TO BUSINESS EDITOR:

NEW YORK, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's equity analyst covering the electric utilities industry believes that congressional guidelines are necessary to ensure national coordination of an upgrade to the United States' electrical transmission system. A leading provider of independent research, indices and ratings, Standard & Poor's made this announcement through Standard & Poor's MarketScope, its real-time market intelligence service.

"While Thursday's blackout, in our view, was a "wake-up call" about inadequacies of the country's transmission system, it remains unclear whether Congress will be able to provide guidelines that are needed," says Justin McCann, Electric Utilities Equity Analyst, Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services. "We think transmission investments have been bogged down by uncertainties related to differences between federal and state regulators, adequate return on investments made and intense community opposition to transmission lines proposed for their areas. We think Congress needs to create legislation that will ensure national coordination in the expansion that is necessary," concludes McCann.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

A comprehensive report on the Electric Utilities Sector, titled "Industry Survey on Electric Utilities" and written by Justin McCann, Standard & Poor's Electric Utilities Equity Analyst, was published August 7. Members of the media can request a copy from the communications contact listed at the end of this release. Readers can purchase Standard & Poor's "Industry Survey on Electric Utilities" three ways: online for immediate download at http://sandp.ecnext.com , by telephone at , or via e-mail order sent to .

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SOURCE  Standard & Poor's