"We believe that this merger will create tremendous long-term value for our shareholders and our customers," said Jesson Bradshaw, CEO of Fulcrum. "Tara and Fulcrum have done business together for many years and capitalizing on our complementary business models in the current environment made perfect sense."

Bradshaw added that the combination of Fulcrum and Tara is a major step towards the company's goal to further expand its retail platform, which already includes Amigo Energy (Amigo). "We are proud of the fact that we are now among the largest independent retail electricity providers with two brands that have cultivated an excellent reputation for service within their customer base. We are also excited to have members of Tara's senior leadership become a part of Fulcrum to bring their expertise to our retail businesses. This will allow us to deploy best practices across both of our retail business units for the benefit of customers."

"Tara is pleased to join forces with Fulcrum Power Services," said Neville Ravji, CEO of Tara Energy. "With Fulcrum's expertise in power generation management, wholesale energy transaction and risk management services, Tara will be well-positioned to offer highly customized competitive electricity products and value-added services in deregulated markets."

Tara Energy was founded in 2002 and it primarily serves a variety of niche affinity customers in both commercial and residential markets. Amigo Energy primarily serves residential customers in Texas and received the third highest satisfaction rating in J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Texas Residential Retail Electric Provider Customer Satisfaction Study(SM). As subsidiaries of Fulcrum, Tara and Amigo will continue to be independent REPs, maintaining their separate brand names, existing office locations and contact details. Both companies will take utmost care to ensure the highest customer service standards.