weather may impact operating results and extreme weather conditions could have a material impact. The rates charged to retail customers may be impacted by fluctuations in total power

prices and market dynamics, such as the price of natural gas, transmission constraints, competitor actions, and changes in market heat rates.

Annual and quarterly operating results of the Company's generation portfolio can be significantly affected by weather and energy commodity price volatility. Significant other events, such as the demand for natural gas, interruptions in fuel supply infrastructure and relative levels of hydroelectric capacity can increase seasonal fuel and power price volatility. The preceding factors related to seasonality and price volatility are fairly uniform across the regions in which the Company operates.

Market Framework

NRG sells electricity, natural gas and related products and services to customers throughout the U.S. and Canada. In most of the states and regions that have introduced retail consumer choice, NRG competitively offers electricity, natural gas, portable power and other value-enhancing services to customers. Each retail consumer choice state or province establishes its own retail competition laws and regulations, and the specific operational, licensing, and compliance requirements vary by state or province. Regulated terms and conditions of default service, as well as any movement to replace default service with competitive services, as is done in ERCOT, can affect customer participation in retail competition. In Canada, NRG sells energy and related services to residential and commercial customers in the province of Alberta pursuant both to a regulated rate service governed by provincial regulations as well as a competitive service with rates set by market forces. Sales of energy to commercial customers take place in other provinces as well. The attractiveness of NRG's retail offerings may be impacted by the rules, regulations, market structure and communication requirements from public utility commissions in each state and province.

NRG's fleet of power plants which it owns, operates or manages are located in organized energy markets, known as RTOs or ISOs. Each organized market administers day-ahead and real-time centralized bid-based energy and ancillary services markets pursuant to tariffs approved by FERC, or in the case of ERCOT, market rules approved by the PUCT. These tariffs and rules dictate how the energy markets operate, how market participants make bilateral sales with one another, and how entities with market-based rates are compensated. Established prices reflect the value of energy at the specific location and time it is delivered, which is known as the Locational Marginal Price. Each market is subject to market mitigation measures designed to limit the exercise of locational market power. These market structures facilitate NRG's sale of power and capacity products at market-based rates.

Other than ERCOT, each of the ISO regions also operates a capacity or resource adequacy market that provides an opportunity for generating and demand response resources to earn revenues to offset their fixed costs that are not recovered in the energy and ancillary services markets. The ISOs are also responsible for transmission planning and operations.

Texas

NRG's business in Texas is subject to standards and regulations adopted by the PUCT and ERCOT(a), including the requirement for retailers to be certified by the PUCT in order to contract with end-users to sell electricity. The ERCOT market is one of the nation's largest and, historically, fastest growing power markets. ERCOT is an energy-only market and has implemented market rule changes referred to as the ORDC to provide pricing more reflective of higher energy value when operating reserves are scarce or constrained. The PUCT directed the implementation of the ORDC in 2014 to act as the primary scarcity pricing mechanism, with subsequent amendments made in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The majority of the retail load in the ERCOT market region is served by competitive retail suppliers, except certain areas that have not opted into competitive consumer choice and are served by municipal utilities and electric cooperatives.

East

While most of the states in the East region of the U.S. have introduced some level of retail consumer choice for electricity and/or natural gas, the incumbent utilities currently provide default service in most of the states and as a result typically serve the majority of residential customers. NRG’s retail activities in the East are subject to standards and regulations adopted by the ISOs, state public utility commissions and legislators, including the requirement for retailers to be certified in each state in order to contract with end-users to sell electricity.

(a)The Cottonwood facility is located in Deweyville, Texas, but operates in the MISO market

Power plants owned, operated and managed by NRG and NRG's demand response assets located in the East region of the U.S. are within the control areas of PJM, NYISO and MISO. Each of the market regions in the East region provides for robust competition in the day-ahead and real-time energy and ancillary services markets. Additionally, the assets in the East region receive a significant portion of their revenues from capacity markets. PJM uses a forward capacity auction, while NYISO uses a month-ahead capacity auction. MISO has an annual auction. Capacity market prices are sensitive to design parameters, as well as additions of new capacity. PJM operates a pay-for-performance model where capacity payments are modified based on real-time generator performance. In such markets, NRG’s actual capacity revenues will be the combination of cleared auction prices times the quantity of MW cleared, plus the net of any over-performance "bonus payments" and any under-performance charges. Additionally, bidding rules allow for the incorporation of a risk premium into generator bids.

West

In the West region of the U.S., NRG owns equity interests in natural gas-fired power plants located entirely within the CAISO footprint. The CAISO operates day-ahead and real-time locational markets for energy and ancillary services, while managing congestion primarily through nodal prices. The CAISO system facilitates NRG's sale of power, ancillary services and capacity products at market-based rates, either within the CAISO's centralized energy and ancillary service markets or bilaterally pursuant to tolling arrangements or other capacity sales with California's LSEs. The CPUC also determines capacity requirements for LSEs and for specified local areas utilizing inputs from the CAISO. Both the CAISO and CPUC rules require LSEs to contract with sufficient generation resources in order to maintain minimum levels of generation within defined local areas. Additionally, the CAISO has independent authority to contract with needed resources under certain circumstances, typically either when LSEs have failed to procure sufficient resources, or system conditions change unexpectedly.

Canada

In Canada, NRG sells to residential and commercial retail customers in Alberta under both regulated rates approved by the AUC as well as through competitive service. The Company's regulated rates are approved through periodic rate applications that establish rates for power and gas sales as well as for recovery of other costs associated with operating the regulated business. In addition, the Company sells energy to commercial customers in other provinces. All sales and operations are subject to applicable federal and provincial laws.

Regulatory Matters

As participants in wholesale and retail energy markets and owners and operators of power plants, certain NRG entities are subject to regulation by various federal and state government agencies. These include the CFTC, FERC, NRC and the PUCT, as well as other public utility commissions in certain states where NRG's generation or distributed generation assets are located. In addition, NRG is subject to the market rules, procedures and protocols of the various ISO and RTO markets in which it participates. Likewise, certain NRG entities participating in the retail markets are subject to rules and regulations established by the states and provinces in which NRG entities are licensed to sell at retail. NRG must also comply with the mandatory reliability requirements imposed by NERC and the regional reliability entities in the regions where NRG operates.

NRG's operations within the ERCOT footprint are not subject to rate regulation by FERC, as they are deemed to operate solely within the ERCOT market and not in interstate commerce. These operations are subject to regulation by the PUCT, as well as to regulation by the NRC with respect to NRG's ownership interest in STP.

Federal Energy Regulation

In March 2021, President Biden announced a framework for his "Build Back Better" initiative which includes policies to address climate change across the whole of the federal government through the tax code, an energy efficiency and clean energy incentives, research and development, among other areas of focus. The "Build Back Better" initiative has taken the form of two separate bills in Congress. The $1.2 trillion "core infrastructure" bill, which contains spending on new electric vehicle charging programs, among other things, was signed into law by President Biden on November 15, 2021. The remaining priorities, commonly referred to as "Build Back Better," are being monitored by NRG as they progress through the legislative process.

State and Provincial Energy Regulation

Illinois Legislation — Illinois enacted the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act ("CEJA") on September 15, 2021, which targets 100% clean energy by 2050. CEJA focuses on (i) decarbonization, (ii) incentives to transition coal plants into clean energy facilities and (iii) nuclear subsidies. CEJA requires non-publicly owned coal or oil electric generating units larger than 25 MWs to eliminate CO2e and copollutant emissions by January 1, 2030. Non-publicly owned electric generating units that are gas-fired, including Joliet, must eliminate CO2e and copollutant emissions, including through unit retirement or the use of 100% green hydrogen, in a timeframe ranging from January 1, 2030 to January 1, 2045 depending on certain emission rates and proximity to environmental justice communities. Furthermore, CEJA placed restrictions, with immediate effect, on gas-fired units that limits future emissions to their historic baselines. These limits affect the total potential energy production by gas units in Illinois. PJM, the PJM Independent Market Monitor and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency have exchanged

correspondence to obtain clarification on the implications of these restrictions. The new energy law also provides $174 million in incentives to develop solar and battery storage at coal generating sites that may be available to NRG.

Regional Regulatory Developments

NRG is affected by rule/tariff changes that occur in the ISO regions. For further discussion on regulatory developments see Item 15 — Note 24, Regulatory Matters, to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Texas

Public Utility Commission of Texas’ Actions with Respect to Wholesale Pricing and Market Design — In September 2021, the PUCT opened a rulemaking project to evaluate whether it should amend its rules to modify the High System Wide Offer cap ("HCAP") and the ORDC, which is intended to ensure prices in the competitive market appropriately reflect the value of operating reserves as the system approaches scarcity conditions. This rulemaking project concluded in December 2021, resulting in a rule amendment that lowered the HCAP to $5,000 per MWh and which expands the minimum contingency level to 3,000 MW. These two changes are broadly offsetting in their effect on overall average energy prices.

Activity on Securitization and ERCOT Pricing during Winter Storm Uri — The Texas Legislature acted to pass a variety of securitization vehicles to finance exceptionally high power and gas costs from Winter Storm Uri, including HB 4492. ERCOT subsequently filed two applications requesting the PUCT to issue Debt Obligation Orders ("DOOs") based on the legislation. On October 13, 2021, the PUCT issued DOOs authorizing ERCOT's securitization of $800 million to cover short payments and reimburse congestion revenue right account holders for amounts related to the default of market participants other than electric cooperatives Brazos and Rayburn, which are discussed below (the "Default Securitization") and $2.1 billion related to highly priced ancillary service and ORPDA during Winter Storm Uri (the "Uplift Securitization").

The DOOs require ERCOT to issue loans or securitized bonds through a bankruptcy remote special purpose entity as the borrower and distribute the proceeds to affected market participants for default-related short payments and to LSEs for certain ancillary-service and ORDPA costs using an allocation of proceeds based on an LSE's exposure to relevant costs as calculated by the LSE's prevailing load-ratio share during the period of Winter Storm Uri, and a further redistribution of proceeds initially allocated to other LSEs and customers who opt-out of securitization. In turn, ERCOT will charge non-bypassable fees related to the Default Securitization and Uplift Securitization to all qualified scheduling entities and to all LSEs (other than those that have opted-out), respectively. The Uplift Securitization provided for a one-time opt-out for certain LSEs or individual transmission-level customers who in exchange for foregoing any securitization-related proceeds likewise avoid future fees assessed by ERCOT for the use of repaying ERCOT's debt obligations. However, nearly all competitive REPs were required by the law to participate, ensuring the charge established by the law is competitively neutral. These opt-outs and calculations of the allocation of proceeds have been finalized. Based on LSE-level detail published by the PUCT on December 7, 2021, NRG will receive $689 million of Uplift Securitization proceeds, with receipt expected to occur during the second quarter of 2022. The $800 million Default Securitization was disbursed by ERCOT in November 2021, with NRG receiving $12 million.

Electric Cooperative Bankruptcy and Securitization — Of the defaults in the ERCOT market, two electric cooperatives, Brazos and Rayburn, constitute the vast majority. Brazos currently is in bankruptcy. NRG and ERCOT have both filed a proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding of Brazos, and Brazos has challenged ERCOT's claims in a manner that may prejudice NRG's claims against Brazos. During the fourth quarter of 2021, ERCOT filed a motion to dismiss Brazos' complaint relating to ERCOT's proof of claim, which NRG joined in support, but this motion was denied by the Bankruptcy Court, and ERCOT, NRG and certain other parties appealed. On January 11, 2022, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas entered an order allowing the appellants to seek direct review from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals of the Bankruptcy Court's decision on the motion to dismiss. On January 18, 2022, ERCOT, NRG and certain other parties filed a petition for direct review by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Court of Appeals granted the petition on February 4, 2022. On February 7, 2022, the Bankruptcy Court entered an order granting summary judgement in favor of Brazos on whether ERCOT's sales to Brazos were in the ordinary course of Brazos' business. The Bankruptcy Court ruled that the portion of ERCOT's claims for charges incurred by Brazos after the intervention of the PUCT and ERCOT were not in the ordinary course and thus are not entitled to administrative expense status under the Bankruptcy Code. The amount and priority of ERCOT's claim for amounts incurred prior to such intervention or after such intervention ceased are issues to be determined at trial. The Bankruptcy Court's summary judgement ruling may also apply to NRG's claims again Brazos. Trial on the merits of the ERCOT proof of claim and Brazos' complaint is set to commence before the Bankruptcy Court on February 22, 2022. To the extent the Bankruptcy Court reduces or disallows claims against Brazos, this presents risk for NRG.

ERCOT's market protocols provide for short payments to be extinguished through a process of uplift, whereby the cost of defaults is allocated to all market participants, including retailers, generators, municipal and cooperative utilities, and financial traders. However, the total amount of this uplift is limited by ERCOT's current protocols of $2.5 million per month. Consequently, it would take approximately 63 years for the net short-pay balance of $1.887 billion related to Brazos to be uplifted to the market under the current market rules. NRG's undiscounted share of the uplift based on its current market share

is estimated to be approximately $121 million and has been short-paid $68 million. The remaining $53 million has been discounted based on the 63 year repayment term and present value of $9 million was recorded as an additional liability.

Rayburn announced that it intended to securitize the amounts owed to ERCOT and payment from such securitization is expected in the first quarter of 2022.

Reliability and Plant Operations Standards — The PUCT established a rulemaking to establish weatherization standards, and issued a notice for comments in response to provisions of Texas Senate Bill 3 ("SB3") that require mandatory standards for power generators and others within the electric-power sector. SB3 provides that the standards adopted by the PUCT be implemented by generation owners, be subject to ERCOT inspections, and that ERCOT provide asset owners with a reasonable period of time to remedy any violation. Continuing violations would be subject to an administrative penalty and a requirement that a third-party contractor assess the asset owner's weatherization plans. On August 24, 2021, Commission Staff issued a proposal of weatherization standards for publication. NRG, through its trade association, filed comments. On October 21, 2021, Commissioners of the PUCT voted to adopt the rule without substantial modifications from the proposal.

PJM

PJM’s Variable Resource Requirement Curve — On July 9, 2021, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a decision denying in part and granting in part an appeal by several PJM state consumer advocates regarding FERC’s order approving revisions to PJM’s Variable Resource Requirement Curve (“VRR”). The court upheld PJM's use of a greenfield gas-fired combustion turbine as the reference unit to establish Net Cost of New Entry ("Net CONE"). However, the court remanded back to FERC the issue of allowing generators to have a 10% adder to their offer to supply capacity in the PJM market, and on January 20, 2022, FERC issued an order removing the 10% adder. The VRR is the demand curve that represents the slope of bids in the auction that ultimately results in the price and quantity of capacity allocated to load-serving entities, including NRG. The VRR curve is based on several inputs, including the Net CONE. The outcome could affect PJM’s capacity market prices.

PJM Revisions to Minimum Offer Price Rule — On July 30, 2021, PJM filed proposed tariff changes at FERC to largely eliminate the current minimum offer price rules ("MOPR") except in very narrow cases. The proposal would eliminate: (i) the current MOPR for new entrant natural gas resources effective with the 2023/2024 delivery year and (ii) the expanded MOPR established in FERC's December 2019 Order to address out-of-market subsidies. On September 30, 2021, PJM's proposal went into effect by operation of law because the FERC Commissioners were split 2-2 as to the lawfulness of the change. Multiple parties filed motions for rehearing and ultimately appealed to the federal court of appeals. On December 21, 2021 and December 30, 2021, respectively, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order holding the appeals in abeyance. The proposed revisions would allow PJM to address specific and narrow instances of buyer-side market power through subsequent filings at FERC. Any changes to the PJM capacity market construct may impact the outcome of future Base Residual Auctions.

PJM's ORDC Filing and Compliance Directives — On May 21, 2020, PJM proposed energy and reserve market reforms to enhance price formation in reserve markets, which included modifying ORDC and aligning market-based reserve products in Day-Ahead and Real-Time markets. In addition to approving PJM's proposal, FERC also directed PJM to implement a forward-looking Energy and Ancillary Services Offset to be used in PJM's capacity markets. After multiple compliance filings, parties filed appeals at the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit of FERC’s orders, and on August 13, 2021, FERC filed a motion and was granted a voluntary remand the case back to the agency. On December 22, 2021, FERC issued its order on voluntary remand affirming in part and reversing in part FERC's determination. Specifically, FERC reversed itself and ordered PJM to: (i) eliminate the more robust ORDC curves and reserve penalty adders and maintain the existing (lower) curves and (lower) penalty adders and (ii) restore its tariff provisions related to its prior backward-looking Energy and Ancillary Services Offset. At the direction of FERC, on January 21, 2022, PJM filed a compliance fling proposing a new schedule for the Base Residual Auctions.

Independent Market Monitor Market Seller Offer Cap Complaint — On March 18, 2021, finding that the calculation of the default Market Seller Offer Cap was unjust and unreasonable, the Order permitted the current PJM May 2021 capacity auction for the 2022/2023 delivery rule to continue under the existing rules and set a procedural schedule for parties to file briefs with possible solutions. On September 2, 2021, FERC issued an order in response to a complaint filed by the PJM Independent Market Monitor's proposal, which eliminates the Cost of New Entry-based Market Seller Offer Cap and implements a limited default cap for certain asset classes based on going-forward costs and provides for unit specific cost review by the Independent Market Monitor for all other non-zero offers into the auctions. As required by the Order, PJM submitted its compliance tariff on October 4, 2021. On October 4, certain parties filed a motion for rehearing. which was denied. Multiple parties filed appeals at the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The appeals are currently being held in abeyance. The removal of the Offer Caps may impact the outcome of future Base Residual Auctions.

