Crius Energy Trust Announces Three-Year Extension of Exclusive Marketing Partnership with Cincinnati Bell

- Partnership to continue providing 100% green energy solution to Cincinnati Bell customers under the brand Cincinnati Bell Energy -

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR OVER UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES/

TORONTO, May 1, 2013 /CNW/ - Crius Energy Trust (TSX: KWH.UN) ("Crius Energy" or the "Trust"), a leading provider of retail energy across the United States, today announced the three-year extension of the exclusive marketing partnership between Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB) and Crius Energy, LLC ("Crius"), which was effective April, 12, 2013.  With the renewal of this agreement Cincinnati Bell will continue to market green energy through the brand Cincinnati Bell Energy ("CBE").

"The renewal of the relationship signifies the trust and confidence Cincinnati Bell places in Crius to deliver the highest quality products and services to its customers through CBE," said Michael Fallquist, CEO of Crius Energy Trust. "As the first of Crius' telecom partnerships, Cincinnati Bell's ongoing excitement and interest in engagement represents a key milestone showing the sustainability of this business model and this channel. We are pleased to continue to work with a partner of Cincinnati Bell's caliber and expect this will continue to represent a growing segment of the Crius business."

In June of 2011, Crius developed this sales channel, launching green electricity offerings through Cincinnati Bell's inbound call center. The marketing relationship has progressed to include natural gas as well as green electricity options offered through Cincinnati Bell's call center as well as its retail stores.

"Crius, through CBE, has been an effective partnership for Cincinnati Bell as we strive to offer unique, quality products for our customers," said Darrick Zucco, Vice President & General Manager, Cincinnati Bell. "CBE has provided a new channel for growth for Cincinnati Bell, allowing us to add another venue to differentiate our offerings from our competition. The commitment of another three years exhibits the importance of energy as part of our core customer offering. We are proud to continue this association."

Subsequent to developing the first partnership with Cincinnati Bell, Crius expanded this particular sales channel by signing partnerships with additional telecom companies Frontier Communications Corp. (NYSE: FTR) and FairPoint Communications Inc. (NYSE: FRP).

About Cincinnati Bell Energy

Cincinnati Bell Energy is a local provider of affordable, green retail energy. The company provides electricity generated by 100 percent wind power to customers in southwestern Ohio. Cincinnati Bell Energy is a subsidiary of Crius Energy LLC and the company uses the Cincinnati Bell Energy name under a license agreement with Cincinnati Bell, Inc. For more information, visit www.cincinnatibellenergy.com.

About Cincinnati Bell

With headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) provides integrated communications solutions - including local and long distance voice, data, high-speed internet, entertainment and wireless services - that keep residential and business customers in Greater Cincinnati and Dayton connected with each other and with the world. In addition, enterprise customers across the United States rely on Cincinnati Bell for efficient, scalable office communications systems and end-to-end IT solutions. Cincinnati Bell also is the majority owner of CyrusOne (NASDAQ: CONE), which provides best-in-class data center colocation services to enterprise customers through its facilities with fully redundant power and cooling solutions that are currently located in the Midwest, Texas, Arizona, London and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.cincinnatibell.com.

About Crius Energy

Crius Energy has been established to provide investors with a stable and consistent distribution-producing investment through the acquisition of a 26.8% ownership interest in Crius Energy LLC (the "Company"). The Company is one of the largest independent energy retailers operating in the United States, with more than 530,000 residential customer equivalents. The Company serves residential and small to medium-size commercial customers in the United States and markets its products through a variety of sales channels and brand names. The Company currently sells electricity in 11 states and the District of Columbia and natural gas in five states.

Crius Energy intends to qualify as a "mutual fund trust" under the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Tax Act"). The Trust will not be a "SIFT trust" (as defined in the Tax Act), provided that the Trust complies at all times with its investment restriction which precludes the Trust from holding any "non-portfolio property" (as defined in the Tax Act). Material information pertaining to Crius Energy may be found on www.sedar.com or www.criusenergytrust.ca.

SOURCE: Crius Energy Trust

Michael Fallquist
Chief Executive Officer
[phone]

Roop Bhullar
Chief Financial Officer
[phone]

Philip Dale
TMX Equicom
[email protected]
[phone] ext. 253