David Wiggs Jr. Named Interim GM Of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Business/News Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2001

LADWP Veteran Frank Salas Promoted to Chief Operating Officer;

Will Serve as Acting General Manager Until May 1

The Board of Water and Power Commissioners today appointed David H. Wiggs Jr. as interim general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, replacing S. David Freeman.

Wiggs will oversee the agency for a five-month period beginning May 1. During Wiggs' term, the incoming mayoral administration and commission will launch a nationwide search to permanently fill the general manager's position.

Also today, commissioners promoted Frank Salas to chief operating officer of the nation's largest municipal utility, touting Salas' longtime service to the LADWP and his extensive experience in overseeing government, legislative and public affairs work for the Department.

"The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, thanks to sound management and planning, is in excellent shape, with plenty of power, a reduced debt load and stable rates. David Wiggs, through his extensive utility experience and knowledge of the Department, will help keep momentum moving forward to the benefit of the more than 3.8 million people served by the LADWP," said Kenneth T. Lombard, president of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners.

Wiggs, president and prinicipal of DHW Consulting Inc., in Newport Beach, served briefly as a consultant to the LADWP in 1997 as the municipal utility prepared to compete in the state's deregulated market.

A utility regulatory lawyer with an undergraduate degree in finance, Wiggs previously served as chairman, chief operating officer and president of El Paso Electric Company, engineering the troubled investor-owned utility's turnaround in the early 1990s. In that role, he dealt extensively with regulatory issues at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and with Public Utility Commissions in Texas and New Mexico.

As a consultant, Wiggs has also provided services to Pasadena Water and Power, Southern California Edison, Green Mountain Power Company and the State of California. Since January of this year, he has been serving as chief energy adviser to California Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks).

At the LADWP, Wiggs will oversee an agency with more than 7,500 employees and 1.4 million residential and business customers in the city of Los Angeles.

Salas, Chief of Staff to Freeman, will serve as acting general manager until Wiggs comes on board May 1. Lombard said Salas' promotion to chief operating officer befits the 30-year utility industry veteran's experience with the LADWP.

"Salas possesses a unique understanding of LADWP operations at a critical time in the energy industry, and his strong relationships with City Hall and the California Legislature are a plus for the Department in this transition," Lombard said.

During the California energy crisis, the LADWP has provided uninterrupted power to its customers at stable rates. At the same time, the LADWP has reduced from $4.1 billion to $1.26 billion its stranded debt load, while generating revenue for the city in surplus power sales to the state.

For more information about the Department, log on to www.ladwp.com