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BEND, OR., August 3, 2000 - Orcom Solutions, the leading provider of customer information and billing services to the utility industry, today announced its contract toperform a fast-track implementation of its Enterprise Customer Information System (E-CIS) to serve two members of Citizens Energy Services, Arizona Gas and Colorado Gas. The two companies, with more than 120,000 customers, are in need of a new CIS solution by November 1, 2000. Orcom's ASP approach, with its infrastructure already in place, will have the solution implemented and operational in just over three months.

"Many issues contributed to a situation where we had to Move fast," said Dan McCarthy, VP Arizona Energy Operations. "One of our sister companies, The Gas Company of Hawaii, has been an Orcom customer for years. They advised us that the Orcom application could meet out functional needs and the Orcom ASP model could help us meet our compressed project timeline. With the multitude of utility holdings at Citizens, our team is familiar with most CIS systems in the market. As a result of that familiarity, once we looked at E-CIS, and learned about the ASP, it was easy for us to make our decision. The Orcom team recognized our dilemma, and they have moved fast to help resolve it. We reached a contractual agreement on Friday and began implementation the following Monday."

In addition to the ASP package, Orcom will also provide business process management (BPM) services including bill print and mail, remittance processing, and credit and collections -- allowing Arizona Energy to further focus on its core competency of providing natural gas to the citizens of Arizona and Colorado. Consistent with Orcom's other ASP/BPM clients, the companies' service level expectations are defined within and guaranteed by detailed service level agreements; thus ensuring Orcom's approach is low risk.

With the project's go-live date set for November 1, 2000, the implementation teams have been organized, and work has begun. "While an implementation timeframe less than four months is atypical for this industry, Orcom's track record for fast implementations, their organized delivery approach, combined with our dedicated team, gives us confidence in the project's success," said Brian Herzog, Arizona Gas Project Manager.

"The era of lengthy and expensive implementations is drawing to a close," said Drew Child, Orcom's President and Chief Operating Officer. "With the ASP model, we work fast and smart to get our clients live and just as hard to ensure their continued satisfaction with our service."

About Arizona Gas and Colorado Gas
Arizona Gas and Colorado Gas, owned by Citizens Communications, formerly known as Citizens Utilities, provide natural gas toover 120,000 customers throughout the states of Arizona and Colorado. Both companies are dedicated to finding new ways to provide quality service to their customers. For additional information about Arizona Gas or Colorado Gas, visit their web site at www.citizensaz.com.

About Orcom Solutions
Orcom Solutions, Inc., is the premier Application Service Provider (ASP) of billing and customer care solutions, systems integration and outsourcing services to the utility and energy industry. With over 1.4 million outsourced bills, Orcom is the largest ASP for utility and energy bills in the industry. Headquartered in Bend, Oregon, with an office in Denver, Colorado, and a service delivery facility in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Orcom currently has more than 530 employees. Orcom is a LiveWire Utilities company. LiveWire is a diversified software and Internet company focused on business-to-business and mission critical software and products and services for media, telecom, utility, and Internet companies.

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