NRG ENERGY, INC. (NRG)

ITEM 2 — MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The discussion and analysis below has been organized as follows:

•Executive summary, including introduction and overview, business strategy, and changes to the business environment during the period, including environmental and regulatory matters;

•Known trends that may affect NRG’s results of operations and financial condition in the future;

•Results of operations; and

•Liquidity and capital resources including liquidity position, financial condition addressing credit ratings, material cash requirements and commitments, and other obligations.

As you read this discussion and analysis, refer to NRG’s condensed consolidated statements of operations to this Form 10-Q, which present the results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025. Also refer to NRG’s 2025 Form 10-K, which includes detailed discussions of various items impacting the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition, including: General section; Strategy section; Business Overview section, including how regulation, weather, and other factors affect NRG’s business; and Critical Accounting Estimates section.

Executive Summary

Introduction and Overview

NRG Energy, Inc., or NRG or the Company, provides electricity, natural gas, and smart-home technology solutions to approximately 8 million residential customers (comprised of 6 million retail energy and 2 million smart home), in addition to large commercial and industrial, data center, and wholesale customers. Across North America, NRG is redefining customer’s experience with energy under brand names such as NRG, Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, and Vivint. As of June 30, 2026, the Company’s core power and natural gas business consists of approximately 25 GW of competitive power generation, including approximately 13 GW from the LSP portfolio, and a natural gas portfolio that serves approximately 1,900 MMDth annually.

Strategy

NRG’s strategy is to maximize shareholder value by delivering integrated energy and smart home solutions, supported by an owned generation fleet and a diversified supply strategy. The Company generates power and sells electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers in the markets it serves. The Company also provides smart home security and automation services that deepen customer relationships and support long-term engagement. NRG operates a customer-first platform that promotes reliability and affordability amid rapid transformation in the energy sector. The Company is advancing opportunities to meet growing demand, including from data centers, other large load customers, and electrification. This includes (i) flexible load products like demand response and virtual power plants (“VPP”), which help manage costs and improve affordability for customers, (ii) completing the Texas Development Projects, (iii) long-term, contract-backed generation and related infrastructure, supported by strategic partnerships with equipment manufacturers and engineering, procurement, and construction companies, and (iv) increasing capacity at existing facilities. The Company’s differentiated model is built to meet North America’s evolving needs while delivering affordable, reliable solutions for customers and long-term growth for shareholders. This strategy is intended to generate recurring cash flow, strengthen earnings and cost competitiveness, and reduce risk and volatility.

To effectuate the Company’s strategy, NRG is focused on: (i) serving the energy needs of residential, commercial and industrial, and wholesale counterparties in competitive markets and optimizing on additional revenue opportunities through its multiple brands and channels; (ii) offering a variety of energy products and smart home products and services that are differentiated by innovative, value-additive features, premium service, integrated platforms, sustainability, loyalty/affinity programs, and affordability; (iii) excellence in operating performance of its assets; (iv) achieving the optimal mix of supply to serve its customer load requirements through a diversified supply strategy, including expanding its operational capacity to meet growing retail power supply needs; and (v) engaging in disciplined and transparent capital allocation.

In the first quarter of 2026, the operations acquired from LS Power were integrated into the Company’s existing segment structure, enhancing scale and portfolio optimization across the platform. In Texas, the Company’s generation portfolio is fully integrated with its retail load and in early 2026, the Company adopted an integrated strategy in the East, expanding this model across a broader geographic footprint. The integrated model strategically aligns generation and retail, enabling the Company to supply a portion of its retail customers with electricity from Company-owned assets, thereby reducing reliance to procure electricity from other institutions and intermediaries and supporting more stable earnings and cash flows, lower transaction costs, and reduced credit exposure. The integrated model also results in a reduction in actual and contingent collateral requirements, improving capital efficiency and further limiting transactions with third parties.

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Energy Regulatory Matters

The Company’s regulatory matters are described in the Company’s 2025 Form 10-K in Item 1, Business — Regulatory Matters. These matters have been updated below and in Note 15, Regulatory Matters.