New York

NYISO's Revisions to the Buyer Side Mitigation Rules — On January 5, 2022, the NYISO filed its Comprehensive Mitigation Review proposing changes to the buyer-side mitigation rules. The proposal would remove certain facilities to be reviewed under the buyer-side mitigation rules to serve the goals of New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, adopt a marginal capacity accreditation market design and adjust the rules surrounding installed and unforced capacity. Changes to NYISO's Buyer Side Mitigation rules may impact the outcome of future capacity auctions.

California

California Resource Adequacy Proceedings — On March 25, 2021, the CPUC directed the state's major investor-owned utilities to engage in up to 1.5 GW of emergency procurement for 2021 and 2022 and is currently evaluating further procurement directives through 2023. In the same docket, the CPUC approved a new demand response program for use during emergency conditions. As part of the Integrated Resource Procurement docket, the CPUC approved a decision on June 24, 2021 that will require all Load Serving Entities to procure a pro rata share of 11.5 GW of new non-fossil resource adequacy from 2023 to 2026. To replace the retiring Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, this will consist largely of GHG-free energy, long-duration storage, baseload renewables and energy storage. A new resource adequacy docket opened in October 2021 will consider changes to the reserve margin and qualifying capacity of different resource types, and the CPUC and CAISO will continue to evaluate major structural reforms to the resource adequacy program in California that would begin in 2024.

Midway-Sunset Reliability Must Run Proceeding — San Joaquin Energy, LLC, a subsidiary of NRG, owns a 50%, non-controlling interest in the Midway-Sunset Cogeneration Company ("MSCC"). MSCC owns a cogeneration facility near Fellows, California and submitted mothball notices for the cogeneration facility to the CAISO in the latter half of 2020. On December 17, 2020, the CAISO Board effectively rejected the mothball notices by authorizing its staff to designate the MSCC facility as a reliability must-run ("RMR") resource conditioned on execution of a RMR contract. On January 29, 2021, MSCC made its RMR filing at FERC. Multiple parties filed protests and on March 16, 2021, MSCC filed a response to those protests. On April 2, 2021, FERC accepted the RMR filing, suspended it to become effective February 1, 2021 subject to refund and established hearing and settlement judge proceedings. The parties are engaging in settlement proceedings. On September 27, 2021, the CAISO gave notice to MSCC extending the term of the reliability designation through December 31, 2022.

Canada

Alberta Energy Market — In December 2020, prior to its acquisition by NRG, Direct Energy filed a Non-Energy Rate Application with the AUC to approve cost recovery for the 2020-2022 period. Major cost elements of this application relate to bad debt, corporate costs, and customer care and billing contracts. The Company engaged in a mediation and settlement process, and on April 20, 2021 an all-party settlement was executed, and was filed with the AUC on April 23, 2021. The AUC approved the settlement agreement on June 4, 2021. Separately, the Company received approval from the AUC of a negotiated rate settlement for its electricity focused 2020-2022 Energy Price Setting Plan which went into effect on July 1, 2021. The Company has completed the last repayment to the Balancing Pool and the Alberta government as part of its 90-day utility bill deferral program. This program, effective March 18, 2020, was designed to assist residential, farms, and small business customers who were negatively affected by COVID-19 related economic circumstances by temporarily deferring their utility bill payments. The program was also designed to mitigate bad debt risks associated with the implementation of the program.

Environmental Regulatory Matters

NRG is subject to numerous environmental laws in the development, construction, ownership and operation of power plants. These laws generally require that governmental permits and approvals be obtained before construction and maintained during operation of power plants. Federal and state environmental laws historically have become more stringent over time. Future laws may require the addition of emissions controls or other environmental controls or impose restrictions on the Company's operations. Complying with environmental laws often involves specialized human resources and significant capital and operating expenses, as well as occasionally curtailing operations. NRG decides to invest capital for environmental controls based on the relative certainty of the requirements, an evaluation of compliance options, and the expected economic returns on capital.

A number of regulations that affect the Company have been revised recently by the EPA, including ash storage and disposal requirements, NAAQS revisions and implementation and effluent limitation guidelines. Some of these recent revisions may, in turn, be revised by the current U.S. presidential administration. NRG will evaluate the impact of these regulations as they are revised but cannot fully predict the impact of each until anticipated revisions and legal challenges are resolved.

Air

The CAA and related regulations (as well as similar state and local requirements) have the potential to affect air emissions, operating practices and pollution control equipment required at power plants. Under the CAA, the EPA sets NAAQS for certain pollutants including SO2, ozone, and PM2.5. Many of the Company's facilities are located in or near areas that are

classified by the EPA as not achieving certain NAAQS (non-attainment areas). The relevant NAAQS may become more stringent. The Company maintains a comprehensive compliance strategy to address continuing and new requirements. Complying with increasingly stringent air regulations could require the installation of additional emissions control equipment at some NRG facilities or retiring of units if installing such controls is not economic. Significant changes to air regulatory programs affecting the Company are described below.

CPP/ACE Rules — The attention in recent years on GHG emissions has resulted in federal and state regulations. In October 2015, the EPA promulgated the CPP, addressing GHG emissions from existing EGUs. On February 9, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the CPP. In July 2019, EPA promulgated the ACE rule, which rescinded the CPP, which had sought to broadly regulate CO2 emissions from the power sector. On January 19, 2021, the D.C. Circuit vacated the ACE rule (but on February 22, 2021, at the EPA's request, stayed the issuance of the portion of the mandate that would vacate the repeal of the CPP). On October 29, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the D.C. Circuit's decision, which should provide some clarity regarding the scope of the EPA's authority to regulate CO2 under the Clean Air Act. The Company expects the EPA to promulgate a new rule to regulate GHG emissions from power plants after a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions — NRG emits CO2 (and small quantities of other GHGs) when generating electricity at a majority of its facilities. Nearly all (>99%) of NRG's domestic GHG emissions are subject to federal (U.S. EPA) GHG reporting requirements.

NRG's climate goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2025, from its current 2014 baseline, and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Greenhouse gas emissions include directly controlled emissions, emissions from NRG's purchased energy, and emissions from employee business travel. In 2021, NRG's climate goals were certified by the Science Based Targets initiative as aligned with a 1.5 degree Celsius trajectory. From the current 2014 baseline to 2021, the Company's CO2e emissions decreased from 61 million metric tons to 34 million metric tons, representing a cumulative 44% reduction. The decrease is attributed to reductions in fleet-wide annual net generation and a market-driven shift away from coal as a primary fuel to natural gas. The increase in emissions in 2021, as compared to 2020, was primarily due to higher power demand which was a result of the easing of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and the associated economic recovery. The Company is continuing to target a 50% reduction by 2025 and is on track to meet that goal.

As of December 31, 2021, less than 5% of the Company's consolidated operating revenues were derived from coal-fired operating assets.

The following charts reflect the Company’s domestic generation portfolio, including leased facilities and those accounted for through equity method investments. Prior year information was adjusted to remove divested assets.

Byproducts, Wastes, Hazardous Materials and Contamination

In April 2015, the EPA finalized the rule regulating byproducts of coal combustion (e.g., ash and gypsum) as solid wastes under the RCRA. In September 2017, the EPA agreed to reconsider the rule. On July 30, 2018, the EPA promulgated a rule that amended the existing ash rule by extending some of the deadlines and providing more flexibility for compliance. On August 21, 2018, the D.C. Circuit found, among other things, that the EPA had not adequately regulated unlined ponds and legacy ponds. In 2019 and 2020, the EPA proposed several changes to this rule. On August 28, 2020, the EPA finalized "A Holistic Approach to Closure Part A: Deadline to Initiate Closure," which amended the April 2015 Rule to address the August 2018 D.C. Circuit decision and extend some of the deadlines. On November 12, 2020, the EPA finalized "A Holistic Approach to Closure Part B: Alternative Demonstration for Unlined Surface Impoundments," which further amended the April 2015 Rule to, among other things, provide procedures for requesting approval to operate existing ash impoundments with an alternate liner.

Domestic Site Remediation Matters

Under certain federal, state and local environmental laws, a current or previous owner or operator of a facility, including an electric generating facility, may be required to investigate and remediate releases or threatened releases of hazardous or toxic substances or petroleum products. NRG may be responsible for property damage, personal injury and investigation and remediation costs incurred by a party in connection with hazardous material releases or threatened releases. These laws impose liability without regard to whether the owner knew of or caused the presence of the hazardous substances, and the courts have interpreted liability under such laws to be strict (without fault) and joint and several. Cleanup obligations can often be triggered during the closure or decommissioning of a facility, in addition to spills during its operations. Further discussions of affected NRG sites can be found in Item 15 — Note 23, Commitments and Contingencies, to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Jewett Mine Lignite Contract — The Company's Limestone facility historically burned lignite obtained from the Jewett mine, which was operated by TWCC. In 2019, the Jewett mine and related lignite supply agreement with NRG were acquired by Westmoreland Jewett Mining LLC ("Jewett Mining"), a subsidiary of Westmoreland Mining LLC pursuant to a plan of reorganization confirmed by the Texas Bankruptcy Court. Effective August 5, 2020, NRG's subsidiary, NRG Texas LLC, acquired all of the equity interests of Jewett Mining. Active mining under the lignite supply agreement ceased as of December 31, 2016; however, under the terms of the lignite supply agreement, Jewett Mining remains responsible for reclamation activities and NRG is responsible for all reclamation costs. NRG has recorded an adequate ARO liability. The Railroad Commission of Texas has imposed a bond obligation of approximately $99 million for the reclamation of the Jewett mine, which NRG supports through surety bonds. The cost of the reclamation may exceed the value of the bonds. NRG may provide additional performance assurance if required by the Railroad Commission of Texas.

Nuclear Waste — The federal government's program to construct a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada was discontinued in 2010. Since 1998, the U.S. DOE has been in default of the federal government's obligations to begin accepting spent nuclear fuel, or SNF, and high-level radioactive waste, or HLW, under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Owners of nuclear plants, including the owners of STP, had been required to enter into contracts setting out the obligations of the owners and the U.S. DOE, including the fees to be paid by the owners for the U.S. DOE's services to license a spent fuel repository. Effective May 16, 2014, the U.S. DOE stopped collecting the fees.

On February 5, 2013, STPNOC entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. DOE for payment of damages relating to the U.S. DOE's failure to accept SNF and HLW under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act through December 31, 2013, which has been extended three times through addendums to cover payments through December 31, 2022. There are no facilities for the reprocessing or permanent disposal of SNF currently in operation in the U.S., nor has the NRC licensed any such facilities. STPNOC currently stores all SNF generated by its nuclear generating facilities on-site. STPNOC plans to continue to assert claims against the U.S. DOE for damages relating to the U.S. DOE's failure to accept SNF and HLW.

Under the federal Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980, as amended in 1985, the state of Texas is required to provide, either on its own or jointly with other states in a compact, for the disposal of all low-level radioactive waste generated within the state. Texas is currently in a compact with the state of Vermont, and the compact low-level waste facility located in Andrews County in Texas has been operational since 2012.

Water

The Company is required under the CWA to comply with intake and discharge requirements, requirements for technological controls and operating practices. As with air quality regulations, federal and state water regulations have become more stringent and imposed new requirements.

Effluent Limitations Guidelines — In November 2015, the EPA revised the Effluent Limitations Guidelines ("ELG") for Steam Electric Generating Facilities, which imposed more stringent requirements (as individual permits were renewed) for wastewater streams from FGD, fly ash, bottom ash, and flue gas mercury control. On September 18, 2017, the EPA promulgated a final rule that, among other things, postponed the compliance dates to preserve the status quo for FGD wastewater and bottom ash transport water by two years to November 2020 until the EPA amended the rule. On October 13, 2020, the EPA amended the 2015 ELG rule by: (i) altering the stringency of certain limits for FGD wastewater; (ii) relaxing the zero-discharge requirement for bottom ash transport water; and (iii) changing several deadlines. On July 26, 2021, the EPA announced that it is initiating a new rulemaking to evaluate revising the ELG rule. While the EPA is developing the new rule, the existing rule (as amended in 2020) will stay in place, and the EPA expects permitting authorities to continue to implement the current regulation. The EPA anticipates releasing a proposed rule in fall 2022. In October 2021, NRG informed its regulators that the Company intends to comply with the ELG by ceasing combustion of coal by the end of 2028 at its domestic coal units outside of Texas, and installing appropriate controls by the end of 2025 at its two plants in Texas.

Regional Environmental Developments

Ash Regulation in Illinois — On July 30, 2019, Illinois enacted legislation that requires the state to promulgate regulations regarding coal ash at surface impoundments. On April 15, 2021, the state promulgated the implementing regulation, which became effective on April 21, 2021. The new regulation requires NRG to apply for initial operating permits for its coal ash surface impoundments by October 31, 2021 and construction permits (for closure) starting in 2022.

Customers

NRG sells to a wide variety of customers, primarily end-use customers in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. The Company owns and operates power plants to generate and sell power to wholesale customers, such as utilities and other intermediaries. The Company had no customer that comprised more than 10% of the Company's consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Human Capital

As of December 31, 2021, NRG and its consolidated subsidiaries had 6,635 employees, approximately 13% of whom were covered by U.S. collective bargaining agreements. During 2021, the Company did not experience any labor stoppages or labor disputes at any of its facilities.

NRG believes its employees are vital to its success and is committed to offering employees a rewarding career that provides opportunities for growth and the ability to make valuable contributions toward the achievement of the Company’s business objectives. NRG focuses on safety, health and wellness, diversity, equity and inclusion, talent development and total rewards for its employees.

Safety

Safety is embedded in the culture at NRG. The Company strives to begin each meeting with a safety moment and regularly reminds its employees that safety comes first. NRG has achieved its targeted top decile safety record of Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable injury rates in each of the 5 previous years.

Health and Wellness

For several years, NRG has invested in the well-being of its employees and their families. NRG provides programs that holistically support its employees’ physical, emotional and financial wellness, allowing employees the opportunity to take control of their well-being and focus on what matters most to them for a healthy, secure future.

During 2020, the Company evaluated its approach to health and well-being in light of the circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to COVID-19, NRG implemented additional programs to provide services to support the needs of employees, including those working from home, such as programs that provided back-up childcare, expanded access to telemedicine (for both physical and mental health), and supported mental and emotional well-being through programs such as mindfulness. During 2021, the Company continued its support of employees by partnering with the National Council for Behavioral Health to roll out their Mental Health First Aid program. This program safely, respectfully and effectively opens the conversation about mental illness and addiction, encourages employees to recognize and take responsibility for their mental health, teaches managers to recognize and speak to an employee with a mental health concern before it creates performance problems, complements and supports existing benefit and wellness programs and company’s policies and procedures.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

NRG is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion ("DE&I") as an integral part of the Company. In 2020, NRG completed a gender and race pay equity study to ensure that the Company's pay decisions were not influenced by gender, race, or other similar factors. The study showed equitable pay practices after accounting for education, experience, performance and location. NRG also conducted company-wide unconscious bias training to help all employees recognize, understand, and reduce implicit bias and offers various other related guides and tools to its employees and management.

In 2021, the Company focused on embedding DE&I in the Company’s operations, culture and communications, by working with diverse suppliers, finding diverse talent, facilitating engagement and awareness of DE&I by employees, and committing to be accountable for our DE&I progress.

Talent Development

NRG deploys various talent development strategies and programs with the goal of ensuring a pipeline of leadership who can execute on the Company’s strategy and drive value for all stakeholders. The Board of Directors regularly engages with management on leadership development and succession planning, including providing feedback on development plans and bench strength for key senior leader positions. The Board of Directors also has a structured program that allows directors to interact directly with individuals deeper within the organization whom management, through a robust talent assessment program, as well as mentoring relationships, has identified as high potential future leaders. In 2021, the Company launched an Executive Leadership Program to strengthen the identified pipeline of future leaders and create a cohort of high potential candidates for the program. The Company has a performance management tool that emphasizes a continuous feedback loop and a robust online training curriculum with topics including leadership, communication and productivity.

Total Rewards

NRG seeks to provide the median target of compensation and benefits, benchmarked against direct peers, industry, and, where appropriate, general peers. To ensure incentives are properly aligned with business needs and can attract and retain qualified employees, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors actively reviews the Company's total rewards programs, including benchmarking programs against peer groups, assessing the risks of programs and evaluating the design of the annual and long-term incentive programs. The Company offers full-time employees incentives designed to motivate and reward success. NRG continues to evaluate its offerings taking into consideration the needs of its employees to ensure they are competitive and best serve its employees. Every two years, the Company engages an independent third party to benchmark its compensation and benefits programs against its peers and report the results to the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors.

For further discussion and recent available data regarding the Company’s efforts and programs please see the Company’s 2021 Proxy Statement and 2020 Sustainability Report, which are available on the Company’s website at: www.nrg.com. Information included in these documents is not intended to be incorporated into this Form 10-K.

Available Information

NRG's annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are available free of charge through the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and through the Company's website, www.nrg.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The Company also routinely posts press releases, presentations, webcasts, sustainability reports and other information regarding the Company on the Company's website. The information posted on the Company's website is not a part of this report.

