HAMPTON, NH (December 7, 2000) – Businesses, municipalities, school districts and similar private and public entities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and throughout the northeast will find it easier to shop for the best energy prices in a rapidly-deregulating market, under two new strategic partnership agreements announced today by Usource, L.L.C, an affiliate of New Hampshire-based Unitil Corporation(AMEX:UTL).

Usource, which provides web-based energy solutions including neutral energy brokering, offers a one-stop shopping service for smaller to medium sized businesses and other energy users who either lack the access, or the expertise to shop for the best deal from major energy suppliers. The two new partners, Power Alternatives of Setauket, New York, which works with municipalities, and Reslynx, a Philadelphia-based residential real estate rental management and marketing firm, will be using Usource to help find the best deals for their respective clients, according to Bob Schoenberger, Unitil’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

"These brand new partnerships better enable businesses, municipalities and public agencies to find the best deals in an evolving marketplace," Schoenberger said. "Through participating in the Usource Energy Marketplace, customers get unbiased access to energy markets and the tools they need to manage the complexities of the deregulated energy markets with speed, flexibility and the depth of information necessary to effective decision-making."

Usource provides an energy brokering solution that matches the energy needs of smaller utility customers with suppliers who bid on their requirements. It serves as a neutral broker for those customers who may lack the experience or visibility necessary to negotiate the best deals from large individual energy suppliers. These customers may submit their energy requirements through www.usourceonline.com. The site makes those requirements available to many different suppliers who are eager to service these markets, and then provides the customer with individual bids, options and other information allowing them to make the best deals through the online retail energy exchange system operated by Enermetrix.com.

"Technology is the enabler which provides almost limitless opportunities to deploy these tools to different types of customers in many ways," Schoenberger said.

The new strategic partnerships bring the power of Usource (www.usourceonline.com) technology to bear on both the municipal and large residential management customers. Usource currently has more than 375 accounts under management, including the New York City Housing Authority, the largest in the nation, representing 560,000 public housing residents. Other clients include Multiple Intervenors Energy, the largest industrial group in New York, leading industrial corporations including Revere Copper Products, Moog, Special Metals and Heidelberg, and government operations including the Village of Ilion and the Johnson City School District in New York state.

Power Alternatives (www.poweralternatives.com) offers creative energy solutions to cities, towns and villages wishing to explore ways to reduce their communities’ gas and electric bills. As a pioneer in this new competitive marketplace, it offers a turnkey approach providing small communities with affordable and reliable energy in an environmentally responsible manner. Currently operating in New York State, its clients include the villages of Lynbrook and Farmingdale on Long Island, and communities throughout New York including the Villages of Ilion, Sherrill, Hilton, Sloan and Hamburg as well as Lewis County.

Philadelphia-based Reslynx (www.reslynx.com) provides Internet-based Apartment Solutions to owners and property managers of large apartment complexes in Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Northern Delaware, Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia including one-stop shopping for corporate rental and relocation needs. The partnership with Usource allows Reslynx to provide its more than 4,000 clients, who collectively operate over 400,000 rental units, with a way to achieve significant savings on their energy bills.

Contact
Todd Black
black@usourceonline.com