CURRENT Deploys the First Real-Time Utility Home Area Network (HAN) in the Nation

Provides for real-time dispatching and verification of demand response
using Oncor's Dallas Smart Grid System

GERMANTOWN, Md., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- CURRENT Group, LLC announces
the deployment of the nation's first high-speed utility home area network
(HAN) using programmable communicating thermostats (PCTs) and load control
switches communicating over the Smart Grid deployed for Oncor Electric
Delivery Company in Dallas, Texas. The system communicates demand response
requests and other critical information from the utility to the customer
and verifies the results of the requests, all in real-time. This unique
solution will be used initially by retail electric providers Direct Energy,
Reliant Energy and TXU Energy as part of a joint collaborative effort by
the Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET) to
bring innovative technologies to Texas.

"The CURRENT Smart Grid(TM) solution allows consumers to participate in
programs designed to reduce the cost or environmental impact of electric
usage and for the utility to verify in real-time that usage has actually
declined, thus allowing the use of less generation with the resulting
reduction in emissions," said Tom Casey, Chief Executive Officer of
CURRENT. "These capabilities, along with our announcement on underground
cable fault detection, show how the CURRENT Smart Grid solution is solving
real problems of utilities that are not solved by AMI systems."

Real-time load control has the greatest value of any type of demand
response, especially in unexpectedly tight market conditions, according to
a 2007 Brattle Group report. Using data from a heat wave in the
Mid-Atlantic market, PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission
organization in that region, estimated that use of real-time curtailment of
power would save more than $650 million in energy cost over just one week.

CURRENT's system uses a high-speed broadband over power line (BPL)
network to communicate from the utility control center into the home to
PCTs and load control switches from CURRENT's partner, Corporate Systems
Engineering, as well as to any other Internet based devices such as
computers or in-home displays.

"The use of BPL enables a whole ecosystem of new Internet enabled
devices and services," said Steve Taylor, president of Corporate Systems
Engineering. "The system is easy to interface with, and reaches throughout
the home."

With a customer's permission, the temperature at the thermostat can be
adjusted automatically from the utility control center during periods of
high electricity demand. In the future, appliances and other devices will
be enabled to respond automatically to energy savings commands. Just as
importantly, the use of a high-speed network and CURRENT's CURRENTLook(R)
DR software allow for real-time verification of the results of demand
response, eliminating any uncertainty as to whether the requested demand
response actually occurred. Combined with CURRENT's sensing capabilities
throughout the distribution grid, demand response strategies can even be
targeted at the individual substation, feeder or even transformer to lower
load when distribution equipment problems are detected. For the first time,
utilities will know of equipment issues and have the ability to reduce load
to prevent outages while dispatching crews to fix the problem.