As participants in wholesale and retail energy markets and owners and operators of power plants, certain NRG entities are subject to regulation by various federal and state government agencies. These include the CFTC, FERC and the PUCT, as well as other public utility commissions in certain states where NRG’s generation or distributed generation assets are located. In addition, NRG is subject to the market rules, procedures and protocols of the various ISO and RTO markets in which it participates. Likewise, certain NRG entities participating in the retail markets are subject to rules and regulations established by the states and provinces in which NRG entities are licensed to sell at retail. NRG must also comply with the mandatory reliability requirements imposed by NERC and the regional reliability entities in the regions where NRG operates.

NRG’s operations within the ERCOT footprint are not subject to rate regulation by FERC, as they are deemed to operate solely within the ERCOT market and not in interstate commerce. These operations are subject to regulation by the PUCT.

State and Provincial Energy Regulation

Maryland Legislation — On May 9, 2024, Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 1 into law, which restricts the competitive retail electric and natural gas market in Maryland, affecting residential customers but not commercial and industrial customers. Key provisions of the law took effect on January 1, 2025. The legislation imposes a price cap on residential contracts tied to a trailing 12-month historical average of utility rates, with only a limited exception for renewable power products. Renewable products must now have their price pre-approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission and source their renewable electricity certificates from within the PJM region. The law also requires that any variable-price contract not contain a change in price more than once a year, except time-of-use contracts, and limits contract terms to 12 months. It requires affirmative consent for the renewal of customer contracts for renewable power products. The law also imposes licensing requirements on energy salespeople. While the law states that it does not impair existing contracts, the Maryland Public Service Commission has ruled that grandfathering of existing contracts will end as of December 31, 2025, and that suppliers must issue separate bills for their charges for all new and renewing contracts as of January 1, 2026. On October 1, 2024, Green Mountain Energy Company, NRG’s renewable electricity provider, along with a retail trade association to which NRG belongs, filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of SB 1. On November 18, 2024, the trial court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and plaintiffs appealed. On May 15, 2026, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s ruling in part and remanded the case with instructions to (i) enjoin the part of the law relating to renewable power products and (ii) conduct further proceedings on the constitutionality of required customer disclosures. The provisions mandating a price cap on non-renewable power products, limiting price changes throughout the year, restricting energy sales people, and billing customers separately were not impacted by the ruling and remain in effect while the litigation continues.

Regional Regulatory Developments

NRG is affected by rule/tariff changes that occur in the ISO regions. For further discussion on regulatory developments, see Item 1 — Note 15, Regulatory Matters, to the condensed consolidated financial statements.

ERCOT/PUCT

PUCT’s Actions with Respect to Wholesale Pricing and Market Design — The PUCT continues to analyze and implement multiple options for promoting increased reliability in the wholesale electric market, including the adoption of a reliability standard for resource adequacy and market-based mechanisms to achieve this standard. The Commission adopted a reliability standard that became effective in September 2024.

In 2023, the Texas Legislature authorized implementation of the Performance Credit Mechanism (“PCM”), which will measure real-time contribution to system reliability and provide compensation for resources to be available, subject to certain “guardrails” such as an absolute annual net cost cap, as part of its adoption of the PUCT Sunset Bill (House Bill 1500). In December 2024, the PUCT decided to shelve implementation of the PCM indefinitely. The Texas Legislature also directed the PUCT to implement a new ancillary service called Dispatchable Reliability Reserve Service (“DRRS”) to further increase ERCOT’s capability to manage net load variability and firming requirements for new generation resources which penalize poor performance during periods of low grid reserves. In November 2025, ERCOT published an updated design proposal for DRRS that includes the ability for the PUCT to configure it to support resource adequacy through stronger financial incentives for dispatchable thermal generation. In July 2026, the PUCT approved an initial design that does not include a resource adequacy mechanism, but may further refine the final design of DRRS as part of the review of the reliability standard be the end of the year. The PUCT adopted a final rule to implement the firming requirement in December 2025, which requires new generation resources with signed interconnection agreements on or after January 1, 2027, to acquire additional capacity to meet a minimum requirement during low reserve hours on the ERCOT system.

