- Partnership to continue providing 100% green energy solution to
Cincinnati Bell customers under the brand Cincinnati Bell Energy -
/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR OVER UNITED STATES WIRE
SERVICES/
TORONTO, May 1, 2013 /CNW/ - Crius Energy Trust (TSX: KWH.UN) ("Crius Energy" or the "Trust"), a leading provider of retail energy
across the United States, today announced the three-year extension of
the exclusive marketing partnership between Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB) and Crius Energy, LLC ("Crius"), which was effective April, 12, 2013.
With the renewal of this agreement Cincinnati Bell will continue to
market green energy through the brand Cincinnati Bell Energy ("CBE").
"The renewal of the relationship signifies the trust and confidence
Cincinnati Bell places in Crius to deliver the highest quality products
and services to its customers through CBE," said Michael Fallquist, CEO
of Crius Energy Trust. "As the first of Crius' telecom partnerships,
Cincinnati Bell's ongoing excitement and interest in engagement
represents a key milestone showing the sustainability of this business
model and this channel. We are pleased to continue to work with a
partner of Cincinnati Bell's caliber and expect this will continue to
represent a growing segment of the Crius business."
In June of 2011, Crius developed this sales channel, launching green
electricity offerings through Cincinnati Bell's inbound call center.
The marketing relationship has progressed to include natural gas as
well as green electricity options offered through Cincinnati Bell's
call center as well as its retail stores.
"Crius, through CBE, has been an effective partnership for Cincinnati
Bell as we strive to offer unique, quality products for our customers,"
said Darrick Zucco, Vice President & General Manager, Cincinnati Bell.
"CBE has provided a new channel for growth for Cincinnati Bell,
allowing us to add another venue to differentiate our offerings from
our competition. The commitment of another three years exhibits the
importance of energy as part of our core customer offering. We are
proud to continue this association."
Subsequent to developing the first partnership with Cincinnati Bell,
Crius expanded this particular sales channel by signing partnerships
with additional telecom companies Frontier Communications Corp. (NYSE:
FTR) and FairPoint Communications Inc. (NYSE: FRP).
About Cincinnati Bell Energy
Cincinnati Bell Energy is a local provider of affordable, green retail
energy. The company provides electricity generated by 100 percent wind
power to customers in southwestern Ohio. Cincinnati Bell Energy is a
subsidiary of Crius Energy LLC and the company uses the Cincinnati Bell
Energy name under a license agreement with Cincinnati Bell, Inc. For
more information, visit www.cincinnatibellenergy.com.
About Cincinnati Bell
With headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB)
provides integrated communications solutions - including local and long
distance voice, data, high-speed internet, entertainment and wireless
services - that keep residential and business customers in Greater
Cincinnati and Dayton connected with each other and with the world. In
addition, enterprise customers across the United States rely on
Cincinnati Bell for efficient, scalable office communications systems
and end-to-end IT solutions. Cincinnati Bell also is the majority owner
of CyrusOne (NASDAQ: CONE), which provides best-in-class data center
colocation services to enterprise customers through its facilities with
fully redundant power and cooling solutions that are currently located
in the Midwest, Texas, Arizona, London and Singapore. For more
information, please visit www.cincinnatibell.com.
About Crius Energy
Crius Energy has been established to provide investors with a stable and
consistent distribution-producing investment through the acquisition of
a 26.8% ownership interest in Crius Energy LLC (the "Company"). The
Company is one of the largest independent energy retailers operating in
the United States, with more than 530,000 residential customer
equivalents. The Company serves residential and small to medium-size commercial
customers in the United States and markets its products through a
variety of sales channels and brand names. The Company currently sells
electricity in 11 states and the District of Columbia and natural gas
in five states.
Crius Energy intends to qualify as a "mutual fund trust" under the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Tax Act"). The Trust will not be a "SIFT trust" (as
defined in the Tax Act), provided that the Trust complies at all times
with its investment restriction which precludes the Trust from holding
any "non-portfolio property" (as defined in the Tax Act). Material
information pertaining to Crius Energy may be found on www.sedar.com or www.criusenergytrust.ca.
SOURCE: Crius Energy Trust
