January 18, 2010

Bangor Hydro Receives MPUC Approval for Smart Grid Initiative

(Bangor)--The Maine Public Utilities Commission approved an investment of nearly $8 million in Smart Grid infrastructure investments for Bangor Hydro Electric Company. While Federal Stimulus funding for the project was not awarded, the MPUC has approved nearly all aspects of Bangor Hydro's investment.

"This project directly aligns with our business strategy to provide in-home energy solutions to benefit customers, support energy independence and provide tools for customers to manage their electricity consumption and costs in a more efficient and informed manner," said Bangor Hydro President and Chief Operating Officer, Gerry Chasse. "Not only will this project benefit our electric customers, but it will result in the addition of two full-time jobs at Bangor Hydro as well."

Bangor Hydro plans to build on the company's existing AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) meters, which are already deployed to 97% of its customers and used for automated meter reading and outage detection. This technology is the foundation for customer-focused Smart Grid functions that provide valuable tools giving customers the ability to make more informed choices to manage their energy consumption.

"By completing the AMI investment, Bangor Hydro will be viewed as a leader in the State of Maine and New England," said Chasse. "This investment is a key foundational component to the Smart Grid and positions Bangor Hydro to collect and make available interval data to enable dynamic pricing programs for electric energy supply, improve reliability and utilization of the distribution infrastructure and position Bangor Hydro to better support distributed renewable generation, demand response and customer load control."

Bangor Hydro's Smart Grid investments are cost-effective and could result in savings of as much as $2.5 million each year for Bangor Hydro's customers by providing them with necessary tools to use electricity more efficiently to lower their electricity bills. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.

Bangor Hydro Electric Company is an electric utility wholly-owned by Emera Inc. Bangor Hydro serves a population of 192,000 in an area encompassing 5,275 square miles in eastern and east coastal Maine. Bangor Hydro is a member of the New England Power Pool and is interconnected with other New England utilities to the south and with the New Brunswick Power Corp. to the north. Visit us at www.bangorhydro.com.

Emera Inc. (EMA-TSX) is an energy and services company with $5.3 billion in assets. Electricity is Emera's core business. The company has two wholly-owned regulated electric utility subsidiaries, Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro Electric Company, which together serve 600,000 customers. Emera also owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and 25% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the Caribbean island of Grand Bahama. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera owns the Brunswick Pipeline, a 145 km gas pipeline in New Brunswick; Bayside Power, a 260 MW gas-fired power plant in Saint John, New Brunswick; Emera Energy Services, a physical natural gas and power marketing and asset management business; a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage hydro-electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; a 8.2% interest in Open Hydro. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com.