Item 1A — Risk Factors

NRG's risk factors are grouped into the following categories: (i) Risks Related to the Acquisition of Direct Energy; (ii) Risks Related to the Operation of NRG's Business; (iii) Risks Related to Governmental Regulation and Laws; (iv) Risks Related to Public Health Threats; and (v) Risks Related to Economic and Financial Market Conditions, and the Company's Indebtedness.

Risks Related to the Acquisition of Direct Energy

The acquisition of Direct Energy may not achieve its intended results.

Achieving the anticipated benefits of cost savings and operating efficiencies of the acquisition is subject to a number of uncertainties, including whether the businesses of NRG and Direct Energy are integrated in an efficient and effective manner. Failure to achieve these anticipated benefits could result in increased costs, lower-than-expected revenues or income generated by the combined company and diversion of management's time and energy, which could have an adverse effect on the Company's business, financial results and prospects.

The Company will be subject to business uncertainties related to Direct Energy that could adversely affect its financial results.

Uncertainty about the effects of the acquisition of Direct Energy on employees, customers and suppliers may have an adverse effect on NRG's business. Although the Company intends to take steps designed to reduce any adverse effects, these uncertainties may impair its ability to attract, retain and motivate key personnel for a period of time, and could cause customers, suppliers and others that deal with it to seek to change existing business relationships.

Employee retention and recruitment may be particularly challenging, as employees and prospective employees may experience uncertainty about their future roles with the Company. If, despite the Company's retention and recruiting efforts, key employees depart or fail to accept employment with NRG because of issues relating to the uncertainty and difficulty of integration or a desire not to remain with NRG, the Company's financial results could be affected.

The integration of NRG and Direct Energy may disrupt or have a negative impact on the Company’s business.

The acquisition of Direct Energy is complex, and the Company will devote significant time and resources to integrating its operations with the operations of NRG. NRG could have difficulty integrating the acquired assets and personnel of Direct Energy with its own. The integration of NRG and Direct Energy may place a significant burden on management and internal resources. The diversion of management attention away from ongoing business concerns and any difficulties encountered in the transition and integration process could affect the Company's business, results of operations and financial condition. Risks that could impact the Company negatively include:

•the difficulty of managing and integrating Direct Energy and its operations;

•the potential disruption of the ongoing businesses and distraction of management;

•changes in our business focus and/or management;

•difficulties in implementing and maintaining uniform processes, systems, standards, controls, procedures, practices, policies and compensation standards;

•unanticipated issues in integrating information technology, communications, and other systems;

•the possibility of faulty assumptions underlying expectations regarding the integration process;

•the potential impairment of relationships with employees and partners;

•unforeseen expenses associated with the acquisition of Direct Energy, including delays to the integration of Direct Energy’s business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic;

•the potential difficulty in managing an increased number of locations and employees;

•the potential loss of valuable employees;

•difficulty addressing any possible differences in corporate cultures and management philosophies;

•unanticipated changes in federal or state laws or regulations; and

•the effect of any government regulations that relate to the business acquired.

If the Company is not successful in addressing these risks effectively, the business could be impacted. Many of these factors will be outside of the Company’s control, and any one of them could result in delays, increased costs, decreases in the amount of expected revenues and diversion of management’s time and energy, which could materially affect NRG’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to the Operation of NRG's Business

NRG's financial performance may be impacted by price fluctuations in the retail and wholesale power and natural gas markets, as well as fluctuations in coal and oil markets and other market factors that are beyond the Company's control.

Market prices for power, capacity, ancillary services, natural gas, coal and oil are unpredictable and tend to fluctuate substantially. Unlike most other commodities, electric power can only be stored on a very limited basis and generally must be produced concurrently with its use. As a result, power prices are subject to significant volatility due to supply and demand imbalances, especially in the day-ahead and spot markets. Long and short-term power and gas prices may also fluctuate substantially due to other factors outside of the Company's control, including:

•changes in generation capacity in the Company’s markets, including the addition of new supplies of power as a result of the development of new plants, expansion of existing plants, the continued operation of uneconomic power plants due to state subsidies, retirement of existing plants or addition of new transmission capacity;

•environmental regulations and legislation;

•electric supply disruptions, including plant outages and transmission disruptions;

•changes in power and gas transmission infrastructure;

•fuel price volatility and transportation capacity constraints or inefficiencies;

•changes in law, including judicial decisions;

•weather conditions, including extreme weather conditions and seasonal fluctuations, including the effects of climate change;

•changes in commodity prices and the supply of commodities, including but not limited to natural gas, coal and oil;

•changes in the demand for power or gas, or in patterns of power or gas usage, including the potential development of demand-side management tools and practices, distributed generation, and more efficient end-use technologies;

•development of new fuels, new technologies and new forms of competition for the production of power;

•economic and political conditions;

•federal, state and provincial power regulations and legislation, and regulations and actions of the ISO and RTOs;

•changes in prices related to RECs; and

•changes in capacity prices and capacity markets.

While retail rates are generally designed to allow retail sellers of electricity and natural gas to pass through price fluctuations and other changes to costs, the Company may not be able to pass through all such changes to customers. For example, serving retail power customers in ISOs that have a capacity market exposes the Company to the risk that capacity costs can change and may not be recoverable, or the Company may engage in sales of power at fixed prices. Additionally, increases in wholesale costs to retail customers may cause additional customer defaults or increased customer attrition, or may be impacted by regulatory rules.

Further, in low natural gas price environments, natural gas can be the more cost-competitive fuel compared to coal for generating electricity. The Company enters into guaranteed supply contracts to provide for the amount of coal needed to operate its base load coal-fired generating facilities, the Company may experience periods where it holds excess amounts of coal if fuel pricing results in the Company reducing or idling coal-fired generating facilities. In addition, the Company may incur costs to terminate supply contracts for coal in excess of its generating requirements.

Such factors and the associated fluctuations in power prices have affected the Company's wholesale and retail profitability in the past and are expected to continue to do so in the future.

Volatile power and gas supply costs and demand for power and gas could adversely affect the financial performance of NRG's retail operations.

NRG's retail power operations purchase a significant portion of their supply from third parties. All of the gas sold by the Company in retail and wholesale markets is purchased from third parties. As a result, financial performance depends on the ability to obtain adequate supplies of power and gas from third parties at prices below the prices NRG charges its customers. Consequently, the Company's earnings and cash flows could be adversely affected in any period in which the wholesale power or gas prices rise at a greater rate than the rates the Company can charge to customers. The price of wholesale electricity and gas supply purchases associated with the retail operations' energy commitments can be different than that reflected in the rates charged to customers due to, among other factors:

•varying supply procurement contracts used and the timing of entering into related contracts;

•subsequent changes in the overall price of natural gas;

•daily, monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the price of natural gas relative to the 12-month forward prices;

•transmission and transportation constraints and the Company's ability to move power or gas to its customers; and

•changes in market heat rate (i.e., the relationship between power and natural gas prices).

The Company's earnings and cash flows could also be adversely affected in any period in which its customers' actual usage of electricity or gas significantly varies from the forecasted usage, which could occur due to, among other factors, weather events, changes in usage patterns, competition and economic conditions.

Substantially all of NRG's businesses operates, wholly or partially, without long-term power sale agreements.

Many of NRG’s retail customers are contracted for a period of one year or less, and NRG may or may not hedge its retail power sales exposure, or may hedge in a manner that is not effective at managing quantity or price risk in the retail market. In addition, many of NRG’s generation facilities are exposed to market risk because they operate as "merchant" facilities without long-term power sales agreements for some or all of their generating capacity and output. Without the benefit of long-term power sales or purchase agreements, and without long-term load obligations, NRG cannot be sure that it will be able to sell or purchase power at commercially attractive rates or that its generation facilities will be able to operate profitably. This could lead to future impairments of the Company's property, plants and equipment, the closing of certain of its facilities or the loss of retail customers, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

Competition may have a material adverse effect on NRG's results of operations, cash flows and the market value of its assets.

NRG has numerous competitors in all aspects of its business, and additional competitors may enter the industry. The Company's retail operations specifically face competition for customers. Competitors may offer different products, lower prices, and other incentives which may attract customers away from the Company. In some retail electricity markets, the principal competitor may be the incumbent utility. The incumbent utility has the advantage of long-standing relationships with its customers and strong brand recognition. Furthermore, NRG may face competition from other energy service providers, other energy industry participants, or nationally branded providers of consumer products and services, who may develop businesses that will compete with NRG.

The Company’s plant operations face competition from newer or more efficient plants owned by competitors, which may put some of the Company's plants at a disadvantage to the extent these competitors are able to consume the same or less fuel as the Company's plant. Over time, the Company's plants may be unable to compete with these more efficient plants, which could result in retirements.

NRG’s competitors may have greater liquidity, greater access to credit and other financial resources, lower cost structures, more effective risk management policies and procedures, greater ability to incur losses, longer-standing relationships with customers, greater potential for profitability from retail sales or greater flexibility in the timing of their sale of generation capacity and ancillary services than NRG does. Competitors may also have better access to subsidies or other out-of-market payments that put NRG at a competitive disadvantage.

NRG's competitors may be able to respond more quickly to new laws or regulations or emerging technologies, or devote greater resources to marketing of retail energy than NRG can. In addition, current and potential competitors may make strategic acquisitions or establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties. Accordingly, it is possible that new competitors or alliances among current and new competitors may emerge and rapidly gain significant market share.

There can be no assurance that NRG will be able to compete successfully against current and future competitors, and any failure to do so would have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.

NRG's costs, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely impacted by disruption of its fuel supplies.

NRG relies on natural gas, coal and oil to fuel a majority of its power generation facilities. Grid operations depend on the continuing financial viability of contractual counterparties, as well as the infrastructure (including rail lines, rail cars, barge facilities, roadways, riverways and natural gas pipelines) available to serve generation facilities and to ensure that there is sufficient power produced to meet retail demand. As a result, the Company’s wholesale generation facilities are subject to the risks of disruptions or curtailments in the production of power at its generation facilities if no fuel is available at any price, if a counterparty fails to perform or if there is a disruption in the fuel delivery infrastructure.

NRG routinely hedges both its wholesale sales and purchases to support its retail load obligations. In order to hedge these obligations, the Company may enter into long-term and short-term contracts for the purchase and delivery of fuel. Many of the forward power sales contracts do not allow the Company to pass through changes in fuel costs or discharge the power sale obligations in the case of a disruption in fuel supply due to force majeure events or the default of a fuel supplier or transporter.

Disruptions in the Company's fuel supplies or power supply arrangements may therefore require it to find alternative fuel sources at higher costs, to find other sources of power to deliver to retail customers or other counterparties at a higher cost, or to pay damages to counterparties for failure to deliver power or sell electricity or natural gas as contracted. Any such event could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial performance.

NRG also buys significant quantities of energy and fuel on a short-term or spot market basis. Prices sometimes rise or fall significantly over a relatively short period of time. The price NRG can obtain for the sale of energy may not rise at the same rate, or may not rise at all, to match a rise in fuel or delivery costs. Retail rates may also not rise at the same rate or may not rise at all. This may have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial performance.

NRG's plant operating characteristics and equipment, particularly at its coal-fired plants, often dictate the specific fuel quality to be combusted. The availability and price of specific fuel qualities may vary due to supplier financial or operational disruptions, transportation disruptions and force majeure. At times, coal of specific quality may not be available at any price or the Company may not be able to transport such coal to its facilities on a timely basis. In this case, the Company may not be able to run the coal facility even if it would be profitable. Operating a coal facility with different quality coal can lead to emission or operating problems. If the Company had sold forward the power from such a coal facility, it could be required to supply or purchase power from alternate sources, perhaps at a loss. This could have a material adverse impact on the financial results of specific plants and on the Company's results of operations.

There may be periods when NRG will not be able to meet its commitments under forward sale or purchase obligations at a reasonable cost or at all.

The Company may sell fixed price gas as a proxy for power. Because the obligations under most of the Company's forward sale agreements are not contingent on a unit being available to generate power, NRG is generally required to deliver power to the buyer, even in the event of a plant outage, fuel supply disruption or a reduction in the available capacity of the unit. To the extent that the Company does not have sufficient lower-cost capacity to meet its commitments under its forward sale obligations, the Company would be required to supply replacement power either by running its other, higher cost power plants or by obtaining power from third-party sources at market prices that could substantially exceed the contract price. If NRG fails to deliver the contracted power, it would be required to pay the difference between the market price at the delivery point and the contract price, and the amount of such payments could be substantial.

NRG's trading operations and use of hedging agreements could result in financial losses that negatively impact its results of operations, and NRG's hedging activities may increase the volatility in the Company's quarterly and annual financial results.

The Company typically enters into hedging agreements, including contracts to purchase or sell commodities at future dates and at fixed prices, to manage the commodity price risks inherent in its business. The Company’s risk management policies and hedging procedures may not mitigate risk as planned, and the Company may fail to fully or effectively hedge its commodity supply and price risk. In addition, these activities, although intended to mitigate price volatility, expose the Company to other risks. When the Company sells or buys power or gas forward, it gives up the opportunity to buy or sell at the future price, which not only may result in lost opportunity costs but also may require the Company to post significant amounts of cash collateral or other credit support to its counterparties. The Company also relies on counterparty performance under its hedging agreements and is exposed to the credit quality of its counterparties under those agreements. Further, if the values of the financial contracts change in a manner that the Company does not anticipate, or if a counterparty fails to perform under a contract, it could harm the Company's business, operating results or financial position.

NRG does not typically hedge the entire exposure of its operations against commodity price volatility. To the extent it does not hedge against commodity price volatility, the Company's results of operations and financial position may be improved or diminished based upon movement in commodity prices.

NRG may engage in trading activities, including the trading of power, fuel and emissions allowances that are not directly related to the operation of the Company's generation facilities or the management of related risks. These trading activities take place in volatile markets and some of these trades could be characterized as speculative. The Company would expect to settle these trades financially rather than through the production of power or the delivery of fuel. This trading activity may expose the Company to the risk of significant financial losses which could have a material adverse effect on its business and financial condition.

NRG generally attempts to balance its fixed-price physical and financial purchases and sales commitments in terms of contract volumes and the timing of performance and delivery obligations through the use of financial and physical derivative contracts. These derivatives are accounted for in accordance with the FASB ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, or ASC 815, which requires the Company to record all derivatives on the balance sheet at fair value with changes in the fair value resulting from fluctuations in the underlying commodity prices immediately recognized in earnings, unless the derivative qualifies for

cash flow hedge accounting treatment or a scope exception. As a result, the Company's quarterly and annual results are subject to significant fluctuations caused by changes in market prices.

NRG may not have sufficient liquidity to hedge market risks effectively.

The Company is exposed to market risks through its retail and wholesale operations, which involve the purchase of electricity and natural gas for resale, the sale of energy, capacity and related products, and the purchase and sale of fuel, transmission services and emission allowances. These market risks include, among other risks, volatility arising from location and timing differences that may be associated with buying and transporting fuel, converting fuel into energy and delivering energy to a buyer.

NRG undertakes these market activities through agreements with various counterparties. Many of the Company's agreements with counterparties include provisions that require the Company to provide guarantees, offset or netting arrangements, letters of credit, a first lien on assets and/or cash collateral to protect the counterparties against the risk of the Company's default or insolvency. The amount of such credit support that must be provided typically is based on the difference between the price of the commodity in a given contract and the market price of the commodity. Significant movements in market prices can result in the Company being required to provide cash collateral and letters of credit in very large amounts. The effectiveness of the Company's strategy may depend on the amount of collateral available to enter into or maintain these contracts, and liquidity requirements may be greater than the Company anticipates or will be able to meet. Without a sufficient amount of working capital to post as collateral in support of performance guarantees or as a cash margin, the Company may not be able to manage price volatility effectively or to implement its strategy. An increase in the amount of letters of credit or cash collateral required to be provided to the Company's counterparties may negatively affect the Company's liquidity and financial condition.

Further, if retail customers use more power or gas than expected, or if any of NRG's facilities experience unplanned outages, the Company may be required to procure additional power or gas at spot market prices to fulfill contractual commitments. Without adequate liquidity to meet margin and collateral requirements, the Company may be exposed to significant losses, may miss significant opportunities, and may have increased exposure to the volatility of spot markets.

NRG relies on storage, transportation assets and suppliers, which it does not own or control, to deliver natural gas.

The Company depends on natural gas pipelines and other transportation and storage facilities owned and operated by third parties to deliver natural gas to wholesale and retail markets and to provide retail energy services to customers. The Company's ability to provide natural gas for its present and projected customers will depend upon its suppliers' ability to obtain and deliver supplies of natural gas, as well as NRG's ability to acquire supplies directly from new sources. Factors beyond the control of the Company and its suppliers may affect the Company's ability to deliver such supplies. These factors include other parties' control over the drilling of new wells and the facilities to transport natural gas to the Company's receipt points, development of additional interstate pipeline infrastructure, availability of supply sources competition for the acquisition of natural gas, priority allocations, impact of severe weather disruptions to natural gas supplies and the regulatory and pricing policies of federal and state regulatory agencies, as well as the availability of Canadian reserves for export to the U.S. Energy deregulation legislation may increase competition among natural gas utilities and impact the quantities of natural gas requirements needed for sales service. If supply, transportation or storage is disrupted, including for reasons of force majeure, the ability of the Company to sell and deliver its products and services may be hindered. As a result, the Company may be responsible for damages incurred by its customers, such as the additional cost of acquiring alternative supply at then-current market rates. These conditions could have a material impact on the Company's financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Operation of power generation facilities involves significant risks and hazards customary to the power industry that could have a material adverse effect on NRG's revenues and results of operations, and NRG may not have adequate insurance to cover these risks and hazards.

