For Immediate Release
December 21, 1999

Potomac Electric Power Company (NYSE: POM) today applauded the City Council`s enactment of customer choice legislation that will allow District of Columbia residents to shop for electricity suppliers.

"The law is a good basis for introducing competition in the District and recognizes the merits of Pepco`s settlement agreement pending before the District's Public Service Commission," said Pepco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John M. Derrick, Jr. Derrick explained that the pending settlement details the implementation of competition and the company`s planned sale of its electric generating plants.

"The new customer choice law will benefit the people of Washington by giving consumers the same opportunities as those in neighboring states," Derrick said.

The legislation also creates a trust fund to aid low-income customers and to encourage the use of electricity from renewable sources such as that produced by wind and solar power. The City Council`s legislation must be approved by the Mayor and the D.C. Control Board. It is then forwarded to Congress for a waiting period of 30 legislative days before it becomes law.

Pepco serves nearly 220,000 customers in the District and 472,000 in the Maryland suburbs.