EDITORS: Please do not use "Pacific Gas and Electric" or "PG&E" when referring to PG&E Corporation or its National Energy Group. The PG&E National Energy Group is not the same company as Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the utility, and is not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. Customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Company do not have to buy products or services from the National Energy Group in order to continue to receive quality regulated services from Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

PG&E CORPORATION PURCHASES STAKE IN WEB-BASED WHOLESALE ENERGY TRADING PLATFORM

San Francisco, CA - PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), which operates one of the country's largest wholesale energy trading businesses, today announced a strategic investment to help launch a new web-browser based wholesale energy trading platform this spring. The Corporation will make an equity investment in True Quote LLC, which developed the new browser-based platform in collaboration with EnFORM Technology and Microsoft Corporation.

The browser-based platform is the latest version of a technology introduced last year as the first real-time, broker-assisted, Internet-based quote system for the natural gas and electricity wholesale marketplace. The online trading system provides customers with real-time energy prices on their desktops, and allows them to trade online.

PG&E Corporation Chairman, CEO and images/news/newsobert D. Glynn, Jr. said, "The investment in True Quote is another step PG&E Corporation is taking to create value for customers and shareholders by leveraging the power of e-busimages/news/newsInternet is enabling us to grow our business, offer new products and services, and achieve new efficiencies."

Lyn Maddox, President of PG&E National Energy Group's trading operations said, "True Quote will foster increased market liquidity and will reduce transaction costs, thereby capturing the same benefits that have been gained by equity and bond brokers in recent years. True Quote has the vision, cutting-edge technology and industry-recognized management team that make it a quality strategic e-commerce investment."

The True Quote application architecture is based on the latest distributed application design and development principles, as outlined in Microsoft Corporation's Distributed Internet Application Architecture (Windows DNA), deployed in extremely high-volume sites. In addition to supporting the launch of the new system through its investment, PG&E Corporation will provide development advice to help optimize the system's performance.

Dennis W. Crum, True Quote Chief Executive Officer said, "True Quote's design focus is to maximize system scalability and extensibility, which are paramount to achieving business and transaction volume objectives. We are well positioned to deliver the most secure, reliable and scalable energy trading platform."

PG&E Corporation, with 1999 operating revenues of almost $21 billion and operations in 21 states, markets energy services and products throughout North America through its National Energy Group. The Corporation has ownership and management interests in more than 30 power plants and has one of the largest energy trading and risk management programs in North America.

True Quote LLC develops and operates independent images/news/newsic energy trading platforms and portals. These systems, designed by energy industry veterans, provide virtual trading communities for market participants to communicate and transact in an efficient, real-time environment. For more information please visit www.truequote.com.