CONTACT INFORMATION

Enercom
www.enercomusa.com

ATLANTA, GA., October 5, 1999 - Enercom, Inc., the leading provider of Internet-based energy and water utility application software and customer Internet gateways and Derivion, a leader in Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) services, jointly announced a strategic partnership today to provide the country's energy and water providers with a robust suite of services that enables their utility customers to view and pay bills online.

Derivion's suite of turnkey Internet billing services, inetBiller(SM), offers very rapid EBPP deployment with total implementation time of 30 to60 days from contract signing to first bill. inetBiller provides all steps necessary for a complete EBPP implementation, including designing the online bill, setting up the interfaces to an existing billing system, presenting the bills, promoting the service, and launching the process of enrolling customers. Service charges are primarily tied to actual processing with minimal startup costs and low transaction fees.

"We work with energy and water companies that are interested in building customer relationships via the Internet, and enabling online bill paying is clearly a top priority," said Paul Conlan, Enercom's president and CEO. "Our partnership with Derivion gives us the opportunity to add bill presentment and payment to energy Depot® our industry-leading suite of Internet applications. Customers can obtain detailed personal energy and water use reports, shop in the Energy Mall for related products and services, review their annual bill histories and now view their current bills and pay them via Derivion's superior system. Customers can also link from Derivion's electronic bill presentment and payment system to energy Depot to better understand their energy and water costs as well as to receive specific recommendations on ways to Reduce these costs. Derivion enables more than just online bill paying, it provides the spark to really enable enhanced customer relationships and various e-commerce opportunities," said Conlan.

According to Derivion's CEO, Gregory J. Rable, the partnership with Enercom enables both companies to Offer a wider range of Internet-based services. "We are very pleased to be partnering with Enercom," said Rable. "They have the industry knowledge and leading position we were seeking in a partner. As the industry continues to deregulate, we expect that utility executives will become increasingly more aggressive in offering value-added services to retain and attract customers. For many utilities, our EBPP services could be their first foray into the realm of e-commerce on a wide scale, providing customers with the convenience of paying their bills online and reducing costs for the utility at the same time," said Rable.

Derivion, headquartered in Atlanta and with an additional operating data center in Toronto, offers Internet billing services to recurring billers in other industries as well, including telecommunications, cable, insurance, and financial services. Billers in these market segments have not previously had access to affordable and robust Internet billing solutions. An electronic bill can be delivered to a customer for less than 25 percent of the cost of an average paper bill. While customers can choose to Continue to receive a paper bill, write out a check and return the bill via the postal service, a rapidly growing number of consumers prefer electronic billing and payment.

About Enercom
More than 100 energy companies currently use Enercom software to attract, retain, and serve customers in ways that build loyalty, brand equity, and revenue. There are more than 30 Energy Depot Internet software sites being used by energy and/or water companies to establish valuable gateways with their customers. Enercom is headquartered in Atlanta with regional offices in Vermont and Arizona. For more information about Enercom, visit the company's web sites at www.enercomusa.com or www.energydepot.com.

About Derivion
Derivion is an application service provider that offers turnkey electronic bill presentment and payment billing services to small and mid-tier recurring billers in industries such as telecommunications, utility, insurance, and financial services. Derivion's inetBiller(SM) service provides a complete EBPP solution, including online bill design, email notification, bill presentment, payment processing, enrollment marketing, and customer care. The Atlanta-based company was founded in 1998, and maintains research, development, and additional sales offices in Toronto, Canada.

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