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CAMBRIDGE, MA., January 3, 2001 - BUSINESS WIRE - USPowerSolutions, the leading provider of customer-centric, enterprise-wide solutions for the deregulated energy marketplace, announces today the appointment of James C. Schaffer as the company's new Vice President of Professional Services. Prior to USPowerSolutions, Mr. Schaffer was the Vice President of CIS Systems for Teldata Solutions, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of National Grid Group, PLC, of the United Kingdom), a provider of automatic meter reading hardware and software systems, data collection services and Customer Information Systems (CIS) for billing.

"We are delighted to have Jim join our senior management team," said Alex Kanuth, USPowerSolutions' President. "Jim has over 25 years of management consulting and software development experience with energy companies and government entities. His knowledge of billing and metering systems will provide our customers with great advantages especially in the areas of functionality and cost-effectiveness. We look forward to Jim's perspectives and his consultative approach to the challenges that our customer's face in today's marketplace."

As Vice President, Mr. Schaffer will be responsible for the company's professional services organization and how it is deployed within the overall service offerings of USPowerSolutions. He will work with our customers to make sure that their business processes are aligned with their business strategies so that better defined and targeted customer infrastructure can be executed.

According to Mr. Schaffer, "This is a very exciting time to be in the energy industry. As the deregulated energy market unfolds, the need for energy providers to find new ways to keep costs under control and stay focused on their strengths is a growing market. USPowerSolutions has taken a bold and innovative step toward a longer-term vision that provides the only solution that competitive energy providers need as they move forward in this marketplace. From my experience, energy companies relying on single product solutions tied together or solutions that were built for the regulated market will find it very difficult, if not impossible, to adapt quickly with the ever changing market demand. USPowerSolutions energy platform is flexible and adaptable to the changes that are occurring from both the regulatory and technological perspectives."

Mr. Schaffer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University. His understanding of the energy marketplace coupled with how to meld these technologies within the company's overall business strategy has helped clients excel in the areas of customer care, billing, load forecasting, automatic meter reading and other related areas of deregulation.

About USPowerSolutions
USPowerSolutions is the leading Business Service Provider (BSP) of customer-centric, enterprise-wide solutions for the deregulating energy marketplace. Our product provides energy companies with a single integrated point of access to best-of-breed providers across the entire commodity supply chain. Using an innovative and proprietary technology platform and a unique application delivery method, USPowerSolutions is able to very rapidly deploy world-class enterprise information systems that are cost effective, easy to manage, and highly flexible. USPowerSolutions' customers include some of the most innovative energy companies in North America. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, USPowerSolutions can be accessed via the Web at .

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