ALSTOM ESCA Wins Contract At Ontario Hydro Services Company.

Business Editors, Energy Writers

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2000

ALSTOM ESCA (NYSE:ALS) was awarded a contract from Ontario Hydro Services Company (OHSC) to provide a Transmission Network Management System, the company announced today.

A Transmission Network Management System combines the functions of a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system with the transmission network analysis functions of an Energy Management System. The first phase focuses on the implementation of the network analysis functions and will allow OHSC to be operationally ready for the start of Ontario's open access electricity market scheduled for November 7, 2000.

"We are on an aggressive schedule to deliver this product," says Randy Berry, Account Manager at ALSTOM ESCA. "Because of our partnership with OHSC and its highly-skilled work force, this goal is achievable."

The Transmission Network Management System will be the key computing component of OHSC's Integrated Transmission Operating Facilities (ITOF) which monitors and operates the transmission system for the province of Ontario. The ITOF is a new centralized architecture that will allow OHSC to move forward with amalgamation of its existing operating centers.

"Our objective is to dramatically increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our transmission operating function by providing our operating staff with powerful new operating tools," said Ian Bradley, Manager of Operating Facilities and Tools at OHSC. "The integrated platform supplied by ALSTOM ESCA is critical to achieving this."

Ontario Hydro Services Company is one of the successor companies to Ontario Hydro, and was formed as a part of a major restructuring of Ontario's electricity industry. OHSC officially began in April 1999 and is an electricity transmission and distribution, telecom, and energy services company. Through its subsidiaries, it owns and operates Ontario's high voltage transmission system transporting electricity to large industrial customers and municipal utilities, low voltage distribution facilities that serve 930,000 retail customers and smaller municipal utilities in the province, and a province wide telecom system. OHSC has approximately 5,600 full-time employees at facilities and offices throughout Ontario.

ALSTOM ESCA, based in Bellevue, Washington, pioneered the development of product-based, real-time control systems for electric utilities and markets its products to utilities and other industries worldwide. ALSTOM ESCA is a subsidiary of ALSTOM, a world leader in the energy and transport infrastructure markets.

ALSTOM is organized into six sectors that are supported by the ALSTOM Network: Energy, Transmission and Distribution, Transport, Power Conversion, Marine, and Contracting. ALSTOM offers a complete range of systems, components, and services covering design and manufacture, as well as commissioning and long-term maintenance, and has unique expertise in systems integration and management of turnkey projects. Present in 60 countries, ALSTOM now directly employs 92,000 people.

The Company is listed on the New York (NYSE:ALS), Paris, and London stock exchanges.