7th Jan 2008 08:45
Homeserve Plc07 January 2008 Homeserve signs a marketing agreement with Progress Energy Inc. providing accessto additional 2.6m households. Homeserve plc announces a further key development in its US operation, with thesigning of a three year marketing agreement with Progress Energy Inc. to marketpolicies for water heater repair and replacement to its 2.6m electricitycustomer households in its North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida serviceareas. Homeserve's US business, based in Miami, Florida, currently has 325,000 homeemergency policies and the signing of the marketing agreement with ProgressEnergy increases the number of US households to which Homeserve can market to9.3m. Progress Energy Inc. operates as an integrated energy company serving thesoutheast region of the United States. It engages in the generation,transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in North Carolina, SouthCarolina, and Florida. Progress Energy currently offers home wiring and surgeprotection services to its residential customers. The introduction of the waterheater program will complement these programs and extend the company's homeservice offering. Richard Harpin, Chief Executive, Homeserve plc, commented: "This agreement is an excellent start for 2008 for our US business, opening up afurther 2.6m households for water heater products with a blue-chip partner. Wecontinue to target electricity and gas companies in the US as well as water and,as mentioned in our recent Interim Management Statement, the pipeline ofopportunities remains encouraging." 7 January 2008 Homeserve plcJonathan Simpson-Dent, Chief Financial Officer Tel: 01922 427903 Tulchan GroupAndrew Honnor Tel: 020 7353 4200Stephen Malthouse Notes About Homeserve Every forty seconds a Homeserve engineer comes to the rescue of a Britishhousehold. With over 3,000 directly and indirectly employed engineers Homeserve offers theUK's only national emergency home repair service backed by a 24 hour claimshandling and repair network. Homeserve also offers insurance cover for plumbing, drains, electrical wiringand gas central heating. It has over 5.8 million policy members in the UK and afurther 1.2 million in the USA and France. For more information, please visit www.homeserve.com About Progress Energy Progress Energy, headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a Fortune 250energy company with more than 21,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $10billion in annual revenues. The company includes two major utilities that servemore than 3.1 million customers, including 2.6 million residential customers, inthe Carolinas and Florida. Progress Energy is the 2006 recipient of the EdisonElectric Institute's Edison Award, the industry's highest honor, in recognitionof its operational excellence. The company also is the first utility to receivethe prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Founder's Award for customer service.Progress Energy serves two fast-growing areas of the country, and the company ispursuing a balanced approach to meeting the future energy needs of the region.That balance includes increased energy efficiency programs, investments inrenewable energy technologies and a state-of-the-art electricity system. Formore information about Progress Energy, visit the company's Web site atwww.progress-energy.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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