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Oracle
www.oracle.com

REDWOOD SHORES, CA, February 1, 1999 - Oracle Corporation today announced Oracle Utility, a complete business application solution for the utilities industry to meet the challenges posed by a rapidly deregulating environment. The company also announced the introduction of Oracle Industrial Billing (OIB), an application tailored to the specialized needs of the wholesale, industrial and large commercial segments of the utilities marketplace.

Oracle Utility is the industry's most complete solution for serving the utilities market, integrating Oracle technology including web-enabled business applications, data management and tools, with a dedicated Utilities consulting group, premier customer support groups, and technical leadership and expertise. Today, more than 70% of the companies in the utilities industry are using Oracle technology to manage their information technology and business needs.

Oracle Industrial Billing is one of 20 plus integrated applications within the Oracle Utility applications suite including financials, human resources, supply chain, strategic procurement and front office/call center. Oracle Industrial Billing employs a customer centric rather than a traditional site centric approach and supports multiple sites, product types and jurisdictions. It also provides for customer-driven billing account groupings.

Oracle Industrial Billing was developed in cooperation with Detroit Edison, an innovator in comprehensive customer care to Fortune 50 industrial enterprises and large numbers of commercial and residential customers. Detroit Edison is a subsidiary of DTE Energy Company and one of the nation's largest investor-owned utilities.

"Our shared vision of the future, long standing relationship, and commitment to Oracle technologies has created a unique partnership between DTE and Oracle," says Paul Childs, division information officer for DTE's Energy Distribution business. "As the utilities marketspace continues to change, we are using the Industrial Billing system to serve our largest, most critical customers."

With Oracle, Detroit Edison has seen major increases in productivity. For example, the time for setting up new rates and putting them into production has been reduced from months to days. Additionally, there is increased flexibility to accommodate customer needs regarding contracts and negotiations.

"Customer care and customer retention are becoming key business differentiators for utility companies," said Chuck Sheridan, group vice president for the Oracle Utilities Industry Practice. "Oracle will allow customers to tailor their relationship with the utility to meet their personal or business needs. This will provide utilities with a solid foundation for attracting, serving and retaining customers in an increasingly competitive environment."

Available to both traditional regulated and deregulated marketplaces, Oracle Industrial Billing features support for current regulated rate schedules and customer-specific competitive market based pricing. It also features a task manager that facilitates the recording of spot market supply purchases, short interval usage capture and posting, and permits the calculation of charges as soon as the relevant pricing and usage information is available. This approach makes it possible to supply customer with current usage and cost information required to make supply purchase and plant operation decisions.

About Oracle
Oracle Corporation is the world's leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest independent software company. With annual revenues of more than $8.0 billion, the company offers its database, tools and application products, along with related consulting, education, and support services, in more than 145 countries around the world.

About Detroit Edison
Detroit Edison is an investor-owned electric utility serving more than two million customers in Southeastern Michigan. The utility is the principal operating subsidiary of DTE Energy Co., a diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related business and services nationwide.

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