Press Releases
Group 8760's GISBAgent® Software Now Leading Electronic Commerce Solution for Pennsylvania Electricity Market
April 27, 2000 • Birmingham, Alabama
Group 8760's GISBAgent® is now the leading electronic commerce solution for Pennsylvania's deregulated electricity market, Group 8760 announced at the E-Business and Internet Conference sponsored by the Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) here.
The Birmingham, Al., company announced that Pennsylvania Power Co. has joined GPU Energy, Duquesne Light Company and UGI Utilities in selecting GISBAgent®. Four of the seven electric distribution companies in Pennsylvania's deregulated market are now Group 8760 clients, the company noted.
Group 8760 also announced that PG Energy, a Pennsylvania natural gas utility, and FirstEnergy, Pennsylvania Power's parent company, have chosen GISBAgent®.
GISBAgent® is an electronic delivery mechanism for inbound and outbound Internet EDI and other file transport between trading partners over the Internet and is certified by the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB). In October 1999 the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission mandated that all energy companies participating in the state's Customer Choice program be able to transmit customer data according to the GISB standard by June 30, 2000.
``We're very pleased, but not surprised, that GISBAgent® has become the predominant choice for the deregulated electric industry in Pennsylvania,'' said Jim Buccigross, vice president of Group 8760's energy practice and chairman of GISB's Executive Committee. ``We expect this trend to continue for both distribution companies and energy service providers as other states deregulate.''
At the DISA conference, Group 8760 is presenting its revolutionary Internet-enabling technology, InsideAgent®, which simplifies the information-sharing process for direct and e-marketplace participants by easily linking the disparate computer systems of customers, suppliers and other business partners, regardless of the companies' existing technology infrastructures.
Additional information on Group 8760 is available on the Internet at http://www.8760.com/ or by contacting Helen Markland or Jim Mark at (205) 250-8053.
FirstEnergy is a diversified energy services holding company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Its electric utility operating companies, Ohio Edison, Pennsylvania Power Company, The Illuminating Company, and Toledo Edison Company, comprise the nation's tenth largest investor-owned electric system, serving 2.2 million customers within 13,200 square miles of northern and central Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
PG Energy, based in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., is a natural gas utility that serves over 154,000 customers in 13 counties in northeastern and central Pennsylvania. It is a division of Southern Union Company.
DISA, based in Virginia, is the leading provider of educational and networking forums on e-business. It also provides technical and management services to standards and specification development organizations, including the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12, the Open Travel Alliance (OTA) and the Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) Forum.