PARIS, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- French utility giant GDF Suez announced it is now ranked as the second-largest retail electricity provider in the United States by independent consultants.
Independent energy consulting firm KEMA ranked GDF Suez second in the U.S. retail electricity market. GDF Suez through August 2009 increased its annualized sales by 40 percent to 15 trillion kilowatt hours since August 2008.
"We are proud that our growth in the retail arena in the United States has been entirely organic, self made, and a result of building our customer base one client at a time," said Gerard Mestrallet, GDF Suez chairman and chief executive office.
The U.S. market for GDF Suez includes Texas and states along the northeast coast.
GDF Suez is one of the largest importers of liquefied natural gas in the United States, meeting 20 percent of New England's gas demand alone. The utility has a stake in the power, gas and retail markets in much of the northeast United States and Texas.
