RELEASE DATE                                       NEWS RELEASE
June 22, 1999                                      FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
                                                   Barbara Thirstrup, Manager
                                                   Governmental & Public Affairs
                                                   (605)348-1700
                                                   bbthirst@bh-corp.com


        Black Hills Corporation Agrees to Five-Year Electric Rate Freeze

Rapid City,  SD--Black Hills Power and Light,  the electric  utility  operations
company  of Black  Hills  Corporation,  agreed  today at a South  Dakota  Public
Utilities  Commission  hearing to freeze  electric  rates until January 1, 2005,
barring extraordinary circumstances. Black Hills Power had frozen electric rates
in 1995 when the  company's  new power  plant,  Neil Simpson II, was placed into
service; and that rate freeze is scheduled to end January 1, 2000.

     "The  additional  five-year  rate  freeze for Black Hills Power `s electric
customers  confirms  Black Hills  Corporation's  commitment  to customers in the
Black Hills  region--just as our bringing  state-of-the  art  telecommunications
through Black Hills FiberCom," said Dan Landguth,  President and Chief Executive
Officer of Black Hills Corporation. "We live and work with our customers, and we
want to do what we can to provide  reliable  electric  service  and  competitive
telecommunications infrastructure in the Black Hills area."

     "Our  electric  rates  are  below  the  national  average,  and,  for  most
customers,  the lowest in the Black Hills region," said Everett Hoyt,  President
and  Chief  Operating  Officer  of  Black  Hills  Power.  "We're  proud  of  our
performance in bringing  low-cost  electricity  to our customers.  Because BHP's
electric  rates will be frozen  over a ten-year  period  while the costs of most
other goods and services will have increased due to inflation,  BHP's  customers
will actually  experience an  inflation-adjusted  decline of about 30 percent in
the cost of their  electricity  over this period.  We'll continue to explore new
ways to operate more  efficiently,  while  providing  excellent  local  customer
service."

     "We  recognize  that as a result of  electricity  deregulation  and  retail
competition in California and the Southwest,  wholesale  electricity  prices are
increasing,"  said Hoyt.  "Black Hills Corporation has already formed a separate
subsidiary  to construct  and acquire  power  supply  resources to sell in those
wholesale markets. A number of recent studies have shown that electric costs are
likely to increase in low-cost,  rural  regions such as South Dakota and Wyoming
if retail  competition  is introduced in those states,  because  low-cost  power
supply  resources  presently  used to serve those  customers  will be placed for
auction to bidders in other  regions who are willing to pay higher  prices."

     "As we position Black Hills  Corporation to compete in those  higher-priced
wholesale  electric markets,  we want to make a public commitment to Black Hills
Power's  electric  customers that we will maintain our low-cost power  resources
for their benefit, ensuring that their electric rates will remain stable for the
next five years while the electric industry sorts through the retail competition
pricing puzzle," said Hoyt.

     During  the  freeze  period,  the  Company  is  undertaking  some  risks of
generating plant outages, customer load loss, increased fuel and purchased power
costs,  inflation,  and other unexpected events; however, the rate freeze may be
lifted if certain significant extraordinary events occur.

     Black  Hills  Power  and  Light   (http://www.blackhillspower.com)  is  the
electric  utility  of Black  Hills  Corporation,  an energy  and  communications
company  headquartered in Rapid City. Black Hills Corporation  supplies electric
utility service to over 56,000  customers in western South Dakota,  northeastern
Wyoming,  and southeastern  Montana through Black Hills Power and Light; markets
communications services in Rapid City and the Northern Black Hills through Black
Hills  FiberCom;  engages in the  mining and sale of coal from its mine  located
near Gillette,  Wyoming through Wyodak Resources  Development  Corp.;  produces,
explores,  and  operates  oil and gas  interests  located in the Rocky  Mountain
region,   Texas,   Louisiana,   Oklahoma  and  California  through  Black  Hills
Exploration and Production;  markets natural gas, oil, coal and related services
to customers in the Rocky Mountain region,  Northwest region,  Midwest, and East
Coast markets through its energy marketing  companies;  and develops and markets
internally-generated computer software through DAKSOFT.

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     Note: The above information  includes  forward-looking  statements that are
subject to certain risks,  uncertainties,  and assumptions.  Although management
believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions,  it can give
no assurances that its goals will be achieved.