GPU CEO, JCP&L president, see electric industry of the future focusing on customer choice.

PARSIPPANY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1995--The successful electric companies of the future will focus their attention on customer choice, the chief executive of General Public Utilities Corp. said today.

"GPU will be a leader as we usher in a new, more highly competitive electric energy marketplace," said James R. Leva, who is also GPU's chairman and president. "The heart of GPU's vision is the customer, and the many choices we will offer."

In a filing that will be submitted Friday with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), GPU emphasized in a statement of five principles that GPU's vision of the future of the electric industry depends on an orderly and expeditious transition period between the current regulatory environment and the one that will embrace the more competitive arena of the future. Besides the necessary orderly transition, the other principles are customer choice, fairness to all constituencies, environmental stewardship and maintaining system reliability.

"GPU is actively shaping the future -- ours and the industry's -- and our filing with the BPU attests to our commitment to be a leading force in the development of a fully competitive energy market," Leva said.

The filing responds to BPU's Energy Master Plan for the future, a long-term framework for the structure of the electric utility industry in New Jersey. The filing will be made by Jersey Central Power & Light Co. (JCP&L), GPU's New Jersey operating utility subsidiary.

Dennis Baldassari, president and chief operating officer of JCP&L, said, "While many changes have occurred -- and will continue to occur -- in our business, there will be one constant: the need to supply the customer with fairly priced, reliable electric service."

Leva added that sustaining a high level of system reliability and a continuing commitment to the environment would also be part of the energy environment of the future.

Bridging the current energy landscape and the more competitive future is a commitment to fairness, a value Leva termed crucial to a successful transition.

"When I say fairness, I mean fairness for all parties involved in the process -- customers, investors and competitors," Leva said. "We must insure that all customers share the benefits of competition, and we must insure continued universal access to basic electric service, especially for low-income customers. All competitors must be given an opportunity to compete fairly. As for our investors, we must be able to recover stranded costs, that is, investments and contract commitments that we have made on the customers' behalf," Leva said.

Leva pointed out that no single model for the future exists, nor would it be desirable at this time to use just one.

"Flexibility will be critical. A company that digs in its heels will not succeed," Leva said. "Just as the customers will continually ask for more options, we must become more adept at providing them. We will need to find new solutions to new problems."

GPU's focus on the future recognizes one historical element that will serve as an additional bridge to a more competitive energy marketplace: the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection, or PJM Pool.

"We believe that the future energy environment will best be served by a pool-based concept, or Independent System Operator (ISO). Our long experience with the PJM Pool has meant significant savings for customers of the region, not to mention a high degree of system reliability.

"We fully intend to take advantage of the successes of the PJM Pool and use what we've learned from our experience with it to help shape the future," Baldassari said.

While the recognition of all constituencies is important to the success of the transition to a more competitive energy marketplace, the heart of GPU's vision for the future is the customer.

Baldassari said, "Our focus on the customer will yield, over time, meaningful choice of services, pricing and suppliers.

"The new markets will require that we listen carefully to the customers, the suppliers and competitors. Providing all with new choices will be one of our biggest challenges," Baldassari said.

GPU is a registered holding company. Its three operating utility subsidiaries -- JCP&L, Metropolitan Edison and Pennsylvania Electric -- provide electric service to some 1.9 million customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Other subsidiaries are GPU Service Corp., GPU Nuclear Corp. and Energy Initiatives Inc., which invests in, operates and develops nonutility generation facilities both domestically and abroad.

CONTACT: General Public Utilities Corp.

John T. Fidler, 201/263-6479

201/328-8494 (home)