GPU, Inc. Chairman Supports Call for State Legislation Parity in Substance Abuse Coverage.

MORRISTOWN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 1999--Fred D. Hafer, chairman, president and chief executive officer of GPU, Inc. (NYSE:GPU) a $4.2 billion revenue electric utility today came out strongly in support of full "parity" legislation for the state of New Jersey that would also provide medical insurance coverage for alcoholism and addictive disorders as well as mental disorders.

Hafer, who has been extremely active in anti-substance abuse programs as a former chairman of Drug-Free Pennsylvania and a current member of the Board of Trustees of the Caron Foundation, a nonprofit addiction rehabilitation facility, expressed concern that bills currently before the New Jersey General Assembly only support added insurance coverage for mental disorders.

"While I applaud the legislature's good work in bringing mental disorders under insurance coverage, I am very concerned that they have not dealt with a much more pervasive problem - that of chemical dependency," said Hafer. "As a businessperson who has seen first hand the effect of chemical dependency on the individual, their family, friends and co-workers and the business for which they work, I can say with certainty that the cost of ignoring the problem is intolerable."

Hafer testified before a United States Senate Subcommittee hearing on Drug Addiction and Recovery in March 1998, that according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 10 percent of the American work force has a chemical dependency problem. He said that if those statistics were applied to GPU it would mean that substance abuse would cost GPU and its subsidiaries $10 million a year.

"The answer is treatment and that means we must have insurance coverage. For those who are concerned about the effect on insurance rates, I would point out that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates the average premium increase for full mental health and substance abuse coverage to be 3.6 percent. Addiction coverage accounted for two tenths of one percent of that total," added Hafer. "The message is clear we must have insurance coverage for chemical dependency and I urge the Senate and Assembly to create real parity by adding chemical dependency to their bills."

GPU, Inc., headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey is a registered utility holding company. GPU's three domestic operating utility subsidiaries--Jersey Central Power and Light Company, Metropolitan Edison Company and Pennsylvania Electric Company--are doing business under the trade name of GPU Energy, and serve approximately two million customers in a service area encompassing about half the land areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. GPU's other subsidiaries include: GPU Advanced Resources, Inc.; GPU International, Inc.; GPU Generation, Inc.; GPU Nuclear, Inc.; GPU Service, Inc.; and GPU Telcom Services, Inc. (http://www.gpu.com)