Resurrected Enron Hijinks Gets Serious with New Electric Business

Enron, yes, that infamous Enron, aims to sell retail electricity to Texans this spring more than two decades after its headline-grabbing financial scandal.

The sudden resurrection of Enron late last year in Houston seemed only a satirical hoax—until January, when a very real application was filed with state regulators to start a retail electric provider (REP) as Enron Energy Texas with experienced industry leadership.

Known internet prankster Connor Gaydos, best known for the “Birds Aren’t Real” faux conspiracy theory, is now the CEO of Enron. He bought the Enron trademark for just $275 back in 2020, according to U.S. Patent and Trademark documentation.

Gaydos’ Enron arrived near the end of 2024 with Houston billboards and a flashy website touting, “Enron: We’re back. Can we talk?” He followed with a series of publicity stunts and then a product announcement for “The Egg,” a mini nuclear reactor to power people’s homes—a so-called product that easily exceeds the current boundaries of reality and technology.

But Enron Energy Texas appears much different from a nuclear reactor that sits next to your family.

Energy industry veteran Gregory Forero is the new Enron vice president overseeing Enron Energy Texas and the retail electricity push—first in Texas and then with eyes toward New England and Ohio in 2026, Forero said in an interview with Hart Energy.

Regarding the marketing hijinks of Gaydos, Forero says his part of Enron is “siloed” from the rest and that he sees the added attention as a “great tailwind” for the retail electric business. Gaydos is listed as president and CEO of Enron Energy Texas on the REP application.

An REP sells electricity to consumers via contracts. The business does not require the infrastructure to generate or transmit power.

“We’re extremely serious people. Everything we do on the REP business is to help the ratepayer in Texas,” Forero said. “People want a great user experience, they want to understand their data, they want to own their data and they want the best price.”

Forero has worked for Williams Cos., TXU Energy, Constellation Energy and even UBS from 2007 to 2009 as a director of energy derivatives over legacy Enron trading. After all, UBS bought Enron’s energy trading business out of bankruptcy. In 2013, Forero co-founded and led HGP Storage in Dallas as a grid-scale battery storage and distributed generation company. HGP Storage sold three battery projects in Texas to SER Capital Partners back in 2020.

He said he aims to continue the battery storage business with Enron to help stabilize the Texas grid under the management of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and to reduce prices.

“Connor and his team, they're geniuses, they're big thinkers, and they saw an opportunity to revolutionize this space and—just like we did with batteries—lower costs to Texans. That's my focus,” Forero said. “The only interaction we really have with that marketing group is they're so savvy on things like apps. We're working on providing real-time usage information to people so they can really adjust their behaviors. There's no reason why my electric usage should come by email two weeks later. We’re going to democratize it by getting people their data. That's what the other side of the Enron business is great at is web applications, data messaging.”

The key to Enron Energy will be its digital technology allowing customers to interact with their power usage in real time in order to conserve and save money, he said.

“Starting an REP is something that has always been on my to-do list,” he added. “I did California [electric] deregulation at Williams and then I did ERCOT deregulation at TXU, which was 25 years ago. The REP business is very stagnant. It's very similar to what it was 25 years ago. Part of that is it's one of the few things that you spend a lot of money on where you get the bill a month later. It is not like going into a store and seeing that the price of eggs has gone up, and maybe you'll switch to something else.”

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) docket says it will determine Enron’s application sufficiency by Feb. 10 and then approve or deny the application by April 14. So, the startup of the business is not yet a certainty.

Forero said the goal is to begin accepting electric customers as early as April, but no later than June if there are delays.

The Enron way

Gaydos first entered the public sphere when he teamed with Peter McIndoe—the original creator of the “Birds Aren’t Real” spoof in 2017—to promote the conspiracy and, eventually, in 2024 to co-author the book, “Birds Aren’t Real: The True Story of Mass Avian Murder and the Largest Surveillance Campaign in US History.”

The fake conspiracy theory was an internet campaign that went viral for alleging the government replaced all real birds with drones used to spy on U.S. citizens.

During the pandemic, Gaydos bought the Enron trademark and seemingly sat on it until recently. His listed secondary email for the purchase was connor@birdsarentreal.com. Gaydos has not responded to interview requests.

After the billboard and website launch, there was a seemingly staged pie attack of Gaydos on video that just happened to replicate the time in 1999 when Bill Gates was pied in the face. And then there was a staged town hall and “forgiveness” event between Enron and Houston. An oversized $50,000 check was made out to the “Citizens of Houston.”

After all, the very real Enron scandal in 2001 created an economic crisis and, especially in the Houston area, left many people unemployed and in financial tatters. The Enron name still triggers upsetting memories for much of the citizenry.

But Forero believes people like a good redemption story. Some great companies came out of Enron alumni and assets, and electricity providers such as TXU have dealt with difficult bankruptcies as well. “The story of oil and gas is always rising and falling in the state of Texas. And the people know that. Most Texans have gone through cycles,” he said.

On Jan. 14, Enron Energy Texas filed its REP application with the PUC. Gaydos is listed as CEO with Forero as vice president.

Forero said Enron is undergoing review processes with both the PUC and ERCOT. “It’s flight testing to show that we can read meters, get billing out, all of that. We're following both to the T. There is no shortcutting or anything.”

Forero said he met Gaydos at a conference a few years ago and they hit it off as friends. They stayed in touch and decided, about six months ago, to work together on the REP with some other partners, he added.

“He (Gaydos) has a really sponge-like mind. He really picked up on the power space, which is really impressive,” Forero said. “Power is something that comes out of the two holes in the wall for most people. When you get down to building batteries, you're dealing with 50th order sine curves. Making that leap is impressive and a lot of people can't do it.”

By late January, the new Enron website—immediately next to “The Egg” tab—now dedicates a tab to “Enron Energy Services” and the anticipated electricity provider.

“With Enron, you’re not just getting power—you’re joining a movement to redefine what a power provider can be.”