For Immediate Release
January 8, 2001

Potomac Electric Power Company (NYSE: POM) today completed the sale of its 9.7 percent interest in the Conemaugh Generating Station near Johnstown, Pa. to Allegheny Energy, Inc. and

PPL Corporation for $156 million.

"This completes the divestiture of our generating assets in Pepco`s transformation from a regulated, integrated electric utility into a diversified telecommunications and energy services company," said John M. Derrick, Jr., Pepco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "And with the sale of the Company`s four major power plants to Southern Energy, Inc. last month, neither the Company nor its customers will be exposed to the kind of electricity price increases seen recently in the California energy market."

Derrick explained that also in December, Pepco signed a four-year contract with Southern Energy, Inc. to buy back the power its customers need at prices below Pepco`s current average cost of production.

The four, wholly owned power plants and other related generating assets, which Pepco sold for $2.75 billion, are located in Maryland and Virginia and have a combined capacity of 5,200 megawatts. Pepco`s interest in the 1,711 megawatt, coal-fired Conemaugh totaled 166 Mw. The Company retains ownership in its two power plants in the District of Columbia (806 Mw), while Southern Energy operates them.

Pepco (www.pepco.com) is an investor-owned utility that delivers electricity to more than 700,000 customers in Washington, D.C. and the Maryland suburbs. Through its family of subsidiaries, Pepco also operates in the competitive arenas of telecommunications and energy products and services in the mid-Atlantic region.

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Information contained in the press release may include forward-looking statements, which should be considered in light of the risks inherent in the company`s business, as discussed in the company`s public documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.