CVPS plans purchase of Rochester Electric Light & Power.

RUTLAND, Vt. -- Central Vermont Public Service (NYSE: CV) will purchase the assets and franchise territory of Rochester Electric Light and Power under a deal announced today, which will reduce rates for the smaller company's customers, and allow CVPS to spread fixed costs over a larger customer base.

Rochester Electric owners, Tom and Sandy Pierce, have agreed to sell their utility property and Rochester's share of the Hydro-Quebec contract to CVPS. If approved by the Vermont Public Service Board, the sale would reduce a typical Rochester customer's yearly residential bill by 6.6 percent. The companies hope to close the sale around June 1 or shortly thereafter.

Rochester Electric residential and small commercial customers currently pay winter-summer rates, which average $72.84 per month for a residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours of energy. As a CVPS customer with the same usage, the bill would fall to $68.01 per month. The winter-summer changes would be eliminated.

CVPS's new customers will also be covered by the company's SERVE Standards, a series of 17 standards that measure everything from reliability to customer service, and are reported to state regulators. SERVE stands for Serving Everyone with Reliability, Value and Excellence.

"The deals makes good sense for Rochester Electric, CVPS, and the customers," Tom Pierce and CVPS President Bob Young said in a joint statement.

"We've truly enjoyed providing service to our friends and neighbors, and we're leaving them in capable hands," Pierce said.

Pierce and his wife Sandy plan to retire after the sale is completed, although CVPS is retaining Tom Pierce as a consultant to assist in the transition. Rochester Electric's one employee, a lineman, will be offered a comparable position at CVPS.

Young said the purchase, though small, would help CVPS grow its customer base, a fact he said was important in a rural service territory that has seen very slow growth in recent years.

"CVPS's growth is predicated in large part on investments in the core business," Young said. "Our territory grows very slowly, but this customer base complements our territory, which surrounds it."

CVPS, founded in 1929, is Vermont's largest electric utility, serving about 151,000 customers. Rochester Electric Light and Power was created in 1897, and serves approximately 900 customers.

Forward-Looking Statements 

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