Banking on Energy Savings: Sempra Energy Solutions Inks Contract With Union Bank of California; Company to Provide Energy Information Services for 250 Bank Sites.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 4, 1999--

Sempra Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, today announced a one-year energy services agreement with Union Bank of California, the third-largest commercial bank in California.

Under the agreement, Sempra Energy Solutions will manage the energy information and billing activities for 250 Union Bank of California branch offices and corporate facilities throughout California, Nevada and Oregon, providing billing and information management services guaranteed to generate cost savings of up to 5 percent. Sempra Energy Solutions will employ Encharge(TM), its energy information service designed for multi-site businesses, to receive and review all invoices, verify utility charges, conduct rate analysis, resolve billing errors and make payments for all 250 Union Bank of California locations.

Additionally, Sempra Energy Solutions will forecast energy usage trends by analyzing and summarizing monthly utility bills and identify opportunities to implement energy-efficiency projects.

"Competition in the financial services industry increased consolidation in our sector and compelled us to look for new ways to streamline operations and reduce overhead costs across the board," said Jim Welty, senior vice president, corporate real estate for Union Bank of California. "Under energy deregulation, we launched an aggressive search for a new energy services provider. After meeting with Sempra Energy Solutions, we realized that we need to assemble more comprehensive information about our energy usage throughout the three states in which we operate, then analyze it thoroughly, so that we can make the right choices in the deregulated energy marketplace."

According to Welty, Encharge will reduce the administrative workload associated with processing and paying 606 utility bills from 117 different utilities on a monthly basis. In addition to electricity and natural gas, Sempra Energy Solutions will review water and sewer utility bills.

"We feel confident this new partnership will deliver long-term value to Union Bank of California," said Donald E. Felsinger, group president of unregulated affiliates for Sempra Energy. "The financial services industry continues to expand in scale, making the control of energy costs amidst ever-changing tariff laws even more difficult. We look forward to providing Union Bank of California with better information on its energy usage that the company can translate into bottom-line savings."

Based in San Francisco, UnionBanCal Corp. (NYSE:UB) is a bank holding company with assets of $32.4 billion at June 30, 1999. Its primary subsidiary is Union Bank of California, N.A., the third largest commercial bank in California, and among the 30 largest commercial banks in the United States.Union Bank of California has 241 banking offices in California, six banking offices in Oregon and Washington, and has 18 international facilities. The UBOC web site is located at www.uboc.com.

Sempra Energy Solutions markets a broad range of innovative energy services and products to the commercial, industrial and residential markets. Sempra Energy Solutions is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE), a Fortune 500 energy services holding company, based in San Diego, with 12,000 employees, revenues of $5.5 billion and more than 6 million electric and gas meters serving 21 million consumers.

Sempra Energy Solutions is not the same company as San Diego Gas & Electric/Southern California Gas, the utilities. Sempra Energy Solutions is not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, and customers do not have to buy Sempra Energy Solutions' products or services to continue to receive quality regulated service from the utilities.