Exhibit 99.1
(Letterhead)
Duquesne Light Company
One Oxford Centre
301 Grant Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15279
CONTACT: Dennis O'Neil
(412) 393-4060 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DUQUESNE LIGHT ANNOUNCES 5-YEAR RATE FREEZE
TIED TO SALE OF POWER PLANT
PITTSBURGH, November 29, 1995 -- Duquesne Light today announced broad-based
customer initiatives that place a 5-year freeze on base rates for all customers,
begin the transition to competitive electric energy markets, and target the
highest levels of guaranteed customer service in the industry as the company's
number one objective.
Included in the plan, which was outlined by David Marshall, President
and Chief Operating Officer, are:
-- A 5-year freeze on base rates for all customers beginning in 1996
that would result in a 40-percent inflation-adjusted price reduction in the
decade of the 1990s.
-- The sale of Duquesne's interest in the No. 1 Unit of the Fort
Martin Power Station, near Maidsville, West Virginia, to AYP Capital, an
unregulated subsidiary of Allegheny Power System. Proceeds from the sale will
be used to write down Duquesne's investment in nuclear power plants. The sale
will be subject to regulatory approvals.
-- A further increase in the voluntary write down of Duquesne Light's
nuclear power plants for a total amount of more than $500 million.
-- The restart of the company's combustion-turbine peaking units on
Brunot Island. This will allow Duquesne to meet growth in customer demand for
generating capacity at times of peak load. The return to service of the three
Brunot Island units, adding approximately 150 MW of capacity to the Duquesne
system, will not increase prices for customers.
-- A recommendation that Duquesne Light, Allegheny Power System and
Penn Power be admitted to the Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland Power Pool and that
the PJM pool be operated as an independent transmission company through which
all wholesale electricity would be sold under common terms at market prices.
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"Our freeze in rates over the next five years will guarantee to our
customers that the entire decade of the 1990s will be a period of deflation in
the price of electricity," Marshall said. "This 14 percent real drop in price
based upon current inflation forecasts will add significantly to the net 25
percent price drop that customers have already realized as a result of our rate
reductions in 1993 and 1994 and the inflation of other goods and services."
The sale of the Fort Martin unit will be one of the first times since
the utility industry began restructuring that ownership of an operating
generating unit has been sold by a utility.
"This sale of an asset that we no longer need for baseload capacity
underscores Duquesne Light's commitment to provide our customers with the
highest level of efficiency in our operations," Marshall said. "Along with our
proposal for an independently operated transmission pool company, we are
aggressively supporting the nationwide restructuring of the wholesale power
market so that all customers will be assured of reliable service and the
efficiency of market-based choices."
All proceeds from the sale will be used to write down the asset value
of nuclear power plants, Marshall said, so that "the historic fixed costs of
these regulated investments will not be an impediment to an efficient power
market. Customers want to be able to buy power on the basis of the most
competitive plant operating costs. This is an important step in that direction.
"This plan to make Duquesne Light's system more competitive and
efficient will be implemented as part of our basic commitment to improve our
service reliability and increase our customers' satisfaction with the product
that they receive from us," Marshall said.
He noted that the company's current reliability performance now
provides service that is available to customers 99.99 percent of the time and
that Duquesne Light is the only Pennsylvania regulated utility, and one of a
very few in the United States, to offer comprehensive service guarantees.
"Our customers realize that there is a great value in service that is
backed by comprehensive guarantees," Marshall said. "Since our service
guarantees were inaugurated early this year, we've measured more than 14.8
million guaranteed performance transactions with customers and limited our error
rate to 0.007 percent, or only 1,040 claims where we have failed to live up to
the standard of guaranteed service that we have set." Each claimant received a
$25 credit.
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"Customers want the absolute best possible service in their direct
contacts with Duquesne Light. Almost 90 percent of the 1 million customers
calling us each year are served within 30 seconds, and our average speed of
answering the phone is 13 seconds. We are taking steps to push this standard of
service even higher.
"Our system of first-line emergency response places troubleshooters on
the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Marshall said. "They are in place
for immediate response when problems affect customers. We've overhauled the
traditional system of relying solely on calling out crews in emergencies because
it just didn't meet our standard for responding rapidly to customers' needs.
"Our commitment to our customers is to achieve top-quartile
performance in all areas of our operations," Marshall said. "The plan that we
are outlining today will move our company toward competitive markets while we
provide customers with competitive prices and the highest reliability in
service."
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