For Immediate Release
October 13, 1999

With the proliferation of home offices and their use of computers, faxes and other sensitive electronic products, some consumers need more than the 99.9 percent reliability most electric utilities provide. Residential customers are demanding 100 percent reliability, and to get it they are buying portable electric generators. But until now, they have lacked an economical and safe way to connect a portable generator to their homes.

Pepco is introducing GenerLink™, a new "plug-and-play" device that makes connecting a home generator safe, simple and flexible. GenerLink™ is a collar-shaped device that Pepco technicians can install behind a homeowner` s electric meter in about 30 minutes. During a power outage, the homeowner simply plugs a generator into GenerLink`s™ interconnection port. By switching breakers on the household`s main circuit panel, homeowners can select the appliances they wish to operate during an outage, based on the generator`s electric capacity.

GenerLink™ automatically disconnects the home from the utility`s power grid when a portable generator is operating. It eliminates the hazards of running multiple extension cords to individual appliances and prevents electricity from feeding back into the grid and possibly endangering utility line crews working to restore power.

"Our customer research shows that many electric customers have already purchased generators but lack a convenient, economical and safe way to hook them up," said Brad Johnson, President and Chief Operating Officer of Pepco Technologies, L.L.C.,¹ the Pepco subsidiary that is manufacturing the Generlink™ units. "Generlink™ has solved this problem," Johnson said.

Today, Americans own more than 10 million small portable generators, up 30 percent in six years. An estimated 700,000 to 800,000 portable generators are purchased every year. "These generators are being bought by many more people who work at home, people who just can`t stand to have their schedules disrupted, and those who have come to depend on the growing number of electronic gizmos in their lives," Johnson said.

Pepco is offering Generlink™ to its customers in the Washington area for $9.95 a month, charged to their regular monthly electric bill. Customers can contact the Pepco Solution Center from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday-Friday at (202) 872-2501