The ongoing operation of NRG's facilities involves risks that include the breakdown or failure of equipment or processes, performance below expected levels of output or efficiency and the inability to transport the Company's products to its customers in an efficient manner due to a lack of transmission capacity. Unplanned outages of generating units, including extensions of scheduled outages due to mechanical failures or other problems occur from time to time and are an inherent risk of the Company's business. Unplanned outages typically increase the Company's operation and maintenance expenses and may reduce the Company's revenues as a result of selling fewer MWh or incurring non-performance penalties and/or require NRG to incur significant costs as a result of obtaining replacement power from third parties in the open market or running one of its higher cost units to satisfy the Company's forward power sales obligations. NRG's inability to operate the Company's plants efficiently, manage capital expenditures and costs, and generate earnings and cash flow from the Company's asset-based businesses could have a material adverse effect on the Company's results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

In addition, NRG provides plant operations and commercial services to a variety of third-parties. There is a risk that mistakes, mis-operations, or actions taken by these third-parties could be attributed to NRG, including the risk of investigation

or penalties being assessed to NRG in connection with the services it offers, or that regulators could question whether NRG had the appropriate safeguards in place.

Power generation involves hazardous activities, including acquiring, transporting and unloading fuel, operating large pieces of rotating equipment and delivering electricity to transmission and distribution systems. In addition to natural risks such as earthquake, flood, lightning, hurricane and wind, other hazards, such as fire, explosion, structural collapse and machinery failure are inherent risks in the Company's operations. These and other hazards can cause significant personal injury or loss of life, severe damage to and destruction of property, plant and equipment, contamination of, or damage to, the environment and suspension of operations. The occurrence of any one of these events may result in NRG being named as a defendant in lawsuits asserting claims for substantial damages, including for environmental cleanup costs, personal injury and property damage and fines and/or penalties.

NRG maintains an amount of insurance protection that it considers adequate, obtains warranties from vendors and obligates contractors to meet certain performance levels, but the Company cannot provide any assurance that these measures will be sufficient or effective under all circumstances and against all hazards or liabilities to which it may be subject. A successful claim for which the Company is not fully insured or protected could hurt its financial results and materially harm NRG's financial condition. NRG cannot provide any assurance that its insurance coverage will continue to be available at all or at rates or on terms similar to those presently available. Any losses not covered by insurance could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Supplier and/or customer concentration may expose the Company to significant financial credit or performance risks.

NRG often relies on a single contracted supplier or a small number of suppliers for the provision of fuel, transportation of fuel, chemicals and other services required for the operation of certain of its facilities. If these suppliers cannot perform, the Company utilizes the marketplace to provide these services. There can be no assurance that the marketplace can provide these services as, when and where required or at comparable prices.

The Company may also hedge a portion of its exposure to power and fuel price fluctuations through various physical or financial agreements with counterparties. Counterparties to these agreements may breach or may be unable to perform their obligations, and in case of renewable generation, such counterparties may be subject to additional risks, such as facility development and transmission risks, unfavorable weather and atmospheric conditions, and mechanical or operational failures. NRG may not be able to enter into replacement agreements on terms as favorable as its existing agreements, or at all. If the Company is unable to enter into replacement purchase agreements or other replacement hedging agreements, the Company would be exposed to market price volatility and the risk that fuel and transportation may not be available during certain periods at any price.

The failure of any supplier or customer to fulfill its contractual obligations to NRG could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial results. Consequently, the financial performance of the Company's facilities is dependent on the credit quality of, and continued performance by, suppliers and customers.

Maintenance, expansion and refurbishment of power generation facilities involve significant risks that could result in unplanned power outages or reduced output and could have a material adverse effect on NRG's results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

NRG's facilities require periodic maintenance and repair. Any unexpected failure, including failure associated with breakdowns, forced outages or any unanticipated capital expenditures could result in reduced profitability.

NRG cannot be certain of the level of capital expenditures that will be required due to changing environmental and safety laws (including changes in the interpretation or enforcement thereof) needed facility repairs and unexpected events (such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks). The unexpected requirement of large capital expenditures could have a material adverse effect on the Company's liquidity and financial condition.

NRG and its subsidiaries have guaranteed the performance of third parties, which may result in substantial costs in the event of non-performance.

NRG and its subsidiaries have issued certain guarantees of the performance of others, which obligate NRG and its subsidiaries to perform in the event that the third parties do not perform. In the event of non-performance by the third parties, NRG could incur substantial cost to fulfill their obligations under these guarantees. Such performance guarantees could have a material impact on the operating results, financial condition, or cash flows of the Company.

NRG relies on power transmission and distribution facilities that it does not own or control and that are subject to transmission constraints within a number of the Company's core regions.

NRG depends on transmission and distribution facilities owned and operated by others to deliver power to its customers. If transmission or distribution is disrupted, including by force majeure events, or if the transmission or distribution

infrastructure is inadequate, NRG's ability to deliver power may be adversely impacted. The Company also cannot predict whether transmission or distribution facilities will be expanded in specific markets to accommodate competitive access to those markets.

In addition, in certain of the markets in which NRG operates, energy transmission congestion may occur and the Company may be deemed responsible for congestion costs associated with power sales or purchases, or retail sales, particularly where the Company’s load is not co-located with its retail sales obligations. If NRG were liable for such congestion costs, the Company's financial results could be adversely affected.

Rates and terms for service of certain residential and commercial customers in Alberta are subject to regulatory review and approval.

The Company owns Direct Energy Regulated Services, which serves as a regulated rate supplier for residential and commercial energy customers in portions of the province of Alberta. It is required to engage in regulatory approval proceedings as a part of the process of establishing the terms and rates for sales of power and natural gas. These proceedings typically involve multiple parties, including governmental bodies and officials, consumer advocacy groups and various consumers of energy, who have differing concerns but who have the common objective of limiting rate increases or even reducing rates. Decisions are subject to appeal, potentially leading to additional uncertainty associated with the approval proceedings. The potential duration of such proceedings creates a risk that rates ultimately approved by the applicable regulatory body may not be sufficient for the Company to recover its costs by the time the rates become effective. Established rates are also subject to subsequent reviews by regulators, whereby various portions of rates could be adjusted, subject to refund or disallowed. In certain instances, the Company could agree to negotiated settlements related to various rate matters and other cost recovery elements. These settlements are subject to regulatory approval. The ultimate outcome and timing of regulatory rate proceedings have a significant effect on the Company to recover its costs or earn an adequate return. In addition, subsequent legislative or regulatory action could alter the terms on which the regulated business operates and future earnings could be negatively impacted. The Company also operates a competitive energy supply business in Alberta that is not subject to rate regulation and is subject to stringent requirements to segregate operations and information relating to the competitive business from the regulated business. Failure to comply with these and other requirements on the business could subject the Company's regulated and competitive businesses in Alberta to fines, penalties, and restrictions on the ability to continue business.

Because NRG owns less than a majority of the ownership interests of some of its project investments, the Company cannot exercise complete control over their operations.

NRG has limited control over the operation of some project investments and joint ventures because the Company's investments are in projects where it beneficially owns less than a majority of the ownership interests. NRG seeks to exert a degree of influence with respect to the management and operation of projects in which it owns less than a majority of the ownership interests by negotiating to obtain positions on management committees or to receive certain limited governance rights, such as rights to veto significant actions. However, the Company may not always succeed in such negotiations. NRG may be dependent on its co-venturers to operate such projects. The Company's co-venturers may not have the level of experience, technical expertise, human resources management or other attributes necessary to operate these projects optimally. The approval of co-venturers also may be required for NRG to receive distributions of funds from projects or to transfer the Company's interest in projects.

NRG may be unable to integrate the operations of acquired entities in the manner expected.

NRG enters into acquisitions that result in various benefits, including, among other things, cost savings and operating efficiencies. Achieving the anticipated benefits of these acquisitions depends on whether the businesses can be integrated into NRG in an efficient and effective manner. The integration process could take longer than anticipated and could result in the loss of valuable employees, the disruption of NRG's businesses, processes and systems or inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures, practices, policies and compensation arrangements, any of which could divert the attention of management and adversely affect the Company's ability to achieve the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions. NRG may have difficulty addressing possible differences in corporate cultures and management philosophies. Failure to achieve these anticipated benefits could result in increased costs or decreases in the amount of expected revenues and could adversely affect NRG's future business, financial condition, operating results and prospects.

Future acquisition or disposition activities could involve unknown risks and may have materially adverse effects and NRG may be subject to trailing liabilities from businesses that it disposes of or that are inactive.

NRG may in the future acquire or dispose of businesses or assets, acquire or sell books of retail customers, or pursue other business activities, directly or indirectly through subsidiaries, that involve a number of risks. The acquisition of companies and assets is subject to substantial risks, including the failure to identify material problems during due diligence, the risk of over-paying for assets or customers, the ability to retain customers and the inability to arrange financing for an acquisition as may be required or desired. Further, the integration and consolidation of acquisitions requires substantial human, financial and other

resources and, ultimately, the Company's acquisitions may not be successfully integrated. In the case of dispositions, such risks may relate to employment matters, counterparties, regulators and other stakeholders in the disposed business, risks relating to separating the disposed assets from NRG’s business, risks related to the management of NRG’s ongoing business, risks unknown to NRG at the time, and other financial, legal and operational risks related to such disposition. In addition, NRG may be subject to material trailing liabilities from disposed businesses. Any such risk may result in one or more costly disputes or litigation. There can be no assurances that any future acquisitions will perform as expected or that the returns from such acquisitions will support the indebtedness incurred to acquire them or the capital expenditures needed to develop them. There can also be no assurances that NRG will realize the anticipated benefits from any such dispositions. The failure to realize the anticipated returns or benefits from an acquisition or disposition could adversely affect NRG's results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Risks that are beyond NRG's control, including but not limited to acts of terrorism or related acts of war, natural disaster, hostile cyber intrusions, data breaches or other catastrophic events could have a material adverse effect on NRG's financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

NRG's generation facilities and the facilities of third parties on which they rely may be targets of terrorist activities, as well as events occurring in response to or in connection with such activities, all of which could cause environmental repercussions and/or result in full or partial disruption of the facilities ability to generate, transmit, transport or distribute electricity or natural gas. Strategic targets, such as energy-related facilities, may be at greater risk of future terrorist activities than other domestic targets. Any such environmental repercussions or disruption could result in a significant decrease in revenues or significant reconstruction or remediation costs beyond what could be recovered through insurance policies, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, significant weather events or terrorist actions could damage or shut down the power or gas transmission and distribution facilities upon which the Company is dependent, which may reduce retail volume for extended periods of time. Power or gas supply may be sold at a loss if these events cause a significant loss of retail customer demand.

Numerous functions affecting the efficient operation of NRG’s businesses depend on the secure and reliable storage, processing and communication of electronic data and the use of sophisticated computer hardware and software systems. Hostile cyber intrusions, including those targeting information systems, as well as electronic control systems used at the generation facilities and for the distribution systems, could severely disrupt business operations and result in loss of service to customers, as well as significant expense to repair security breaches or system damage. The operation of NRG’s generation plants, including STP, and of NRG's energy and fuel trading businesses rely on cyber-based technologies and, therefore, are subject to the risk that such systems could be the target of disruptive actions, particularly through cyber-attack or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, or otherwise be compromised by unintentional events. As a result, operations could be interrupted, property could be damaged and sensitive customer information could be lost or stolen, causing NRG to incur significant losses of revenues, other substantial liabilities and damages, costs to replace or repair damaged equipment and damage to NRG's reputation. In addition, NRG may experience increased capital and operating costs to implement increased security for its cyber systems and plants.

In addition, the Company requires access to sensitive data in the ordinary course of business. Examples of sensitive data are names, addresses, account information, historical electricity usage, expected patterns of use, payment history, credit bureau data, credit and debit card account numbers, driver's license numbers, social security numbers and bank account information. NRG provides sensitive data to vendors and service providers, who require access to this information in order to provide services to NRG, such as call center operations. If a significant breach occurs or if sensitive data that was entrusted to the Company were mishandled, the reputation of NRG and its businesses may be adversely affected, customer confidence may be diminished, or NRG and its retail operations may be subject to legal claims, any of which may contribute to the loss of customers and have a negative impact on the business and/or results of operations.

The Company has made investments, and may continue to make investments, in new business initiatives predominantly focused on consumer products and in markets that may not be successful, may not achieve the intended financial results or may result in product liability and reputational risk that could adversely affect the Company.

NRG continues to pursue growth in its existing businesses and markets and further diversification across the competitive energy value chain. Such initiatives may involve significant risks and uncertainties, including distraction of management from current operations, inadequate return on capital, and unidentified issues not discovered in the diligence performed prior to launching an initiative or entering a market.

As part of these initiatives, the Company may be liable to customers for any damage caused to customers’ homes, facilities, belongings or property during the installation of Company products and systems, such as home back-up generators and residential HVAC system repairs, installation and replacements. Where such work is performed by independent contractors, such as repairs performed under the Company's home warranty and protection plan products, the Company may nonetheless face claims and costs for damage. In addition, shortages of skilled labor for Company projects could significantly delay a

project or otherwise increase its costs. The products that the Company sells or manufactures may expose the Company to product liability claims relating to personal injury, death, or environmental or property damage, and may require product recalls or other actions. Although the Company maintains liability insurance, the Company cannot be certain that its coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred or that insurance will continue to be available to the Company on economically reasonable terms, or at all. Further, any product liability claim or damage caused by the Company could significantly impair the Company’s brand and reputation, which may result in a failure to maintain customers and achieve the Company’s desired growth initiatives in these new businesses.

Changes in technology may impair the value of NRG's power plants and the attractiveness of its retail products, and the Company may potentially be affected by emerging technologies that may over time affect change in capacity markets and the energy industry overall with the inclusion of distributed generation and clean technology.

Research and development activities are ongoing in the industry to provide alternative and more efficient technologies to produce power, including wind, photovoltaic (solar) cells, hydrogen, energy storage, and improvements in traditional technologies and equipment, such as more efficient gas turbines. Advances in these or other technologies could reduce the costs of power production to a level below what the Company has currently forecasted, which could adversely affect its cash flows, results of operations or competitive position. Technology, including distributed technology or changes in retail rate structures, may also have a material impact on the Company’s ability to retain retail customers.

Some emerging technologies, such as distributed renewable energy technologies, broad consumer adoption of electric vehicles and energy storage devices, could affect the price of energy. These emerging technologies may affect the financial viability of utility counterparties and could have significant impacts on wholesale market prices, which could ultimately have a material adverse effect on NRG's financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

NRG's business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted by strikes or work stoppages by its unionized employees or inability to replace employees as they retire.

As of December 31, 2021, approximately 13% of NRG's employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements. In the event that the Company's union employees strike, participate in a work stoppage or slowdown or engage in other forms of labor strife or disruption, NRG would be responsible for procuring replacement labor or the Company could experience reduced power generation or outages. Although NRG's ability to procure such labor is uncertain, contingency staffing planning is completed as part of each respective contract negotiations. Strikes, work stoppages or the inability to negotiate future collective bargaining agreements on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, a number of the Company's employees at NRG's plants are close to retirement. The Company's inability to replace retiring workers could create potential knowledge and expertise gaps as such workers retire.

Risks Related to Governmental Regulation and Laws

NRG's business is subject to substantial energy regulation and may be adversely affected by legislative or regulatory changes, as well as liability under, or any future inability to comply with, existing or future energy regulations or requirements.

NRG's business is subject to extensive U.S. federal, state and local laws and foreign laws. Compliance with, or changes to, the requirements under these legal regimes may cause the Company to incur significant additional costs, reduce the Company's ability to hedge exposure or to sell retail power within certain states or to certain classes of retail customers, or restrict the Company’s marketing practices, its ability to pass through costs to retail customers, or its ability to compete on favorable terms with competitors, including the incumbent utility. Retail competition and home warranty services are regulated on a state-by-state or at the province-by-province level and are highly dependent on state and provincial laws, regulations and policies, which could change at any moment. Failure to comply with such requirements could result in the shutdown of a non-complying facility, the imposition of liens, fines, and/or civil or criminal liability.

Public utilities under the FPA are required to obtain FERC acceptance of their rate schedules for wholesale sales of electricity. Except for ERCOT generation facilities and power marketers, all of NRG's non-qualifying facility generating companies and power marketing affiliates in the U.S. make sales of electricity in interstate commerce and are public utilities for purposes of the FPA. FERC has granted each of NRG's generating and power marketing companies that make sales of electricity outside of ERCOT the authority to sell electricity at market-based rates. FERC's orders that grant NRG's generating and power marketing companies market-based rate authority reserve the right to revoke or revise that authority if FERC subsequently determines that NRG can exercise market power in transmission or generation, create barriers to entry, or engage in abusive affiliate transactions. In addition, NRG's market-based sales are subject to certain market behavior rules, and if any of NRG's generating and power marketing companies were deemed to have violated those rules, they are subject to potential disgorgement of profits associated with the violation and/or suspension or revocation of their market-based rate authority. If NRG's generating and power marketing companies were to lose their market-based rate authority, such companies would be required to obtain FERC's acceptance of a cost-of-service rate schedule and could become subject to the accounting, record-

keeping, and reporting requirements that are imposed on utilities with cost-based rate schedules. This could have a material adverse effect on the rates NRG charges for power from its facilities.

