ScottishPower notes PacifiCorp's announcement on Friday 9 April 1999 that it has signed a letter of intent to sell its electric service area in California for $178 million, pre-tax to Nor-Cal Electric Authority.   The price is subject to adjustments for changes in assets and liabilities assumed by the buyer.

PacifiCorp announced it would sell its California service area last July to better focus on states where it had a larger customer base and more significant investment in assets.  This sale was fully anticipated by ScottishPower during its merger negotiations with PacifiCorp.

The Nor-Cal Electric Authority is a joint powers authority created in November 1998 by the city of Yreka and Del Norte County in California.

The non-binding agreement between the two companies is just the first step in selling PacifiCorp's California service area. The parties expect the due diligence process to take several months.  Once complete, both companies will sign a binding agreement to move forward with the sale.

As part of the letter of intent, Nor-Cal has stated that it will offer positions to all PacifiCorp employees in the California service area and will assume all obligations under current union contracts.  Wages and benefit packages will be comparable to those currently received and employees will be credited for their length of service with PacifiCorp prior to the sale.

The sale must be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the California Public Utility Commission.  PacifiCorp anticipates completion of the sale early in the year 2000.

Further Information:
Sue Clark              Director of Corporate Affairs        0141 636 4560
Colin McSeveny     Media Relations Manager             0141 636 4515

Editors Notes:

1. Operating as Pacific Power, PacifiCorp serves Del Norte, Siskiyou and portions of Modoc and Shasta counties in northern California.  PacifiCorp has 65 employees in California and serves about 41,000 customers which account for approximately 0.3 percent of the state's total electric sales.
2. PacifiCorp currently provides electricity to 1.5 million customers in Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.  California represented about 2 percent of PacifiCorp's total 1998 retail electric operating revenues.