Hampton, NH – December 17, 2001: Unitil Corporation (AMEX: UTL) (www.unitil.com) announced that its New Hampshire subsidiaries Concord Electric Company (CECo) and Exeter & Hampton Electric Company (E&H) filed today, with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, a proposed decrease in Fuel and Purchased Power Adjustment charges to be effective on February 1, 2002. If approved, customers of the two companies would see overall rate reductions of between 4 and 10 percent. The bill for a typical residential customer using 500 kWh per month would decline by $4.11 or 7.7% to $49.61 per month for CECo, and by $2.79 or 5.5% to $48.42 per month for E&H.

Unitil also filed a Notice of Intent to file Changes in Rates with the Commission, signifying its plan to file a comprehensive electric restructuring proposal in January 2002. The restructuring proposal will implement the New Hampshire electricity restructuring law by unbundling energy and delivery services into separate components and by allowing customers to choose a competitive electric energy supply if they wish. Unitil will propose to divest its existing energy supply portfolio and to acquire a new Transition Service energy supply from the competitive market. Unitil also plans to combine its New Hampshire operations into a single distribution utility and to update its distribution rates for cost changes which have occurred since the early 1980’s when CECo and E&H last increased their distribution rates. Overall rate levels are not expected to change significantly with this restructuring and Unitil’s rates will continue to be at or near the lowest level in New England.

"Unitil has earned the favor of its customers through low rates, excellent service and being responsive to customers’ changing energy needs - electric restructuring is not going to change that" said Unitil CEO Bob Schoenberger. "We are committed to making this complex process work well for our 68,000 New Hampshire customers – we will provide excellent distribution services, as we have in the past, dependable and reasonably priced Transition and Default Service, and a real opportunity for customers to choose competitive options. We are pleased to be able to announce this plan at the same time as we propose another fuel and purchased power related rate decrease for our customers."

Unitil is a public utility holding company with subsidiaries providing electric service in New Hampshire, electric and gas service in Massachusetts and energy services throughout the Northeast. Additional information is available at www.unitil.com. Unitil’s subsidiaries include Concord Electric Company, Exeter & Hampton Electric Company, Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Company, Unitil Power Corp., Unitil Realty Corp., Unitil Service Corp. and its unregulated business segment Unitil Resources, Inc. Usource L.L.C. is a subsidiary of Unitil Resources, Inc. The Usource product line is available at www.usourceonline.com

For more information, visit Unitil at www.unitil.com or call George Gantz at 603-773-6569.

Contact
George Gantz
gantz@unitil.com