Substantially all of the Company's generation assets are also subject to the reliability standards promulgated by the designated Electric Reliability Organization (currently NERC) and approved by FERC. If NRG fails to comply with the mandatory reliability standards, NRG could be subject to sanctions, including substantial monetary penalties and increased compliance obligations. NRG is also affected by legislative and regulatory changes, as well as changes to market design, market rules, tariffs, cost allocations, and bidding rules that occur in the existing ISOs. The ISOs that oversee most of the wholesale power markets impose, and in the future may continue to impose, mitigation, including price limitations, offer caps, non-performance penalties and other mechanisms to address some of the volatility and the potential exercise of market power in these markets. These types of price limitations and other regulatory mechanisms may have a material adverse effect on the profitability of NRG's generation facilities that sell energy and capacity into the wholesale power markets.

The regulatory environment has undergone significant changes in the last several years due to state and federal policies affecting wholesale and retail competition and the creation of incentives for the addition of large amounts of new renewable generation and, in some cases, transmission. These changes are ongoing, and the Company cannot predict the future design of the wholesale power markets or the ultimate effect that the changing regulatory environment will have on NRG's business. In addition, in some of these markets, interested parties have proposed material market design changes. If competitive restructuring of the electric power markets is reversed, discontinued, or delayed, the Company's business prospects and financial results could be negatively impacted. In addition, since 2010, there have been a number of reforms to the regulation of the derivatives markets, both in the United States and internationally. These regulations, and any further changes thereto, or adoption of additional regulations, including any regulations relating to position limits on futures and other derivatives or margin for derivatives, could negatively impact NRG’s ability to hedge its portfolio in an efficient, cost-effective manner by, among other things, potentially decreasing liquidity in the forward commodity and derivatives markets or limiting NRG’s ability to utilize non-cash collateral for derivatives transactions.

NRG’s business may be affected by interference in the competitive wholesale marketplace.

NRG’s generation and competitive retail operations rely on a competitive wholesale marketplace. The competitive wholesale marketplace may be impacted by out-of-market subsidies, including bailouts of uneconomic nuclear plants, imports of power from Canada, renewable mandates or subsidies, mandates to sell power below its cost of acquisition and associated costs, as well as out-of-market payments to new or existing generators. These out-of-market subsidies to existing or new generation undermine the competitive wholesale marketplace, which can lead to premature retirement of existing facilities, including those owned by the Company. If these measures continue, capacity and energy prices may be suppressed, and the Company may not be successful in its efforts to insulate the competitive market from this interference. The Company's retail operations may be materially impacted by rules or regulations that allow regulated utilities to participate in competitive retail markets or own and operate facilities that could be provided by competitive market participants.

The integration of the Capacity Performance product into the PJM market could lead to substantial changes in capacity income and non-performance penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on NRG’s results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

PJM operates a pay-for-performance model where capacity payments are modified based on real-time generator performance. Capacity market prices are sensitive to design parameters, as well as additions of new capacity. NRG may experience substantial changes in capacity income and non-performance penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on NRG’s results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

NRG's ownership interest in a nuclear power facility subjects the Company to regulations, costs and liabilities uniquely associated with these types of facilities.

Under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or AEA, ownership and operation of STP, of which NRG indirectly owns a 44% interest, is subject to regulation by the NRC. Such regulation includes licensing, inspection, enforcement, testing, evaluation and modification of all aspects of nuclear reactor power plant design and operation, environmental and safety performance, technical and financial qualifications, decommissioning funding assurance and transfer and foreign ownership restrictions. The current facility operating licenses for STP expire on August 20, 2047 (Unit 1) and December 15, 2048 (Unit 2).

There are unique risks to owning and operating a nuclear power facility. These include liabilities related to the handling, treatment, storage, disposal, transport, release and use of radioactive materials, particularly with respect to spent nuclear fuel, and uncertainties regarding the ultimate, and potential exposure to, technical and financial risks associated with modifying or decommissioning a nuclear facility. The NRC could require the shutdown of the plant for safety reasons or refuse to permit restart of the unit after unplanned or planned outages. New or amended NRC safety and regulatory requirements may give rise to additional operation and maintenance costs and capital expenditures. Additionally, aging equipment may require more capital expenditures to keep each of these nuclear power plants operating efficiently. This equipment is also likely to require periodic

upgrading and improvement. Any unexpected failure, including failure associated with breakdowns, forced outages, or any unanticipated capital expenditures, could result in reduced profitability. STP will be obligated to continue storing spent nuclear fuel if the U.S. DOE continues to fail to meet its contractual obligations to STP made pursuant to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to accept and dispose of STP's spent nuclear fuel. Costs associated with these risks could be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on NRG's results of operations, financial condition or cash flow to the extent not covered by the Decommissioning Trusts or recovered from ratepayers. In addition, to the extent that all or a part of STP is required by the NRC to permanently or temporarily shut down or modify its operations, or is otherwise subject to a forced outage, NRG may incur additional costs to the extent it is obligated to provide power from more expensive alternative sources — either NRG's own plants, third party generators or the ERCOT — to cover the Company's then existing forward sale obligations. Such shutdown or modification could also lead to substantial costs related to the storage and disposal of radioactive materials and spent nuclear fuel.

While STP maintains property and liability insurance for losses related to nuclear operations, there may be limitations on the amounts and types of insurance commercially available. See also Item 15 — Note 23, Commitments and Contingencies, Nuclear Insurance. An accident at STP or another nuclear facility could have a material adverse effect on NRG's financial condition, its operational results, or liquidity as losses may exceed the insurance coverage available and/or may result in the obligation to pay retrospective premium obligations.

NRG is subject to environmental laws that impose extensive and increasingly stringent requirements on the Company's ongoing operations, as well as potentially substantial liabilities arising out of environmental contamination. These environmental requirements and liabilities could adversely impact NRG's results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

NRG is subject to the environmental laws of foreign and U.S., federal, state and local authorities. The Company must comply with numerous environmental laws and obtain numerous governmental permits and approvals to build and operate the Company's plants. Federal and state environmental laws generally have become more stringent over time. Should NRG fail to comply with any environmental requirements that apply to its operations, the Company could be subject to administrative, civil and/or criminal liability and fines, and regulatory agencies could take other actions seeking to curtail the Company's operations. In addition, when new requirements take effect or when existing environmental requirements are revised, reinterpreted or subject to changing enforcement policies, NRG's business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected.

NRG's businesses are subject to physical, market and economic risks relating to potential effects of climate change, and policies at the national, regional and state levels to regulate GHG emissions and mitigate climate change could adversely impact NRG's results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Fluctuations in weather and other environmental conditions, including temperature and precipitation levels, may affect consumer demand for electricity or natural gas. In addition, the potential physical effects of climate change, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, floods and other climatic events, could disrupt NRG's operations and supply chain, and cause it to incur significant costs in preparing for or responding to these effects. These or other changes in climate could lead to increased operating costs or capital expenses. NRG's customers may also experience the potential physical impacts of climate change and may incur significant costs in preparing for or responding to these efforts, including increasing the mix and resiliency of their energy solutions and supply.

Hazards customary to the power production industry include the potential for unusual weather conditions, which could affect fuel pricing and availability, the Company's route to market or access to customers, i.e., transmission and distribution lines, transportation and delivery, or critical plant assets. The contribution of climate change to the frequency or intensity of weather-related events could affect NRG's operations and planning process.

Climate change could also affect the availability of a secure and economical supply of water in some locations, which is essential for the continued operation of NRG's generation plants. NRG monitors water risk carefully. If it is determined that a water supply risk exists that could impact projected generation levels at any plant risk mitigation efforts are identified and evaluated for implementation.

Further, demand for NRG's energy-related services could be similarly impacted by consumers’ preferences or market factors favoring energy efficiency, low-carbon power sources or reduced electricity usage.

NRG's GHG emissions for 2021 can be found in Item 1, Business —Environmental Regulatory Matters. GHG regulation, at the state or federal level, could increase the cost of electricity generated by fossil fuels, and such increases could reduce demand for the power NRG generates and markets. Any increase in costs at a national, regional or state level could adversely affect NRG’s results of operations, financial condition and cash flows

Changes in data privacy and data protection laws and regulations or any non-compliance with such laws and regulations, could adversely affect NRG’s business and financial results.

The consumer privacy landscape continues to experience momentum for greater privacy protection and reform at the state and federal level in response to precedents set forth by the General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR") and the California Consumer Privacy Act (the "CCPA"). The development and evolving nature of domestic and international privacy regulation and enforcement could impact and potentially limit how NRG processes personally identifiable information. The 2020 enactment of the CCPA granted certain data access rights to California residents with respect to their personal information, and with the forthcoming amendments to the CCPA supported by the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA”), effective January 1, 2023, California residents will have increased access rights (including the right to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information), which will be enforced by a new state privacy regulator, resulting in more scrutiny of business practices and disclosures. Additional states including Virginia, Colorado, and Nevada have similarly adopted enhanced data privacy legislation patterned after the standards set forth by CCPA, including broader data access rights, with Virginia going a step further requiring businesses to perform data protection assessments for certain processing activities.

As new laws and regulations are created, requiring businesses to implement processes to enable customer access to their data and enhanced data protection and management standards, NRG cannot forecast the impact that they may have on the Company’s business. Any non-compliance with laws may result in proceedings or actions against the Company by governmental entities or individuals. Moreover, any inquiries or investigations, government penalties or sanctions, or civil actions by individuals may be costly to comply with, resulting in negative publicity, increased operating costs, significant management time and attention, and may lead to remedies that harm the business, including fines, demands or orders that existing business practices be modified or terminated.

NRG's retail operations are subject to changing rules and regulations that could have a material impact on the Company's profitability.

The competitiveness of NRG's retail operations partially depends on regulatory policies that establish the structure, rules, terms and conditions on which services are offered to retail customers. These policies can include, among other things, controls on the retail rates that NRG can charge, the imposition of additional costs on sales, restrictions on the Company's ability to obtain new customers through various marketing channels and disclosure requirements. The Company's retail operations may be materially impacted by rules or regulations that allow regulated utilities to participate in competitive retail markets or own and operate facilities that could be provided by competitive market participants. Additionally, state, federal or provincial imposition of net metering or RPS programs can make it more or less expensive for retail customers to supplement or replace their reliance on grid power.

The Company's international operations are exposed to political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond the Company's control in the countries in which it operates, which risks may negatively impact the Company's business.

The Company's international operations depend on products manufactured, purchased and sold in the U.S. and internationally. In some cases, these countries have greater political and economic volatility and greater vulnerability to infrastructure and labor disruptions than in NRG's other markets. Operating a business in a number of different regions and countries exposes the Company to a number of risks, including: multiple and potentially conflicting laws, regulations and policies that are subject to change; imposition of currency restrictions on repatriation of earnings or other restraints; imposition of burdensome tariffs or quotas; national and international conflict, including terrorist acts; and political and economic instability or civil unrest that may severely disrupt economic activity in affected countries.

The occurrence of one or more of these events may negatively impact the Company's business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to Public Health Threats

Public health threats or outbreaks of communicable diseases could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s operations and financial results.

The Company may face risks related to public health threats or outbreaks of communicable diseases. A widespread healthcare crisis, such as an outbreak of a communicable disease, could adversely affect the global economy and the Company’s ability to conduct its business for an indefinite period of time. For example, the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted local and global economies, disrupted financial markets and international trade, resulted in increased unemployment levels and impacted local and global supply chains, all of which negatively impact the electricity industry and the Company’s business. Federal, state, and local governments had implemented various mitigation measures, including travel restrictions, border closings, restrictions on public gatherings, shelter-in-place orders and limitations on business activities. Although the operations of the Company are considered an essential service, some of these measures may adversely impact the ability of NRG employees, contractors, suppliers, customers, and other business partners to conduct

business activities. This could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations, financial condition, risk exposure and liquidity.

In particular, the continued spread of COVID-19 and efforts to contain the virus could:

•adversely impact demand for the Company’s electricity services and other products and services and the ability of customers to pay their bills;

•cause an increase in costs for the Company as a result of emergency measures taken by state and local regulatory authorities in response to the COVID-19 crisis, including regulatory changes prohibiting customer disconnects and late fees;

•impact the ability of the Company's partners or counterparties to perform their obligations under existing arrangements, including development projects, power purchase and sale arrangements, hedging arrangements or other commercial activities; and

•cause other unpredicted events which may have an adverse impact on the Company’s results of operations, financial condition, risk exposure and liquidity.

The situation surrounding COVID-19 remains fluid and the potential for a material impact on the Company’s results of operations, financial condition, risk exposure and liquidity increases the longer the virus, or any variants thereof, impacts the level of economic activity in the United States and abroad. NRG cannot reasonably estimate with any degree of certainty the future impact of COVID-19, or any resurgence of COVID-19 or other pandemic may have on the Company’s results of operations, financial position, risk exposure and liquidity.

Risks Related to the Economic and Financial Market Conditions, and the Company's Indebtedness

NRG's level of indebtedness could adversely affect its ability to raise additional capital to fund its operations or return capital to stockholders. It could also expose it to the risk of increased interest rates and limit its ability to react to changes in the economy or its industry.

NRG's substantial debt could have negative consequences, including:

•increasing NRG's vulnerability to general economic and industry conditions;

•requiring a substantial portion of NRG's cash flow from operations to be dedicated to the payment of principal and interest on its indebtedness, therefore reducing NRG's ability to pay dividends or to use its cash flow to fund its operations, capital expenditures and future business opportunities;

•limiting NRG's ability to enter into long-term power sales or fuel purchases which require credit support;

•limiting NRG's ability to obtain additional financing for working capital including collateral postings, capital expenditures, debt service requirements, acquisitions and general corporate or other purposes;

•limiting NRG's ability to adjust to changing market conditions and placing it at a competitive disadvantage compared to its competitors who have less debt; and

•exposing NRG to the risk of increased interest rates because certain of its borrowings are at variable rates of interest, primarily through its Revolving Credit Facility.

The Company’s credit documents contain financial and other restrictive covenants that may limit the Company's ability to return capital to stockholders or otherwise engage in activities that may be in its long-term best interests. NRG's failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all of the Company's indebtedness. The Company's corporate credit agreement includes a sustainability-linked metric and sustainability-linked bonds, which could result in increased interest expense to the Company if the sustainability metrics set forth therein are not met. Furthermore, financial and other restrictive covenants contained in any project level subsidiary debt may limit the ability of NRG to receive distributions from such subsidiary.

In addition, NRG's ability to arrange financing, either at the corporate level, a non-recourse project-level subsidiary or otherwise, and the costs of such capital, are dependent on numerous factors, including: general economic and capital market conditions; credit availability from banks and other financial institutions; investor confidence in NRG, its partners and the regional wholesale power markets; NRG's financial performance and the financial performance of its subsidiaries; NRG's level of indebtedness and compliance with covenants in debt agreements; maintenance of acceptable credit ratings; cash flow; and provisions of tax and securities laws that may impact raising capital.

NRG may not be successful in obtaining additional capital for these or other reasons. The failure to obtain additional capital from time to time may have a material adverse effect on its business and operations.

Adverse economic conditions could adversely affect NRG’s business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Adverse economic conditions and declines in wholesale energy prices, partially resulting from adverse economic conditions, may impact NRG's results of operations. The breadth and depth of negative economic conditions may have a wide-ranging impact on the U.S. business environment. In addition, adverse economic conditions also reduce the demand for energy commodities. Reduced demand from negative economic conditions continues to impact the key domestic wholesale energy markets NRG serves. In general, economic and commodity market conditions will continue to impact NRG’s unhedged future energy margins, liquidity, earnings growth and overall financial condition. In addition, adverse economic conditions, declines in wholesale energy prices, reduced demand for energy and other factors may negatively impact the trading price of NRG’s common stock and impact forecasted cash flows, which may require NRG to evaluate its goodwill and other long-lived assets for impairment. Any such impairment could have a material impact on NRG’s financial statements.

Goodwill and other intangible assets that NRG has recorded in connection with its acquisitions are subject to impairment evaluations and, as a result, the Company could be required to write off some or all of this goodwill and other intangible assets, which may adversely affect the Company's financial condition and results of operations.

