AES Ekibastuz Reaches Power Sales Agreement With RAO UES of Russia.

Business Editors

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 21, 2000

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) announced today that AES Ekibastuz concluded an agreement with RAO UES of Russia to sell 300MW of electric power (or 210m kWh per month) from the AES Ekibastuz 4,000 MW coal-fired plant in the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Russian Federation.

This agreement marks the first time power will be exported from the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Russian Federation. The supply of power for RAO UES is due to start on December 30, 2000 and the contract term is one year.

Mr. James Ellison, General Director of AES Ekibastuz, stated, "Kazakhstan is taking steps to export its rich energy resources through oil and gas pipelines. However, another way to export Kazakhstan resources is to deliver power over the existing transmission infrastructure. This contract signing marks not only the beginning of the relationship between AES Ekibastuz and RAO UES, but the beginning of power exports from Kazakhstan."

Mr. Dennis W. Bakke, President and CEO of AES, commented, "Exporting power to Russia is good for both Kazakhstan and for AES. This agreement demonstrates that the interests of investors and the Government are aligned. The arrangement was made possible because of power sector reforms in Kazakhstan. We appreciate the support of the Government of Kazakhstan and look forward to providing low-cost and reliable power from AES Ekibastuz for many years to come."

AES is a leading global power company comprised of competitive generation, distribution and retail supply businesses in Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Georgia, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela.

The company's generating assets include interests in one hundred and thirty nine facilities totaling over 49 gigawatts of capacity. AES's electricity distribution network has over 920,000 km of conductor and associated rights of way and sells over 126,000 gigawatt hours per year to over 17 million end-use customers.

In addition, through its various retail electricity supply businesses, the company sells electricity to over 154,000 end-use customers.

AES is dedicated to providing electricity worldwide in a socially responsible way.

For more general information visit our web site at www.aesc.com or contact investor relations at [e-mail]. The list aes-pr-announce is an automated mailing list and can be found on the investing page of our web site. Those who subscribe to this list will receive updates when AES issues a press release.