Excelergy Releases Newest Version of Advanced Billing Software; ABP 3000 Version 3.3 Increases Capabilities to Meet Demands of Deregulated Energy Market.

Business/Technology Editors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2000

Excelergy Corporation, the Cambridge, MA-based maker of software technology for the deregulated energy industry, today announced the release of the newest version of its advanced billing and customer care software, ABP(TM) (Advanced Billing Platform) 3000 version 3.3.

&uot;In order to compete and succeed in a deregulated environment, energy companies must excel in customer acquisition and retention, billing and customer maintenance,&uot; said Jay Sherry, vice president of marketing at Excelergy. &uot;And utilizing a web-enabled, highly scalable systems developed with object-oriented technology is necessary for the continued growth of a business in this deregulated market. Excelergy's ABP 3000 provides energy participants with the tools necessary to differentiate themselves from their competitors, attract and retain large numbers of potential customers and cross-sell additional products and services for new revenue channels.

The following are just some of the new benefits of version 3.3 built upon ABP 3000's highly flexible, robust, and multi-jurisdictional billing and customer care system. The system provides energy suppliers and marketers access to larger market bases by enabling customer acquisition from multiple states in a more cost-efficient manner.

-    Enhanced and more robust EBT Manager (supports new Electronic
     Data Interchange (EDI) and eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
     electronic business transaction sets)

-    Advanced &uot;bundling&uot; capability (facilitating companies to bill
     for both energy and non-energy products and services together on
     one bill)

-    New direct debit payment capabilities (enabling your customer to
     pay directly from their checking account)

-    Improved credit &collections (C&) processing

-    Scalability enhancements(a)

-    Effective dating in user-defined fields (allows user to track
     changes to user-defined fields over time)

-    Enhanced mass data import capabilities (fully XML-enabled)

-    Enhanced gas bill pro-rating, aggregating, nominations billing,
     and deal rating

-    Batch scheduler (for after-hours processing)

ABP 3000 version 3.3 is a complex billing system capable of handling all back office and foundational CSR (customer service representative) functions, giving users effective control over customer relationships. It is designed to interface with software systems - both in-house and third party - that support sales and marketing strategies as well as forecasting and settlement requirements. The complex rating engine, which accommodates index based pricing, aggregation, and rating groups, also provides users with the flexibility and capability to maximize their customer acquisition and risk management efforts.

&uot;Integrating these functions within the ABP 3000 customer-centric structure should leave no doubt that the philosophy behind Excelergy's product development is solely to support the deregulated business model,&uot; said Cary Bullock, president of Excelergy.

This new upgrade will be available beginning February 14, 2000.

ABOUT EXCELERGY

Excelergy is a deregulating energy marketplace's leading provider of Web-based customer information and transaction management technology. From developing innovative, scalable billing software platforms, to advocating open standards(b) for electronic business transactions, to offering e-ChoiceNet, an Internet auction site for retail energy procurement, Excelergy is working to give energy companies a competitive advantage in the New Energy Economy. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, Excelergy also has offices in Santa Monica, CA and Atlanta, GA.

(a) Excelergy recently set a deregulated energy industry benchmark by

scaling to 10 million customers using seven realistic electronic

business transactions (EBT's) at IBM's Netfinity Teraplex Center

in Durham, North Carolina.

(b) Open standards: Excelergy is the first company to publish and

donate XML-based (eXtensible Markup Language) standard electronic

business transactions to the public domain for use by the

deregulated energy industry. Based on EDI-based standard

electronic business transactions, PIPE (Partner Interface Process

for Energy) is a framework for XML/Internet based communications.

As an early contributor and sponsor of XML PIPE (Partner

Interface Process for Energy), Excelergy is committed to the

advancement of open standards and customer choice within the

deregulated energy industry.