Goodwill is not amortized but is reviewed annually or more frequently for impairment. Other intangibles are also reviewed at least annually or more frequently, if certain conditions exist, and are amortized. Any reduction in or impairment of the value of goodwill or other intangible assets will result in a charge against earnings, which could materially adversely affect NRG's reported results of operations and financial position in future periods.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This Annual Report on Form 10-K of NRG Energy, Inc., or NRG or the Company, includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or Exchange Act. The words "believes," "projects," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intends," "estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause NRG's actual results, performance and achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors, risks and uncertainties include the factors described under Item 1A — Risk Factors and the following:

•Business uncertainties related to the integration of the operations of Direct Energy with its own;

•NRG's ability to obtain and maintain retail market share;

•General economic conditions, changes in the wholesale power and gas markets and fluctuations in the cost of fuel;

•Volatile power and gas supply costs and demand for power and gas;

•Changes in law, including judicial and regulatory decisions;

•Hazards customary to the power production industry and power generation operations, such as fuel and electricity price volatility, unusual weather conditions, catastrophic weather-related or other damage to facilities, unscheduled generation outages, maintenance or repairs, unanticipated changes to fuel supply costs or availability due to higher demand, shortages, transportation problems or other developments, environmental incidents, or electric transmission or gas pipeline system constraints and the possibility that NRG may not have adequate insurance to cover losses as a result of such hazards;

•The effectiveness of NRG's risk management policies and procedures and the ability of NRG's counterparties to satisfy their financial commitments;

•NRG's ability to enter into contracts to sell power or gas and procure fuel on acceptable terms and prices;

•NRG's inability to estimate with any degree of certainty the future impact that COVID-19, any resurgence of COVID-19, or other pandemic may have on NRG's results of operations, financial position, risk exposure and liquidity;

•NRG's ability to successfully integrate, realize cost savings and manage any acquired businesses;

•NRG's ability to engage in successful acquisitions and divestitures, as well as other mergers and acquisitions activity;

•Cyber terrorism and inadequate cybersecurity, data breaches or the occurrence of a catastrophic loss and the possibility that NRG may not have adequate insurance to cover losses resulting from such hazards or the inability of NRG's insurers to provide coverage;

•Counterparties' collateral demands and other factors affecting NRG's liquidity position and financial condition;

•NRG's ability to operate its businesses efficiently and generate earnings and cash flows from its asset-based businesses in relation to its debt and other obligations;

•The liquidity and competitiveness of wholesale markets for energy commodities;

•Government regulation, including changes in market rules, rates, tariffs and environmental laws;

•NRG's ability to develop and innovate new products, as retail and wholesale markets continue to change and evolve;

•Price mitigation strategies and other market structures employed by ISOs or RTOs that result in a failure to adequately and fairly compensate NRG's generation units;

•NRG's ability to mitigate forced outage risk;

•NRG's ability to borrow funds and access capital markets, as well as NRG's substantial indebtedness and the possibility that NRG may incur additional indebtedness in the future;

•Operating and financial restrictions placed on NRG and its subsidiaries that are contained in NRG's corporate credit agreements, and in debt and other agreements of certain of NRG subsidiaries and project affiliates generally;

•The ability of NRG and its counterparties to develop and build new power generation facilities;

•NRG's ability to implement its strategy of finding ways to meet the challenges of climate change, clean air and protecting natural resources, while taking advantage of business opportunities;

•NRG's ability to increase cash from operations through operational and market initiatives, corporate efficiencies, asset strategy, and a range of other programs throughout NRG to reduce costs or generate revenues;

•NRG's ability to successfully evaluate investments and achieve intended financial results in new business and growth initiatives;

•NRG's ability to develop and maintain successful partnering relationships as needed.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they were made, and NRG undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The foregoing review of factors that could cause NRG's actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in any forward-looking statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K should not be construed as exhaustive.

Item 1B — Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 2 — Properties

Listed below are descriptions of NRG's interests in facilities, operations and/or projects owned or leased as of December 31, 2021. The rated MW capacity figures provided represent nominal summer MW capacity of power generated. Net MW capacity is adjusted for the Company's owned or leased interest as of December 31, 2021. The Company believes its existing facilities, operations and/or projects are suitable for the conduct of its business. The following table summarizes NRG's power production and cogeneration facilities by region:

Name of Facility

Power Market

Plant Type

Primary Fuel

Location

Rated MW Capacity(a)

Net MW Capacity(b)

% Owned

Texas

Cedar Bayou

ERCOT

Fossil

Natural Gas

1,494

100.0

Cedar Bayou 4

ERCOT

Fossil

Natural Gas

504

252

50.0

Elbow Creek

ERCOT

Other

Battery Storage

100.0

Greens Bayou

ERCOT

Fossil

Natural Gas

330

100.0

Gregory

ERCOT

Fossil

Natural Gas

385

100.0

Limestone(c)

ERCOT

Fossil

Coal

1,660

100.0

Petra Nova Cogen

ERCOT

Fossil

Natural Gas

50.0

San Jacinto

ERCOT

Fossil

Natural Gas

160

100.0

South Texas Project

ERCOT

Nuclear

Uranium

2,572

1,132

44.0

T.H. Wharton

ERCOT

Fossil

Natural Gas

1,002

100.0

W.A. Parish

ERCOT

Fossil

Coal

2,514

100.0

W.A. Parish

ERCOT

Fossil

Natural Gas

1,118

100.0

Total Texas

11,809

10,083

East

Astoria Turbines(e)

NYISO

Fossil

Natural Gas

420

100.0

Chalk Point

PJM

Fossil

Natural Gas

100.0

Fisk

PJM

Fossil

Oil

171

100.0

Indian River(f)

PJM

Fossil

Coal

410

100.0

Indian River

PJM

Fossil

Oil

100.0

Joliet

PJM

Fossil

Natural Gas

1,381

100.0

Powerton

PJM

Fossil

Coal

1,538

100.0

Vienna

PJM

Fossil

Oil

167

100.0

Waukegan(f)

PJM

Fossil

Coal

682

100.0

Waukegan

PJM

Fossil

Oil

101

100.0

Will County(f)

PJM

Fossil

Coal

510

100.0

Total East

5,476

West/Other

Cottonwood

MISO

Fossil

Natural Gas

1,177

___(d)

Gladstone

Fossil

Coal

AUS

1,613

605

37.5

Ivanpah

CAISO

Renewable

Solar

393

214

54.5

Midway-Sunset

CAISO

Fossil

Natural Gas

226

113

50.0

Stadiums and Other

Renewable

Solar

various

100.0

Watson

CAISO

Fossil

Natural Gas

416

204

49.0

Total West/Other

3,830

2,318

Total Fleet

21,115

17,877

(a)MW capacity of the facility without taking into account NRG ownership percentage

(b)Actual capacity can vary depending on factors including weather conditions, operational conditions, and other factors. Additionally, ERCOT and PJM require periodic demonstration of capability, and the capacity may vary individually and in the aggregate from time to time

(c)In early July 2021, Limestone Unit 1 came offline as a result of damage to the duct work associated with the flue gas desulfurization system. Based on management's current assessment of necessary remediation efforts, Unit 1 is expected to remain on an outage until the second quarter of 2022

(d)NRG leases 100% interests in the Cottonwood facility through a facility lease agreement expiring in May 2025 and operates the Cottonwood facility

(e)On February, 22, 2022, NRG submitted deactivation notices to the NYISO for the Astoria facility, with a planned retirement date of 2023

(f)During the second quarter of 2021, the results of the PJM Base Residual Auction for the 2022/2023 delivery year were released, leading the Company to announce the near-term retirement of a significant portion of its PJM coal generating assets as detailed bellow:

Name of Facility

Power Market

Primary Fuel

Net MW Capacity

Retirement Date

Indian River 4

PJM

Coal

410

June 2022*

Waukegan 7

PJM

Coal

328

June 2022

Waukegan 8

PJM

Coal

354

June 2022

Will County

PJM

Coal

510

June 2022

Total

1,602

* On July 30, 2021, PJM identified reliability impacts resulting from the proposed deactivation of one of those assets, Indian River Unit 4. On August 27, 2021 the Company notified PJM that it would continue operations at Indian River Unit 4 until the reliability upgrades identified by PJM were completed, provided that the unit receives a satisfactory and compensatory reliability must run arrangement.

Other Properties

NRG owns several real properties and facilities related to its generation assets, other vacant real property unrelated to its generation assets, and properties not used for operational purposes. NRG believes it has satisfactory title to its plants and facilities in accordance with standards generally accepted in the electric power industry, subject to exceptions that, in the Company's opinion, would not have a material adverse effect on the use or value of its portfolio.

NRG leases its operational and corporate headquarters at 910 Louisiana Street, Houston, Texas, its financial and commercial corporate offices at 804 Carnegie Center, Princeton, New Jersey, as well as its retail operations offices, call centers, and various other office space.

Item 3 — Legal Proceedings

See Item 15 — Note 23, Commitments and Contingencies, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for discussion of the material legal proceedings to which NRG is a party.

Item 4 — Mine Safety Disclosures

There have been no events that are required to be reported under this Item.

PART II

Item 5 — Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Market Information and Holders

NRG's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "NRG." NRG's authorized capital stock consists of 500,000,000 shares of common stock and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock. A total of 25,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock are authorized for issuance under the NRG LTIP. For more information about the NRG LTIP and the NRG GenOn LTIP, refer to Item 12 — Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters and Item 15 — Note 21, Stock-Based Compensation, to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

As of January 31, 2022, there were 16,501 common stockholders of record.

NRG increased the annual dividend to $1.30 from $1.20 per share beginning in the first quarter of 2021 and further increased the annual dividend by 8% to $1.40 per share beginning in the first quarter of 2022 . NRG expects to target an annual dividend growth rate of 7-9% per share in subsequent years.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The table below sets forth the information with respect to purchases made by or on behalf of NRG or any "affiliated purchaser" (as defined in Rule 10b-18(a)(3) under the Exchange Act) of NRG's common stock during the quarter ended December 31, 2021.


For the three months ended December 31, 2021	Total Number of Shares Purchased	Average Price Paid per Share(b)		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs	Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs(a)(c)
Month #1
(October 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021	—	$	—	—	$	—
Month #2
(November 1, 2021 to November 30, 2021,	—	$	—	—	$	—
Month #3
(December 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021)	1,084,752	$	40.85	1,084,752	$	955,665,275

Total at December 31, 2021	1,084,752	$	40.85	1,084,752

(a)On December 6, 2021 the Company announced that the Board of Directors has authorized $1 billion for share repurchases, as part of NRG’s Capital Allocation Program. The program began in December 2021 and will continue throughout 2022

(b)The average price paid per share excludes commissions of $0.02 per share paid in connection with the open market share repurchases

(c)Includes commissions of $0.02 per share paid in connection with the open market share repurchases

Stock Performance Graph

The performance graph below compares the cumulative total stockholder return on NRG's common stock for the period December 31, 2016 through December 31, 2021 with the cumulative total return of the Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Stock Price Index, or S&P 500, and the Philadelphia Utility Sector Index, or UTY.

The performance graph shown below is being furnished and compares each period assuming that $100 was invested on December 31, 2016, in each of the common stock of NRG, the stocks included in the S&P 500 and the stocks included in the UTY, and that all dividends were reinvested.

Comparison of Cumulative Total Return


	12/31/2016		12/31/2017		12/31/2018		12/31/2019		12/31/2020		12/31/2021
NRG Energy, Inc.	$	100.00	$	233.70	$	326.22	$	328.47	$	321.43	$	381.07
S&P 500	100.00		121.83		116.49		153.17		181.35		233.41
UTY	100.00		112.82		116.79		148.11		152.14		179.90

Item 6 — Reserved

Item 7 — Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The discussion and analysis below has been organized as follows:

•Executive Summary, including the business environment in which the Company operates, a discussion of regulation, weather, competition and other factors that affect the business, and other significant events that are important to understanding the results of operations and financial condition;

•Results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, including an explanation of significant differences between the periods in the specific line items of NRG's Consolidated Statements of Operations;

•Financial condition addressing credit ratings, liquidity position, sources and uses of cash, capital resources and requirements, contractual obligations and market commitments, and off-balance sheet arrangements; and

•Critical accounting estimates that are most important to both the portrayal of the Company's financial condition and results of operations, and require management's most difficult, subjective, or complex judgments.

As you read this discussion and analysis, refer to NRG's Consolidated Statements of Operations in this Form 10-K, which present the results of the Company's operations for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, and also refer to Item 1 to this Form 10-K for more detail discussion about the Company's business. A discussion and analysis of fiscal year 2019 may be found in Part II, Item 7 — Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

As further described in Item 15 — Note 4, Acquisitions, Discontinued Operations and Dispositions, to the Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company determined in prior years that the following businesses were discontinued operations and recast to present their results in the corporate segment:

•South Central Portfolio

•NRG Yield, Inc. and its Renewables Platform

•Carlsbad

Executive Summary

NRG Energy, Inc., or NRG or the Company, is a consumer services company built on dynamic retail brands. NRG brings the power of energy to customers by producing and selling energy and related products and services, nation-wide in the U.S. and Canada in a manner that delivers value to all of NRG's stakeholders. NRG sells power, natural gas, home and power services, and develops innovative, sustainable solutions, predominately under the brand names NRG, Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Stream, and XOOM Energy. The Company has a customer base that includes approximately 6 million Home customers as well as commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers, supported by approximately 18,000 MW of generation as of December 31, 2021.

Business Environment

The industry dynamics and external influences affecting the Company, its businesses, and the retail energy and power generation industry in 2021 and for the future medium term include:

Market Dynamics — The price of natural gas plays an important role in setting the price of electricity in many of the regions where NRG operates. Natural gas prices are driven by variables including demand from the industrial, residential, and electric sectors, productivity across natural gas supply basins, costs of natural gas production, changes in pipeline infrastructure, and the financial and hedging profile of natural gas customers and producers. In 2021, the average natural gas price at Henry Hub was 85% higher than in 2020.

NRG may experience impacts to gross margins due to significant, rapid changes in current natural gas prices and the lag in our ability to make a corresponding adjustment to the retail rates we charge customers on term and month to month contracts. The Company hedges its load commitments in order to mitigate the impact of changes in commodity prices, and as a result, these gross margin impacts would be realized in future periods until we are able to make the corresponding adjustments to the retail customer rates.

Natural gas prices are a primary driver of coal demand. Coal commodity prices increased significantly in 2021, which is partly due to supply chain disruptions, as further discussed below in Global Supply Chain Disruptions, as well as stressed coal equities, which has led coal suppliers to file for bankruptcy protection, launch debt exchanges, rationalize assets, and cut production.

Electricity Prices — The price of electricity is a key determinant of the profitability of the Company. Many variables such as the price of different fuels, weather, load growth and unit availability all coalesce to impact the final price for electricity and the Company's profitability. An increase in supply cost volatility in the competitive retail markets may result in smaller companies choosing to exit the market, which may result in further consolidation in the competitive retail space. The following table summarizes average on-peak power prices for each of the major markets in which NRG operates for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. The average on-peak power prices increased significantly in Texas due to the impact from Winter Storm Uri. The average on-peak power prices increased in East and West/Services/Other due to higher natural gas prices.


	Average On-Peak Power Price ($/MWh)
	Year Ended December 31,				2021 vs 2020
Region	2021		2020		Change %
Texas (a)
ERCOT - Houston(a)	$	192.17	$	27.65	595	%
ERCOT - North(a)	189.05		25.85		631	%
East
NY J/NYC(b)	48.71		24.55		98	%
NEPOOL(b)	51.81		26.52		95	%
COMED (PJM)(b)	41.33		22.48		84	%
PJM West Hub(b)	45.67		24.49		86	%
West
CAISO - SP15(b)	53.53		38.15		40	%
MISO - Louisiana Hub(b)	43.05		24.43		76	%

(a) Average on-peak power prices based on real time settlement prices as published by the respective ISOs

(b) Average on-peak power prices based on day-ahead settlement prices as published by the respective ISOs

The following table summarizes average realized power prices for NRG, including the impact of settled hedges, for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:


	Average Realized Power Price ($/MWh)
	Year Ended December 31,				2021 vs 2020
Segment	2021		2020		Change %
East(a)	$	36.33	$	34.92	4	%
West/Services/Other	43.63		34.80		25	%

(a) Average Realized Power Price reflects energy sales from the generation fleet, including sales to the retail component of the East Segment. Intercompany financial transactions hedging generation with the retail operations make up ($8.03)/MWh in the year ended December 31, 2021 and $12.18/MWh in the year ended December 31, 2020

The average realized power prices increased less than average on peak power prices for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the same period in 2020, due to the Company's multi-year hedging program impacting average realized power prices, while on peak power prices increased due to increased natural gas prices and warmer June temperatures in California.

Increased Awareness of, and Action to Combat, Climate Change — Diverse groups of stakeholders, including investors, asset managers, financial institutions, non-government organizations, industry coalitions, individual companies, consumer groups and academic institutions, are increasingly engaged in efforts to limit global warming in the post-industrial era to well below 2 degrees Celsius. As a result, policymakers and regulators at regional, national, sub-national and local levels of government, both in the United States and other parts of the world, are increasingly focused on actions to combat climate change.

NRG actively monitors climate change related developments that could impact its business and regularly engages with a diverse set of stakeholders on these issues. Such engagement helps the Company identify and pursue potential opportunities both to decarbonize its business and better serve its customers. NRG is committed to providing transparent disclosures of its climate risks and opportunities to stakeholders. The Company became an early supporter of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures ("TCFD") recommendations after they were issued in 2017, published a TCFD mapping disclosure in December 2020 and issued a stand-alone TCFD report in December 2021.

Lower Carbon Infrastructure Development — Policy mechanisms at the state and federal level, including production and investment tax credits, cash grants, loan guarantees, accelerated depreciation tax benefits, RPS, and carbon trading plans, have supported and continue to support the development of renewable generation, demand-side and smart grid, and other lower carbon infrastructure technologies. In addition, the costs associated with the development of lower carbon infrastructure, such as wind and solar generating facilities, continue to decline. These factors continue to drive increases in the development of lower carbon infrastructure in the markets where the Company participates, which may impact the ability of the Company's generating facilities to participate in those markets. According to ERCOT, 39% of 2021 energy consumption in the ERCOT market was generated from carbon emission-free resources, with wind power contributing 24%. In addition, subsidies and incentives have contributed to the increase in renewable power sources, and customer awareness and preferences are shifting toward sustainable solutions. Increased demand for sustainable energy products from both residential and commercial customers creates opportunities for diversified product offerings in competitive retail markets.

Digitization and Customization — The electric industry is experiencing major technology changes in the way power is distributed and used by end-use customers. The electric grid is shifting from a centralized analog system, where power is generated from limited sources and flows in one direction, to a decentralized multidirectional system, where power can be generated from a number of distributed resources and stored or dispatched on an as-needed basis. In addition, customers are seeking new ways to engage with their power providers. Technologies like smart thermostats, appliances and electric vehicles are giving individuals more choice and control over their electricity usage.