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Texas Energy Fund — Through SB 2627, the Texas Legislature created the TEF, to provide grants and low-interest loans (3%) to incentivize the development of more dispatchable generation and smaller backup generation in ERCOT. The PUCT also adopted a rule for the completion bonus grant program in April 2024, which provides for opportunities for grants of $120,000 per MW for dispatchable generation projects interconnected before June 1, 2026, or $80,000 per MW for dispatchable generation projects interconnected on or after June 1, 2026 but before June 1, 2029, subject to performance requirements. The 89th Texas Legislature passed SB 2268, which separated the 10,000 MW collective cap on the ERCOT loan and grant programs resulting in a 10,000 MW cap for the loan

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Item 7 — Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The discussion and analysis below has been organized as follows:

•Executive Summary, including the business environment in which the Company operates, a discussion of regulation, weather, competition and other factors that affect the business, and other significant events that are important to understanding the results of operations and financial condition;

•Results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, including an explanation of significant differences between the periods in the specific line items of NRG's Consolidated Statements of Operations;

•Liquidity and capital resources including liquidity position, financial condition addressing credit ratings, material cash requirements and commitments, and other obligations; and

•Critical accounting estimates that are most important to both the portrayal of the Company's financial condition and results of operations, and require management's most difficult, subjective, or complex judgments.

As you read this discussion and analysis, refer to NRG's Consolidated Statements of Operations in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which present the results of the Company's operations for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, and also refer to Item 1 — Business to this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more detail discussion about the Company's business. A discussion and analysis of fiscal year 2023 may be found in Part II, Item 7 — Management's Discussion and Analysis of

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Financial Condition and Results of Operations of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.

The following discussion and analysis also contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements relating to NRG’s plans, strategies, objectives, expectations, intentions, and resources. Such forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the disclosures under Item 1A — Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Executive Summary

NRG Energy, Inc., or NRG or the Company, serves electricity, natural gas, and smart-home technology solutions to approximately 8 million residential customers (comprised of 6 million retail energy and 2 million smart home), in addition to large commercial and industrial, data center, and wholesale customers. Across North America, NRG is redefining customers’ experience with energy under brand names such as NRG, Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, and Vivint. As of December 31, 2025 the Company’s core power and natural gas business consists of approximately 12 GW of competitive power generation, primarily in Texas, and a natural gas portfolio that serves approximately 1,900 MMDth annually.

Business Environment

The industry dynamics and external influences affecting the Company, its businesses, and the retail energy and power generation industry in 2025 and for the future medium term include:

Market Dynamics — The price of natural gas plays an important role in setting the price of electricity in many of the regions where NRG operates. Natural gas prices are driven by variables including demand from the industrial, residential, and electric sectors, productivity across natural gas supply basins, costs of natural gas production, changes in pipeline infrastructure, global liquified natural gas demand, exports of natural gas, and the financial and hedging profile of natural gas customers and producers. In 2025, the average natural gas price at Henry Hub was $3.43 per MMBtu compared to $2.27 per MMBtu in 2024, representing an increase of 51%.

NRG may experience impacts to gross margins due to significant, rapid changes in current natural gas prices, the impact those prices have on power prices, and the lag in its ability to make a corresponding adjustment to the retail rates it charges customers on term and month to month contracts. The Company hedges its load commitments in order to mitigate the impact of changes in commodity prices, and as a result, these gross margin impacts would be realized in future periods until it is able to make the corresponding adjustments to the retail customer rates.

The relative price of natural gas as compared to coal and prevailing power prices are the primary driver of coal demand. Coal commodity prices increased slightly in 2025.

Electricity Prices — The price of electricity is a key determinant of the profitability of the Company. Many variables such as the price of different fuels, weather, load growth and unit availability all coalesce to impact the final price for electricity and the Company's profitability. An increase in supply cost volatility in the competitive retail markets may result in smaller companies choosing to exit the market, which may result in further consolidation in the competitive retail space. The following table summarizes average on-peak power prices for each of the major markets in which NRG operates.

(a)Average on-peak power prices based on real time settlement prices as published by the respective ISOs

(b)Average on-peak power prices based on day-ahead settlement prices as published by the respective ISOs

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Load Growth — The electric industry is expected to experience a surge in demand driven primarily by new manufacturing, industrial and data center facilities (inclusive of GenAI). The U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2023 Annual Energy Outlook, combined with external forecasts of GenAI, shows the potential for 500 TWh of incremental load across the U.S. through 2030, as compared to 2023. ERCOT's current long term load forecast shows peak demand increasing from 86 GW in 2024 to 139 GW in 2030. This load growth will require significant planning and construction of new generation and transmission.

