A CenterPoint Energy facility in Downtown Houston. Downtown Houston is the largest Business district of Houston, Texas, United States.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE: CNP) is an electric and natural gas utility serving several markets in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. The New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE) is a Stock exchange based in New York City. An electric utility is a company (often a Public utility) that engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale A public utility (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the Infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government Arkansas ( is a state located in the southern region of the United States. The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America Minnesota ( Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. It was formerly known as Reliant Energy (from which it is now separated), NorAm Energy, and Houston Industries. Reliant Energy Inc (NYSE RRI based in Houston, Texas, is a non-utility retail and wholesale Electricity provider

Until December 15, 2004, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessors operated in its various markets under these names; they were used separately prior to Reliant Energy, and later in conjunction with the Reliant Energy and CenterPoint Energy names:

• Minnegasco
• Houston Lighting and Power (or HL&P)
• Entex
• Arkla

See also

• Deregulation of the Texas electricity market
• Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)

External links

• CenterPoint Energy web site
• Company timeline