Weather — Weather conditions in the regions of the U.S. in which NRG conducts business influence the Company's financial results. Weather conditions can affect the supply and demand for electricity and fuels and may also impact the availability of the Company's generating assets. Changes in energy supply and demand may impact the price of these energy commodities in both the spot and forward markets, which may affect the Company's results in any given period. Typically, demand for and the price of electricity is higher in the summer and the winter seasons, when temperatures are more extreme. The demand for and price of natural gas is also generally higher in the winter. However, all regions of the U.S. typically do not experience extreme weather conditions at the same time, thus NRG's operations are typically not exposed to the effects of extreme weather in all parts of its business at once. A significant portion of the Company's business is located within Texas, and extreme weather conditions occurring in Texas may have a material impact on the Company's financial position.

For discussion of the recent weather event in Texas, see Significant Events - Extreme Weather Event in Texas During February 2021 and expected Uplift Securitization Proceeds below.

Global Supply Chain Disruptions — There are currently global supply chain disruptions impacting natural gas, coal and other fuels and materials necessary for the production and sale of electricity to our retail customers. These supply chain disruptions are due in part to increased demand driven by a number of factors outside the Company's control including the COVID-19 pandemic, labor shortages and extreme weather events in the U.S. These factors are impacting the dispatch of generation facilities, as well as the costs to serve our retail customers. The Company expects supply chain disruptions will continue throughout the remainder of 2022. We are working closely with our suppliers and customers to minimize any potential adverse impacts of these events. We will continue to actively monitor all direct and indirect potential impacts of the supply chain disruptions, and will seek to mitigate and minimize their impact on our business.

Other Factors — A number of other factors significantly influence the level and volatility of prices for energy commodities and related derivative products for NRG's business. These factors include:

•seasonal, daily and hourly changes in demand;

•extreme peak demands;

•available supply resources;

•transportation and transmission availability and reliability within and between regions;

•location of NRG's generating facilities relative to the location of its load-serving opportunities;

•procedures used to maintain the integrity of the physical electricity system during extreme conditions; and

•changes in the nature and extent of federal and state regulations.

These factors can affect energy commodity and derivative prices in different ways and to different degrees. These effects may vary throughout the country as a result of regional differences in:

•weather conditions;

•market liquidity;

•capability and reliability of the physical electricity and gas systems;

•local transportation systems; and

•the nature and extent of electricity deregulation.

Environmental Matters, Regulatory Matters and Legal Proceedings — Details of environmental matters are presented in Item 15 — Note 25, Environmental Matters, to the Consolidated Financial Statements and Item 1 — Business, Environmental Matters. Details of regulatory matters are presented in Item 15 — Note 24, Regulatory Matters, to the Consolidated Financial Statements and Item 1 — Business, Regulatory Matters. Details of legal proceedings are presented in Item 15 — Note 23, Commitments and Contingencies, to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Some of this information relates to costs that may be material to the Company's financial results.

Significant Events

The following significant events occurred during 2021 and through the filing date, as further described within this Management's Discussion and Analysis and the consolidated financial statements:

Financing Activities

On August 23, 2021, the Company issued $1.1 billion of aggregate principal amount at par of 3.875% senior notes due 2032 (the "2032 Senior Notes"). The 2032 Senior Notes are senior unsecured obligations of NRG and are guaranteed by certain of its subsidiaries. The 2032 Senior Notes were issued under NRG's Sustainability-Linked Bond Framework, which sets out certain sustainability targets, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Failure to meet such sustainability targets will result in a 25 basis point increase to the interest rate payable on the 2032 Senior Notes from and including August 15, 2026.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company redeemed $1.9 billion in aggregate principal of its Senior Notes for $1.9 billion using the proceeds of the 2032 Senior Notes and cash on hand.

Extreme Weather Event in Texas During February 2021 and expected Uplift Securitization proceeds

The Texas Legislature passed House Bill 4492, which among other things, authorized ERCOT to obtain $2.1 billion of financing to distribute to LSEs that were charged and paid to ERCOT exceptionally highly priced ORDPA and ancillary service costs during Winter Storm Uri. Based on LSE-level detail published by the PUCT on December 7, 2021, NRG will receive $689 million from ERCOT.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, Winter Storm Uri's pre-tax financial impact to the Company was a loss of $380 million, which reflects the recovery of $689 million of cost of operations as a result of the proceeds we will receive from the Uplift Securitization discussed above, with receipt expected to occur during the second quarter of 2022. The Company continues to pursue additional mitigants including, but not limited to, customer bad debt mitigation, counterparty default recovery, and additional ERCOT default recovery.

Direct Energy Acquisition

On January 5, 2021, the Company acquired Direct Energy, which had been a North American subsidiary of Centrica. Direct Energy is a leading retail provider of electricity, natural gas, and home and business energy related products and services in North America, with operations in all 50 U.S. states and 8 Canadian provinces. The acquisition increased NRG's retail portfolio by over 3 million customers and complements its integrated model. It also broadened the Company's presence in the Northeast and into states and locales where it did not previously operate, supporting NRG's objective to diversify its business. See Item 15 — Note 4, Acquisitions, Discontinued Operations and Dispositions, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.

Limestone Extended Outage

In early July 2021, Limestone Unit 1 came offline as a result of damage to the duct work associated with the flue gas desulfurization system. Based on management's current assessment of necessary remediation efforts, Limestone Unit 1 is expected to remain on an outage until the second quarter of 2022.

PJM Base Residual Auction results and Planned Retirement of 1,600 MWs of PJM Coal Capacity

During the second quarter of 2021, the results of the PJM Base Residual Auction for the 2022/2023 delivery year were released, leading the Company to announce the near-term retirement of a significant portion of its PJM coal generating assets in June 2022. On July 30, 2021, PJM identified reliability impacts resulting from the proposed deactivation of one of those assets, Indian River Unit 4. On August 27, 2021 the Company notified PJM that it would continue operations at Indian River Unit 4 until the reliability upgrades identified by PJM were completed, provided that the unit receives a satisfactory and compensatory 'reliability must run' arrangement.

The Company recorded impairment losses of $271 million and $35 million on the PJM generating assets and Midwest Generation goodwill, respectively, in connection with the decline in PJM capacity prices and the near-term retirement dates of certain assets. See Item 15 — Note 11, Asset Impairments to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion. The Company is continuing to evaluate the viability of the remaining PJM generating assets.

Sale of 4.8 GW of Fossil Generation Assets

Sale of Agua Caliente

On February 3, 2021, the Company completed the sale of its 35% ownership in Agua Caliente to Clearway Energy, Inc. for $202 million. NRG recognized a gain on the sale of $17 million, including cash disposed of $7 million.

Share Repurchases

In December 2021, the Company's board of directors authorized the Company to repurchase $1.0 billion of its common stock. Through December 31, 2021, the Company completed $53 million of share repurchases at an average price of $40.22 per share, including $9 million of equivalent shares purchased in lieu of tax withholdings on equity compensation issuances. Through February 24, 2022, an additional $82 million of share repurchases were executed at an average price of $40.26 per share, including $6 million of equivalent shares purchased in lieu of tax withholdings on equity compensation issuances. See Item 15 - Note 16, Capital Structure, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional discussion.

Renewable Power Purchase Agreements

The Company's strategy is to procure mid to long-term generation through power purchase agreements. As of December 31, 2021, NRG has entered into PPAs totaling approximately 2.6 GW with third-party project developers and other counterparties. The average tenor of these agreements is twelve years. The Company expects to continue evaluating and executing similar agreements that support the needs of the business. The total GW entered into through PPAs may be impacted by contract terminations when they occur.

Dividend Increase

In the first quarter of 2021, NRG increased the annual dividend to $1.30 from $1.20 per share. In 2022, NRG further increased the annual dividend to $1.40 per share, representing an 8% increase from 2021. The Company expects to target an annual dividend growth rate of 7-9% per share in subsequent years.

COVID-19

While the pandemic presented risks, as further described in Part II, Item 1A — Risk Factors of this Form 10-K, to the Company’s business, there was not a material adverse impact on the Company’s results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Consolidated Results of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020

The following table provides selected financial information for the Company:


	Year Ended December 31,
(In millions, except otherwise noted)	2021		2020		Change
Operating Revenues
Retail revenue	$	23,561	$	7,460	$	16,101
Energy revenue(a)	1,215		539		676
Capacity revenue(a)	775		680		95
Mark-to-market for economic hedging activities	(164)		95		(259)
Contract amortization	(30)		—		(30)
Other revenues(a)(b)	1,632		319		1,313
Total operating revenues	26,989		9,093		17,896
Operating Costs and Expenses
Cost of fuel	1,844		851		(993)
Purchased energy and other cost of sales(c)	19,766		4,069		(15,697)
Mark-to-market for economic hedging activities	(2,880)		214		3,094
Contract and emissions credit amortization(c)	43		5		(38)
Operations and maintenance	1,370		1,129		(241)
Other cost of operations	339		272		(67)
Cost of operations (excluding depreciation and amortization shown below)	20,482		6,540		(13,942)
Depreciation and amortization	785		435		(350)
Impairment losses	544		75		(469)
Selling, general and administrative costs	1,293		810		(483)
Provision for credit losses	698		108		(590)
Acquisition-related transaction and integration costs	93		23		(70)
Total operating costs and expenses	23,895		7,991		(15,904)

Gain on sale of assets	247		3		244
Operating Income	3,341		1,105		2,236
Other Income/(Expense)
Equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates	17		17		—
Impairment losses on investments	—		(18)		18
Other income, net	63		67		(4)

Loss on debt extinguishment, net	(77)		(9)		(68)
Interest expense	(485)		(401)		(84)
Total other expenses	(482)		(344)		(138)
Income Before Income Taxes	2,859		761		2,098
Income tax expense	672		251		421


Net Income	$	2,187	$	510	$	1,677


Business Metrics
Average natural gas price — Henry Hub ($/MMBtu)	$	3.84	$	2.08	85		%

(a)Includes realized gains and losses from financially settled transactions

(b)Includes trading gains and losses and ancillary revenues

(c)Includes amortization of SO2 and NOx credits and excludes amortization of RGGI credits

Gross Margin

The Company calculates gross margin in order to evaluate operating performance as operating revenues less cost of fuel, purchased energy and other costs of sales, mark-to-market for economic hedging activities, contract and emission credit amortization and depreciation and amortization.

Economic Gross Margin

In addition to gross margin, the Company evaluates its operating performance using the measure of economic gross margin, which is not a GAAP measure and may not be comparable to other companies’ presentations or deemed more useful than the GAAP information provided elsewhere in this report. Economic gross margin should be viewed as a supplement to and not a substitute for the Company's presentation of gross margin, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure. Economic gross margin is not intended to represent gross margin. The Company believes that economic gross margin is useful to investors as it is a key operational measure reviewed by the Company's chief operating decision maker. Economic gross margin is defined as the sum of retail revenue, energy revenue, capacity revenue and other revenue, less cost of fuels, purchased energy and other cost of sales. Economic gross margin does not include mark-to-market gains or losses on economic hedging activities, contract amortization, emission credit amortization, depreciation and amortization, operations and maintenance, or other costs of operations.

The tables below present the composition and reconciliation of gross margin and economic gross margin for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:


	Year Ended December 31, 2021
($ in millions, except otherwise noted)	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Corporate/Eliminations		Total
Retail revenue	$	8,410	$	11,862	$	3,290	$	(1)	$	23,561
Energy revenue	329		508		371		7		1,215
Capacity revenue	—		718		57		—		775
Mark-to-market for economic hedging activities	(3)		(88)		(86)		13		(164)
Contract amortization	—		(26)		(4)		—		(30)
Other revenue	1,557		59		25		(9)		1,632
Operating revenue(a)	10,293		13,033		3,653		10		26,989
Cost of fuel	(1,424)		(196)		(224)		—		(1,844)
Purchased energy and other costs of sales(b)(c)(d)	(6,108)		(10,775)		(2,882)		(1)		(19,766)
Mark-to-market for economic hedging activities	988		1,803		102		(13)		2,880
Contract and emission credit amortization	2		(28)		(17)		—		(43)
Depreciation and amortization	(331)		(338)		(88)		(28)		(785)
Gross margin	$	3,420	$	3,499	$	544	$	(32)	$	7,431
Less: Mark-to-market for economic hedging activities, net	985		1,715		16		—		2,716
Less: Contract and emission credit amortization, net	2		(54)		(21)		—		(73)
Less: Depreciation and amortization	(331)		(338)		(88)		(28)		(785)
Economic gross margin	$	2,764	$	2,176	$	637	$	(4)	$	5,573
(a) Includes trading gains and losses and ancillary revenues
(b) Includes capacity and emissions credits
(c) Includes $2,648 million, $183 million and $1,033 million of TDSP expense in Texas, East, and West/Services/Other respectively
(d) Excludes depreciation and amortization shown separately
Business Metrics	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Corporate/Eliminations		Total
Home electricity sales volume (GWh)	42,397		14,108		2,252		—		58,757
Business electricity sales volume (GWh)	34,367		53,204		10,625		—		98,196
Home natural gas retail sales volumes (MDth)	—		74,920		97,272		—		172,192
Business natural gas retail sales volumes (MDth)	—		1,595,533		109,021		—		1,704,554
Average retail Home customer count (in thousands)(a)	3,055		1,844		962		—		5,861
Ending retail Home customer count (in thousands)(a)	3,024		1,766		932		—		5,722
GWh sold	36,920		11,452		8,503		—		56,875
GWh generated(b) (c)	36,920		7,494		7,949		—		52,363
(a) Home customer count includes recurring residential customers, services customers and municipal aggregations
(b) Includes owned and leased generation, excludes tolled generation and equity investments
(c) Includes 1,054 GWh and 2,445 GWh in East and West/Services/Other respectively that was sold to Generation Bridge in December 2021


	Year Ended December 31, 2020
($ in millions, except otherwise noted)	Texas		East		West/Services/Other(a)		Corporate/Eliminations		Total
Retail revenue	$	6,061	$	1,305	$	96	$	(2)	$	7,460
Energy revenue	24		183		333		(1)		539
Capacity revenue	—		620		61		(1)		680
Mark-to-market for economic hedging activities	2		88		(3)		8		95

Other revenue	222		62		43		(8)		319
Operating revenue	6,309		2,258		530		(4)		9,093
Cost of fuel	(546)		(151)		(154)		—		(851)
Purchased energy and other costs of sales(a)(b)(c)	(3,110)		(876)		(89)		6		(4,069)
Mark-to-market for economic hedging activities	(211)		5		—		(8)		(214)
Contract and emission credit amortization	(5)		—		—		—		(5)
Depreciation and amortization	(227)		(138)		(36)		(34)		(435)
Gross margin	$	2,210	$	1,098	$	251	$	(40)	$	3,519
Less: Mark-to-market for economic hedging activities, net	(209)		93		(3)		—		(119)
Less: Contract and emission credit amortization	(5)		—		—		—		(5)
Less: Depreciation and amortization	(227)		(138)		(36)		(34)		(435)
Economic gross margin	$	2,651	$	1,143	$	290	$	(6)	$	4,078
(a) Includes capacity and emissions credits
(b) Includes $1,967 million and $10 million of electric TDSP charges for Texas and East, respectively
(c) Excludes depreciation and amortization shown separately
Business Metrics	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Corporate/Eliminations		Total
Home electricity sales volume (GWh)	38,473		10,221		—		—		48,694
Business electricity sales volume (GWh)	17,928		1,596		—		—		19,524
Natural gas retail sales volumes (MDth)	—		23,509		—		—		23,509
Average retail Home customer count (in thousands)(a)	2,449		1,175		—		—		3,624
Ending retail Home customer count (in thousands)(a)	2,451		1,136		—		—		3,587
GWh sold	31,385		8,136		9,569		—		49,090
GWh generated(b)(c)	31,385		4,102		9,171		—		44,658
(a) Home customer count includes recurring residential customers and municipal aggregations
(b) Includes owned and leased generation, excludes tolled generation and equity investments
(c) Includes 1,192 GWh and 3,002 GWh in East and West/Services/Other respectively that was sold to Generation Bridge in December 2021

The table below represents the weather metrics for 2021 and 2020:


	Year ended December 31,			Quarter ended December 31,			Quarter ended September 30,			Quarter ended June 30,			Quarter ended March 31,
Weather Metrics	Texas	East	West/Services/Other(a)	Texas	East	West/Services/Other(a)	Texas	East	West/Services/Other(a)	Texas	East	West/Services/Other(a)	Texas	East	West/Services/Other(a)
2021
CDDs(b)	2,960	1,275	1,877	386	91	185	1,589	784	1,134	899	362	521	86	38	37
HDDs(b)	1,562	4,306	2,060	360	1,377	662	—	38	5	82	541	192	1,120	2,350	1,201
2020
CDDs	3,102	1,362	1,971	280	79	181	1,640	874	1,152	1,012	353	562	170	56	76
HDDs	1,501	4,268	1,939	634	1,517	763	6	72	4	70	634	178	791	2,045	994
10-year average
CDDs	3,090	1,297	1,924	281	85	157	1,690	818	1,159	1,003	356	557	116	38	51
HDDs	1,691	4,558	2,044	693	1,584	774	2	56	10	59	521	193	937	2,397	1,067

(a) The West/Services/Other weather metrics are comprised of the average of the CDD and HDD regional results for the West - California and West - South Central regions

(b) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Climate Prediction Center - A Cooling Degree Day, or CDD, represents the number of degrees that the mean temperature for a particular day is above 65 degrees Fahrenheit in each region. A Heating Degree Day, or HDD, represents the number of degrees that the mean temperature for a particular day is below 65 degrees Fahrenheit in each region. The CDDs/HDDs for a period of time are calculated by adding the CDDs/HDDs for each day during the period

Winter Storm Uri

During the year ended December 31, 2021, Winter Storm Uri's pre-tax financial impact to the Company was a loss of $380 million, which reflects the recovery of $689 million of cost of operations as a result of the expected proceeds from the Uplift Securitization. The following impacts are further discussed in the related sections below:


	(In millions)
Gross margin - Texas	$	88
Gross margin - East	146
Gross margin - West/Services/Other	13
Total gross margin	247

Operations and maintenance expense	(2)
Selling, general and administrative costs	(29)
Provision for credit losses	(596)
Total impact to loss before income taxes	$	(380)

The Company continues to pursue additional mitigants including, but not limited to, customer bad debt mitigation, counterparty default recovery, and additional ERCOT default recovery.