Affordability — Rising customer bills, driven by rising regulated transmission and distribution charges along with load growth, have heightened customer and regulatory focus on energy affordability, eliciting evolving discussions regarding market design and frameworks. NRG is monitoring and seeking to address these developments through its customer-focused business strategy and public policy advocacy efforts.

Tariffs — NRG’s business is affected by various macroeconomic factors, including tariffs. The U.S. has implemented, or is considering implementing, higher tariffs on imports into the U.S. Any potential increases in capital and operational expenditures may impact the Company’s procurement and sourcing strategies.

Increased Awareness of, and Action to Combat, Climate Change — Diverse groups of stakeholders, including investors, asset managers, financial institutions, non-government organizations, industry coalitions, individual companies, consumer groups and academic institutions, are increasingly engaged in efforts to limit global warming in the post-industrial era to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Although federal policy in the U.S. has recently shifted towards prioritizing domestic energy production and reducing climate-related regulatory requirements, policymakers and regulators at regional, national, sub-national and local levels of government, both in the U.S. and other parts of the world, remain focused on actions to combat climate change.

NRG actively monitors climate change related developments that could impact its business and regularly engages with a diverse set of stakeholders on these issues. Such engagement helps the Company identify and pursue potential opportunities both to decarbonize its business and better serve its customers. NRG is committed to providing transparent disclosures of its climate risks and opportunities to stakeholders.

Lower Carbon Infrastructure Development — Policy mechanisms at the state and federal level, including production and investment tax credits, cash grants, loan guarantees, accelerated depreciation tax benefits, RPS, and carbon trading plans, have supported and continue to support the development of renewable generation, demand-side and smart grid, and other lower carbon infrastructure technologies. According to ERCOT, 46% of 2025 energy consumption in the ERCOT market was generated from carbon emission-free resources, with wind power contributing 24%. In addition, subsidies and incentives may contribute to increases in renewable power sources, customer awareness and preferences are shifting toward sustainable solutions. Any increase in demand for sustainable energy products from both residential and commercial customers creates opportunities for diversified product offerings in competitive retail markets.

Digitization and Customization — The electric industry is experiencing major technological changes in the way power is distributed and consumed by end-use customers. The electric grid is shifting from a centralized analog system, where power is generated from limited sources and flows in one direction, to a decentralized multidirectional system, where power can be generated from a number of distributed resources and stored or dispatched on an as-needed basis. In addition, customers are seeking new ways to engage with their power providers. Technologies like smart thermostats, smart appliances and electric vehicles are giving individuals more choice and control over their electricity usage. Power providers are starting to engage with customers who have transitioned to smart homes with new offerings, including but not limited to behind-the-meter demand response, or virtual power plant products. Companies with large customer bases in competitive marketplaces are poised to create additional engagement with customers to help further integrate their smart home into their daily lives.

Weather — Weather conditions in the regions of the U.S. in which NRG conducts business influence the Company's financial results. Weather conditions can affect the supply and demand for electricity and fuels and may also impact the availability of the Company's generating assets. Changes in energy supply and demand may impact the price of these energy commodities in both the spot and forward markets, which may affect the Company's results in any given period. Typically, demand for and the price of electricity is higher in the summer and the winter seasons, when temperatures and resultant demand are more extreme. The demand for and price of natural gas is also generally higher in the winter. However, all regions of the U.S. typically do not experience extreme weather conditions at the same time, thus NRG's operations are typically not exposed to the effects of extreme weather in all parts of its business at once.

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Other Factors — A number of other factors significantly influence the level and volatility of prices for energy commodities and related derivative products for NRG's business. These factors include:

•seasonal, daily and hourly changes in demand;

•extreme peak demands;

•performance of renewable generation;

•available supply resources;

•transportation and transmission availability and reliability within and between regions;

•location of NRG's generating facilities relative to the location of its load-serving opportunities;

•procedures used to maintain the integrity of the physical electricity system during extreme conditions; and

•changes in the nature

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