PPL EnergyPlus announced today that it has signed a long-term electricity supply agreement with Stillwater Mining Co., located in Columbus, Mont.

“We are very pleased that we have been able to reach this agreement with Stillwater Mining,” said Joel Cook, director of marketing and trading at PPL EnergyPlus, located in Butte. “We have been working diligently with Stillwater over the past few months to develop a supply of energy that would meet its needs for a long period of time.”

The power supply agreement provides Stillwater Mining with 21 megawatts of power, beginning July 1, 2002, for five years.

“The agreement with PPL EnergyPlus is an integral part of our strategic plan,” said Francis McAllister, chairman and CEO for Stillwater Mining. “It provides stability to our operations now and in years to come.”

Stillwater Mining Co. is one of the world’s leading producers of platinum group metals and the only significant primary producer of palladium in the Western Hemisphere.

PPL EnergyPlus also said it has recently signed a number of short-term electricity supply agreements with other Montana businesses affected by the uncertainty surrounding Enron Corp.

“We were approached by a number of customers formerly being served by Enron. They needed a replacement power supply right away, and we were able to step up on short notice to help these customers on an interim basis,” Cook said. “We’ve been working diligently to make sure these Montana companies would have a sufficient supply of energy to continue normal operations.”

PPL EnergyPlus has committed over 50 megawatts of power in recent contracts (in total) to a number of companies, including Stone Container Corp., Luzenac America Talc Mines, Express Pipeline LLC, and Ash Grove Cement Co.

“We will stand by and be happy to respond if these or other companies have a need for additional energy supply,” Cook said. “Given our diverse generation portfolio, PPL is capable of satisfying their long-term energy needs as well.”

PPL EnergyPlus markets or brokers electricity from all power plants operated by PPL Corporation subsidiaries, including PPL Montana.

PPL Montana and PPL EnergyPlus, both subsidiaries of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), have offices in Butte, Billings and Helena, and together employ more than 500 people in Montana. PPL Montana operates the Colstrip and Corette generating plants and 11 hydroelectric facilities within the state.

PPL EnergyPlus is an unregulated subsidiary of PPL Corporation. PPL EnergyPlus is not the same company as PPL Electric Utilities, the electric utility, or PPL Gas Utilities, the gas utility. The prices of PPL EnergyPlus are not regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and you do not have to buy PPL EnergyPlus electricity, natural gas or other products in order to receive the same quality regulated services from PPL Electric Utilities or PPL Gas Utilities.