Gross margin and economic gross margin

Gross margin increased $3.9 billion and economic gross margin increased $1.5 billion, both of which include intercompany sales, during the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the same period in 2020. The detail by segment is as follows:

Texas


	(In millions)
Higher gross margin due to Winter Storm Uri, primarily driven by hedging optimization, partially offset by the negative impact of an increase in unhedgeable ancillary and operating reserve demand curve, net of securitization proceeds of $689 million	$	88
The following explanations exclude the impact of Winter Storm Uri:
Higher gross margin due to increased volumes from the acquisition of Direct Energy in January 2021	280
Higher gross margin due to market optimization activities	9
Lower gross margin due to a 22% increase in overall average costs to serve the retail load, driven primarily by increases in power, ancillary, fuel costs and the effect of the current year Limestone Unit 1 extended forced outage, totaling $349 million, partially offset by higher net revenue primarily driven by increased net revenue rates as a result of changes in customer term, product and mix of $2.50 per MWh, or $156 million	(193)
Lower net revenue due to a decrease in load of 834,000 MWhs from weather	(72)
Lower net revenue due to attrition and customer mix	(5)
Other	6
Increase in economic gross margin	$	113
Increase in mark-to-market for economic hedging primarily due to net unrealized gains/losses on open positions related to economic hedges	1,194
Decrease in contract and emission credit amortization	7
Increase in depreciation and amortization	(104)
Increase in gross margin	$	1,210

East


	(In millions)
Higher gross margin due to Winter Storm Uri, primarily driven by natural gas optimization during volatile pricing that occurred during the weather event	$	146
The following explanations exclude the impact of Winter Storm Uri:
Higher gross margin due to increased volumes from the acquisition of Direct Energy in January 2021, including $503 million from natural gas activity and $436 million from power activity	939
Higher business demand response gross margin primarily from the early settlement of capacity obligations in 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 of $63 million and higher volumes sold in 2021 of $10 million	73
Higher gross margin due to a lower of cost or market adjustment on oil inventory in 2020	29
Lower gross margin from higher supply costs of $8.25 per MWh, or $78 million and lower volumes due to attrition, weather and customer mix of $45 million, partially offset by higher revenue of $3 per MWh, or $29 million	(94)
Lower gross margin due to a 20% decrease in average realized pricing primarily at Midwest Generation	(39)
Lower gross margin due to the sale of fossil generating assets to Generation Bridge in December 2021	(16)
Lower gross margin from market optimization activities	(5)


Increase in economic gross margin	$	1,033
Increase in mark-to-market for economic hedging primarily due to net unrealized gains/losses on open positions related to economic hedges	1,622
Increase in contract amortization	(54)
Increase in depreciation and amortization	(200)
Increase in gross margin	$	2,401

West/Services/Other


	(In millions)
Higher gross margin due to Winter Storm Uri, driven by optimization during volatility in gas pricing	$	13
The following explanations exclude the impact of Winter Storm Uri:
Higher gross margin due to the acquisition of Direct Energy in January 2021	425
Lower gross margin primarily at Cottonwood driven by an 83% increase in fuel cost, partially offset by a 41% increase in realized power prices.	(31)
Lower gross margin primarily due to prior year MISO uplift payments resulting from out-of-market dispatch during Hurricane Laura	(29)
Lower gross margin from generation outage insurance proceeds received in 2020 for forced outages in 2019, partially offset by Sunrise business interruption proceeds received in 2021 for forced outages in 2019	(22)
Lower gross margin from market optimization activities	(9)
Lower gross margin due to the sale of fossil generating assets to Generation Bridge in December 2021	(7)
Other	7
Increase in economic gross margin	$	347
Increase in mark-to-market for economic hedges primarily due to net unrealized gains/losses on open positions related to economic hedges	19
Increase in contract amortization	(21)
Increase in depreciation and amortization	(52)
Increase in gross margin	$	293

Mark-to-market for Economic Hedging Activities

Mark-to-market for economic hedging activities includes asset-backed hedges that have not been designated as cash flow hedges. Total net mark-to-market results increased by $2.8 billion during the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the same period in 2020.

The breakdown of gains and losses included in operating revenues and operating costs and expenses by segment was as follows:


	Year Ended December 31, 2021
(In millions)	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Eliminations		Total
Mark-to-market results in operating revenues
Reversal of previously recognized unrealized (gains) on settled positions related to economic hedges	$	—	$	(34)	$	(4)	$	(2)	$	(40)
Reversal of acquired (gain) positions related to economic hedges	—		(6)		—		—		$	(6)
Net unrealized (losses) on open positions related to economic hedges	(3)		(48)		(82)		15		(118)
Total mark-to-market (losses) in operating revenues	$	(3)	$	(88)	$	(86)	$	13	$	(164)
Mark-to-market results in operating costs and expenses
Reversal of previously recognized unrealized (gains) on settled positions related to economic hedges	$	(3)	$	—	$	—	$	2	$	(1)
Reversal of acquired loss/(gain) positions related to economic hedges	42		235		(15)		—		262
Net unrealized gains on open positions related to economic hedges	949		1,568		117		(15)		2,619
Total mark-to-market gains in operating costs and expenses	$	988	$	1,803	$	102	$	(13)	$	2,880


	Year Ended December 31, 2020
(In millions)	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Eliminations		Total
Mark-to-market results in operating revenues
Reversal of previously recognized unrealized losses/(gains) on settled positions related to economic hedges	$	1	$	33	$	(7)	$	4	$	31
Net unrealized gains on open positions related to economic hedges	1		55		4		4		64
Total mark-to-market gains/(losses) in operating revenues	$	2	$	88	$	(3)	$	8	$	95
Mark-to-market results in operating costs and expenses
Reversal of previously recognized unrealized (gains)/losses on settled positions related to economic hedges	$	(87)	$	5	$	—	$	(4)	$	(86)
Reversal of acquired loss positions related to economic hedges.	2		2		—		—		4
Net unrealized (losses) on open positions related to economic hedges	(126)		(2)		—		(4)		(132)
Total mark-to-market (losses)/gains in operating costs and expenses	$	(211)	$	5	$	—	$	(8)	$	(214)

Mark-to-market results consist of unrealized gains and losses on contracts that are yet to be settled. The settlement of these transactions is reflected in the same revenue or cost caption as the items being hedged.

The reversals of acquired gain or loss positions were valued based upon the forward prices on the acquisition date.

For the year ended December 31, 2021 the $164 million loss in operating revenues from economic hedge positions was driven primarily by a decrease in the value of open positions as a result of increases in East and West/Services/Other power prices, as well as the reversal of previously recognized unrealized gains on contracts that settled during the period. The $2.9 billion gain in operating costs and expenses from economic hedge positions was driven primarily by an increase in the value of open positions as a result of increases in natural gas and power prices across all segments as well as the reversal of acquired contracts that settled during the year.

For the year ended December 31, 2020 the $95 million gain in operating revenues from economic hedge positions was driven primarily by an increase in the value of open positions as a result of decreases in New York capacity prices, as well as the reversal of previously recognized unrealized losses on contracts that settled during the period. The $214 million loss in operating costs and expenses from economic hedge positions was driven primarily by a decrease in the value of open positions as a result of decreases in ERCOT power prices and heat rate contraction, as well as the reversal of previously recognized unrealized gains on contracts that settled during the period.

In accordance with ASC 815, the following table represents the results of the Company's financial and physical trading of energy commodities for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. The realized and unrealized financial and physical trading results are included in operating revenue. The Company's trading activities are subject to limits within the Company's Risk Management Policy.


	Year ended December 31,
(In millions)	2021		2020
Trading gains/(losses)
Realized	$	124	$	41
Unrealized	(32)		(5)
Total trading gains	$	92	$	36

Operations and Maintenance Expenses

Operations and maintenance expenses are comprised of the following:


(In millions)	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Corporate		Eliminations		Total

Year Ended December 31, 2021	$	703	$	452	$	218	$	2	$	(5)	$	1,370
Year Ended December 31, 2020	651		371		104		9		(6)		1,129

Operations and maintenance expenses increased by $241 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, due to the following:


	(In millions)
Increase due to the acquisition of Direct Energy in January 2021	$	257
Increase in major maintenance primarily due to the duration and scope of planned and forced outages in Texas during 2021	27
Increase in variable operation and maintenance expense at the PJM coal facilities associated with increased generation in 2021	23
Increase driven by higher maintenance resulting from the impacts of Winter Storm Uri	2

Decrease driven by lower retail operations costs	(29)
Decrease in lease expense primarily driven by the buyout of the Midwest Generation lease in 2020	(16)
Decrease due to the sale of fossil generating assets to Generation Bridge in December 2021	(11)
Decrease due to prior year suspended plant project and prior year reserves for obsolete inventory	(9)
Other	(3)
Increase in operations and maintenance expense	$	241

Other Cost of Operations

Other Cost of operations are comprised of the following:


(In millions)	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Total

Year Ended December 31, 2021	$	194	$	129	$	16	$	339
Year Ended December 31, 2020	163		91		18		272

Other cost of operations increased by $67 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, due to the following:


	(In millions)
Increase due to the acquisition of Direct Energy in January 2021	$	83
Decrease primarily due to ARO expense in 2020 at Jewett Mine and Joliet as a result of regulatory requirements	(15)

Other	(1)
Increase in other cost of operations	$	67

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization expenses are comprised of the following:


(In millions)	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Corporate		Total

Year Ended December 31, 2021	$	331	$	338	$	88	$	28	$	785
Year Ended December 31, 2020	227		138		36		34		435

Depreciation and amortization expense increased by $350 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, primarily due to amortization of acquired intangibles in connection with the acquisition of Direct Energy in January 2021.

Impairment Losses

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recorded impairment losses of $544 million, of which $306 million was recorded in the second quarter related to the decline in capacity prices and the planned retirement of a significant portion of the PJM coal fleet, $213 million in the fourth quarter as a result of changes in the long-term outlook of the Joliet facility prompted by market conditions and an assessment of various alternatives for the long-term operational landscape of the facility including the impact of the CEJA in Illinois, and $25 million related to various other power plants. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company recorded impairment losses of $75 million primarily related to the Cottonwood facility and the Home Solar business. Refer to Item 15 — Note 11, Asset Impairments, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.

Selling, General and Administrative Costs

Selling, general and administrative costs are comprised of the following:


(In millions)	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Corporate		Total

Year Ended December 31, 2021	$	574	$	472	$	198	$	49	$	1,293
Year Ended December 31, 2020	467		260		56		27		810

Selling, general and administrative costs increased by $483 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, due to the following:


	(In millions)
Increase due to the acquisition of Direct Energy in January 2021	$	460
Increase due to Winter Storm Uri, including charitable giving, legal and other costs of $20 million and ERCOT default charges of $9 million	29
Increase due to higher consulting, service and insurance costs	26

Decrease due to lower employee costs	(23)
Decrease due to the favorable resolution of a legal matter	(15)

Other	6
Increase in selling, general and administrative costs	$	483

Provision for Credit Losses

Provision for credit losses are comprised of the following:


(In millions)	Texas		East		West/Services/Other		Total

Year Ended December 31, 2021	$	678	$	8	$	12	$	698
Year Ended December 31, 2020	94		14		—		108

Provision for credit losses increased by $590 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the same period in 2020, due to the following:


	(In millions)
Increase due to Winter Storm Uri, including: Increase of $403 million related to bilateral financial hedging risk Increase of $126 million related to counterparty credit risk Increase of $67 million related to ERCOT default shortfall payments	$	596
Decrease due to improved collections in the legacy brands, partially offset by the acquisition and integration of Direct Energy in January 2021	(6)


Increase in provision for credit losses	$	590

Acquisition-Related Transaction and Integration Costs

Acquisition-related transaction and integration costs increased by $70 million when compared to the same period in 2020. Acquisition-related transaction costs increased by $8 million, primarily related to the Direct Energy acquisition. Integration costs increased by $62 million, primarily related to employee costs, software costs and consulting services for the Direct Energy acquisition.

Gain on Sale of Assets

The gain on sale of assets of $247 million was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2021 includes a $210 million gain on the sale of 4,850 MW of fossil generating assets in December 2021, a $20 million gain on the sale of a deactivated site in November 2021, and a $17 million due to the sale of Agua Caliente in February 2021. The gain on the sale of assets of $3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 was related to the sale of land and investments in January 2020, partially offset by the disposition of the Home Solar business.

Impairment Losses on Investments

During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company recorded other-than-temporary impairment losses on the Company's investment in Petra Nova Parish Holdings of $18 million, as further described in Item 15 — Note 11, Asset Impairments, to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Loss on Debt Extinguishment

A loss on debt extinguishment of $77 million was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2021, driven by the redemption of senior notes as further discussed in Item 15 — Note 13, Long-term Debt and Finance Leases, to the Consolidated Financial Statements. A loss on debt extinguishment of $9 million was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2020, driven by the debt extinguished in connection with the sale of Home Solar and the redemptions of the Indian River and Dunkirk bonds.

Interest Expense

Interest expense increased by $84 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, primarily due to financings entered into in connection with the Direct Energy acquisition.

Income Tax Expense

For the year ended December 31, 2021, NRG recorded income tax expense of $672 million on pre-tax income of $2.9 billion. For the same period in 2020, NRG recorded an income tax expense of $251 million on pre-tax income of $761 million. The effective tax rate was 23.5% and 33.0% for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, NRG's overall effective tax rate was higher than the federal statutory tax rate of 21% primarily due to state tax expense partially offset by tax benefits from the revaluation of state deferred tax assets, valuation allowance, and settlements of uncertain tax positions.


	Year Ended December 31,
(In millions, except effective income tax rate)	2021			2020
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	$	2,859		$	761
Tax at federal statutory tax rate	600			160
Foreign rate differential	(3)			—
State taxes	111			18
Deferred impact of state tax rate changes	(10)			2


Changes in valuation allowance	(29)			24


Permanent differences	8			8
Return to provision adjustments	5			36
Recognition of uncertain tax benefits	(10)			3




Income tax expense	$	672		$	251
Effective income tax rate	23.5		%	33.0		%

The effective income tax rate may vary from period to period depending on, among other factors, the geographic and business mix of earnings and losses and changes in valuation allowances in accordance with ASC 740, Income Taxes, or ASC 740. These factors and others, including the Company's history of pre-tax earnings and losses, are taken into account in assessing the ability to realize deferred tax assets.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Liquidity Position

As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, NRG's liquidity, excluding collateral funds deposited by counterparties, was approximately $2.7 billion and $7.0 billion, respectively, comprised of the following:


	As of December 31,
(In millions)	2021		2020

Cash and cash equivalents:	$	250	$	3,905
Restricted cash - operating	4		3
Restricted cash - reserves (a)	11		3
Total	265		3,911
Total availability under Revolving Credit Facility and collective collateral facilities(b)	2,421		3,129
Total liquidity, excluding collateral funds deposited by counterparties	$	2,686	$	7,040

(a)Includes reserves primarily for debt service, performance obligations and capital expenditures

(b)Total capacity of Revolving Credit Facility and collective collateral facilities was $5.9 billion and $4.0 billion as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively

As of December 31, 2021, total liquidity, excluding collateral funds deposited by counterparties, decreased by $4.4 billion. The decrease was primarily driven by the closing of the Direct Energy acquisition and the impact of Winter Storm Uri. Changes in cash and cash equivalent balances are further discussed under the heading Cash Flow Discussion. Cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2021 were predominantly held in money market funds invested in treasury securities, treasury repurchase agreements or government agency debt.

Management believes that the Company's liquidity position and cash flows from operations will be adequate to finance operating and maintenance capital expenditures, to fund dividends to NRG's common stockholders, and to fund other liquidity commitments. Management continues to regularly monitor the Company's ability to finance the needs of its operating, financing and investing activity within the dictates of prudent balance sheet management.

Credit Ratings

On March 17, 2021, following Winter Storm Uri, Standard & Poor's placed NRG's issuer credit rating of BB+ on CreditWatch with negative implications. On May 12, 2021, Standard & Poor's affirmed NRG's issuer credit rating of BB+ with a stable outlook. On March 19, 2021, Moody's changed NRG's rating outlook from positive to stable. At the same time, Moody's affirmed NRG's corporate family rating of Ba1.

The following table summarizes the Company's current credit ratings: