Albuquerque, N.M., September 15, 2005—UtiliPoint International is teaming with GCI Group in order to benchmark and assess current corporate communication department structures and operations in view of the rapidly changing utility market landscape.

UtiliPoint and GCI believe that utility companies are facing increasing pressures to communicate with the public about issues like higher rates, environmental stewardship, data and network security and customer care. Also, communication department structures that were structured to operate in a stable environment are facing new challenges as markets change and issues such as reliability, transmission, renewables, and rising fuel costs begin to take priority.

This multi-client research project will provide the most accurate, insightful and actionable research on the subject of best practices for structuring the communications department, with the goal of quantifying the rationales for communication department expenses and operations.

The research will be conducted in a manner that seeks to quantify the growth or decline of industry budgets for communication departments in recent years and assess whether utilities are planning on increasing or decreasing future budgets to manage future challenges. The research will also seek to identify and rank order the future challenges envisioned by the respondents.

UtiliPoint is currently subscribing clients interested in this research. For more information please contact Jon T. Brock at 505-244-7607 or jbrock@utilipoint.com.