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.

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY TELLS FERC: IT DID NOT ENGAGE IN WASH TRADING IN GAS MARKETS

SAN FRANCISCO -Pacific Gas and Electric Company today informed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that it did not engage in "wash," "roundtrip," or "sell/buyback" natural gas trades in the Western United States and Texas markets.

The filing was in response to the Commission's May 22 request for information about trading activities from all companies who sold natural gas in the Western U.S. and Texas wholesale markets in 2000 and 2001.

In its response, Pacific Gas and Electric Company informed FERC that as a retail gas and electric utility, the company engages primarily in retail sales of natural gas, and only incidentally in sales of excess gas in wholesale markets. To the limited extent the utility sold natural gas in wholesale markets in 2000-2001, it did not engage in any "wash," "round trip," or "sell/buyback" transactions.

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company response to FERC is available at the company's Website, at www.pge.com.