Centrica puts some Bounce in US growth strategy

12th Jul 2013 07:04

British Gas owner Centrica has sealed a cash deal to buy Bounce Energy, a Texas-based electricity retailer with an innovative digital strategy.Centrica's North American subsidiary, Direct Energy, will pay $46m (£30m) cash and some extra working capital to acquire the new business.Bounce's innovative web platform, which enables it to market new products to customers and service their accounts, is expected to significantly lower Direct Energy's cost of acquiring new customers.Bounce offers a variety of different rewards programs for customers, who can take advantage of one of the best refer-a-friend programmes on the market. The majority of Bounce's 80,000 residential customers are in Texas but the company has moved into Pennsylvania and recently New York, complementing its marketing strategy by being highly interactive with customers on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets. Centrica said Direct Energy would retain a core group of Bounce personnel to allow it to continue the development of its digital capability and allow Direct to build on this expertise to increase digital sales and service capabilities, as well as accelerating customer growth. Badar Khan, President and CEO of Direct Energy, said: "The acquisition of Bounce Energy marks a further step in the development of our North American residential energy business. It will provide our customers with more innovative and efficient energy options and also gives Direct Energy a leading online platform as we look to grow our North American customer base."OH