Citizens Utilities Elects Rudy J. Graf President and Chief Operating Officer.

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 7, 1999--

Citizens Utilities Company (NYSE: CZN, CZNPr) announced today that its Board of Directors has elected Rudy J. Graf President and Chief Operating Officer, succeeding retiring President and Chief Operating Officer Daryl A. Ferguson.

Most recently, Mr. Graf was President and Chief Operating Officer of Centennial Cellular Corp., a provider of wireless telephone services throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Centennial was created in 1991 by the consolidation of Citizens' cellular telephone interests with those of Century Communications Corp. The CCW Acquisition Corp acquired Centennial in January 1999.

Prior to 1991, Mr. Graf was Regional Vice President of Metromedia Telecommunications. Before that, he spent 13 years with AT&T in a variety of management positions. Mr. Graf earned a B.A. from St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida.

Leonard Tow, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citizens, said, "Rudy's technical and managerial experience in wireline and wireless telecommunications will be of tremendous benefit to Citizens as it evolves into a pure telecommunications company over the coming months. Rudy's financial acumen, operational knowledge and leadership abilities were evidenced by the enormous success of Centennial Cellular, and I am absolutely confident that Citizens, its subsidiary Electric Lightwave, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELIX) and their respective shareholders will benefit from his unique skills."

Mr. Tow added, "In recent months, Citizens has announced agreements to acquire approximately 800,000 telephone access lines. This growth, coupled with Citizens' expected continuing developments and consolidations, make Rudy's experience and success invaluable."

Acknowledging Mr. Ferguson's contributions to Citizens, Mr. Tow said, "Daryl enjoys the respect and admiration of all of the Citizens team. He has sponsored many of the initiatives that have helped to transform Citizens into a cutting-edge company. Along with the rest of the Board of Directors, I want to express our appreciation for his many years of dedicated service and wish him many healthy and happy retirement years." Mr. Tow added that for the near-term, Mr. Ferguson would continue to represent Citizens as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hungarian Telephone and Cable Corp. (AMEX: HTC) and will assist in the transition to Mr. Graf's management.

Citizens Utilities provides telecommunications and public utility services including gas distribution, electric distribution, water distribution and wastewater treatment services to approximately 1.9 million customers in 22 states. Citizens also owns 83% of Electric Lightwave, Inc., a facilities-based, integrated communications provider that offers a broad range of services to telecommunications-intensive businesses throughout the United States.

In September, Citizens announced that it has retained Morgan Stanley Dean Witter as financial advisor to assist with the divestiture of its public services businesses. More information about Citizens can be found at www.czn.net.

This document contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the statements. These and all forward-looking statements are only predictions or statements of current plans that are constantly under review by the company. All forward-looking statements may differ from actual results because of, but not limited to, changes in the local and overall economy, changes in market conditions for debt and equity securities, the nature and pace of technological changes, the number and effectiveness of competitors in the company's markets, success in overall strategy, weather conditions, changes in legal or regulatory policy, changes in legislation, the company's ability to identify future markets and successfully expand existing ones and the mix of products and services offered in the company's target markets. These important factors should be considered in evaluating any statement contained herein and/or made by the company or on its behalf. The foregoing information should be read in conjunction with the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission including, but not limited to, reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. The company does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of future events or circumstances.