PECO Awarded $83,600 State Energy Program Grant to Fund Prototype Hybrid Bucket Truck

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- PECO has recently been awarded a federal Clean Cities grant for more than $83,000 to support the production and testing of a prototype hybrid bucket truck in the Philadelphia region. PECO is one of six recipients in the mid-Atlantic region.

The grant will be used to offset the cost of a heavy duty, hybrid utility truck, which PECO expects to receive in the spring of 2006. The funding will cover both the body of the vehicle as well as costs associated with the conversion of the engine and chassis to operate on electricity and gasoline. Following production, PECO will utilize the vehicle and provide feedback on its capabilities to the U.S. Department of Energy.

"The announcement of this grant is extremely exciting for PECO and Exelon," said Bill Pettit, director of Fleet Services for Exelon, PECO's parent company. "The use of alternate fuel vehicles is part of Exelon's overall environmental strategy and commitment to clean energy. It is wonderful to partner with organizations like Clean Cities to help explore this technology for increased use in the future."

As part of a nationwide pilot program, PECO and sister utility ComEd in Chicago will be among the first utilities in the nation to test hybrid bucket trucks currently being manufactured in Illinois and Ohio. The trucks are expected to improve fuel economy up to 60 percent compared to diesel-only trucks.

Much of the fuel savings is expected while crews are working on a job site. Unlike diesel-powered trucks, the electric and gas hybrid truck allows the operator to shut off the diesel engine and operate the bucket on an electric motor for up to two hours before the engine needs to be restarted to briefly recharge the battery. As a result, considerable less fuel is burned and noise reduction is dramatically reduced.

In addition to reduced fuel costs, hybrid vehicles provide other benefits including helping to reduce the length of outages. The truck is capable of generating about 25 kilowatts of electricity, providing enough energy to power three to five average-sized homes while crews make repairs and restore service.

The truck will join PECO's fleet of more than 1,300 heavy and light duty trucks and SUVs, including 26 Ford Escape hybrids recently added to PECO's fleet. Locally PECO also utilizes light duty vehicles capable of operating on compressed natural gas, one of the cleanest fossil fuels.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program advances the economic, environmental, and energy security of the United States by supporting local decisions to adopt practices that contribute to the reduction of petroleum consumption in the transportation sector. Earlier this month, Clean Cities celebrated the milestone of displacing more than one billion gallons of petroleum-based fuels through the promotion and support of alternative fueled vehicles technologies (compressed natural gas, biodiesel, ethanol, etc.). Clean Cities carries out this objective through a network of more than 80 regionally based coalitions, which develop public/private partnerships to promote alternate fuel vehicles and other technologies to

improve fuel economy and clean air through hybrid and anti-idling technologies.

Based in Philadelphia, PECO is an electric and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation . PECO serves 1.6 million electric and 460,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 2004, the company delivered 37.5 million megawatt hours (mWh) of electricity and 87.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas to residential, business and institutional customers. PECO's energy delivery services generated $4.49 billion in revenue for Exelon. Founded in 1881, PECO is one of the Greater Philadelphia Region's most active corporate citizens, providing leadership, volunteer and financial support to numerous arts and culture, education, environmental, economic development and community programs and organizations.

CONTACT: Cathy Engel of PECO, +1-215-841-4492 or +1-215-841-5555.