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For Immediate Release Rockland Electric’s Eastern Division Joins PJM Interconnection Transfer aids ’s transition to customer choice

(Valley Forge, PA – Feb. 26, 2002) On March 1, PJM will expand to include Rockland Electric Company’s Eastern Division in Bergen County, NJ. PJM will control electric transmission in the division, which will become part of PJM’s wholesale electric markets.

The addition of the new area is the first to the PJM control area since 1966 when Potomac Electric Power Company joined PJM.

The pending implementation of PJM West will further expand PJM by creating a new control area and extending the existing mid-Atlantic energy market. Initially, PJM West will include Allegheny Power’s transmission system in , , , and .

Rockland’s Eastern Division serves about 400 megawatts of load. It does not include any generating capacity. The division is directly interconnected with facilities controlled by PJM through a 345-kilovolt transmission line.

The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has controlled the Eastern Division’s transmission system. NYISO agreed to and coordinated the transfer of control to PJM. A PJM staff analysis concluded that the transfer would meet electric reliability criteria. Rockland’s two other, smaller divisions are not interconnected with PJM-controlled facilities. They will remain in NYISO.

In approving the transfer, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agreed that the change would facilitate Rockland’s ability to participate in New Jersey utilities’ auction of Basic Generation Service load. FERC approved the transfer in December 2001.

New Jersey’s four electric distribution companies conducted an auction to meet the electric demands of retail customers who have not selected an alternative electric supplier and to make Basic Generation Service available on a competitive basis. The auction was part of New Jersey’s transition to electric retail choice. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved the auction results February 15, 2002.

(more) Page 2 of 2/ Rockland Electric’s Eastern Division Joins PJM Interconnection

Rockland is a subsidiary of Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. Before March 2002, Rockland had been the only New Jersey electric utility that was not a member of PJM.

PJM, the country’s only fully functioning RTO, operates the world’s largest competitive wholesale and one of North America’s largest power grids. The company currently coordinates a pooled generating capacity of more than 59,000 megawatts and operates a wholesale electricity market with more than 200 market buyers, sellers and traders of electricity. PJM has administered more than $6.5 billion in energy and energy service trades since the regional markets opened in 1997. More than 70 nations have sent delegates to PJM to learn about the market model and the operation of the grid in the mid-Atlantic states, including all or parts of PA, NJ, MD, DE, VA and the District of Columbia. Visit PJM at www.pjm.com.

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