Houston , Texas – July 21st, 2004 . UtiliPoint International, Inc. (UtiliPoint), the utility and energy industry thought leader, and Global Change Associates, an international energy and environmental risk management consulting firm, today announced that the two firms are partnering to undertake several significant energy trading research and consulting projects. The first project is a multi-client study looking at the impact of hedge funds entry into energy commodities trading.

“Global Change Associates (GCA), led by Mr. Peter Fusaro, has established itself as a premier international consulting firm in energy trading and risk management,” said Gary M. Vasey, vice president, trading & risk management practice, UtiliPoint. “There is a natural synergy between UtiliPoint's own expertise and that of GCA that we intend to leverage for our mutual clients.”

The new multi-client study, ‘Hedge Funds Enter the Energy Trading Space' will consider the impact of hedge funds on global energy commodities trading and technologies. The final report will also include a directory of hedge funds and other investment vehicles that are attracted by energy commodity price volatility as a profit opportunity.

“The next wave of energy trading has now begun with hedge funds entering the energy markets. Their importance can not be understated as both liquidity providers and price influencing factors,” said Mr. Peter Fusaro, Chairman of Global Change Associates.

The two firms expect to identify other significant projects in the area of energy trading and risk management to work on together in the future. Additionally, GCA and UtiliPoint will partner for industry seminars and presentation opportunities.

The hedge fund multi-client study prospectus is available at both UtiliPoint's and GCA's websites ( www.utilipoint.com , www.global-change.com ). Interested parties should contact either Dr. Gary M. Vasey at 281 681 8020 or by email at [email protected] or Peter Fusaro at 212-316-0223 or via email, [email protected]

About UtiliPoint International, Inc.
With origins dating to 1933, UtiliPoint International, Inc. is a leader in providing research-based consulting to the utility industry. UtiliPoint analysts have provided strategic business plans and studies on information technology, and its impact on utility operations. Direct experiences include work in trading/risk management, outsourcing, CIS, billing, CRM, metering, AMR, demand response, work/outage management, supply chain, ERP, call centers, rates/pricing products, and IT architectural design. The firm is also the publisher of IssueAlert™, an analysis of the utility and energy industry's hot topics sent to over 34,000 utility and energy executives daily.

About Global Change Associates
Global Change Associates, based in New York (www.global-change.com), is a leading consultancy in energy and environmental commodity risk management. GCA is at the forefront of revealing changes in energy trading and risk management, and has been the market leader in energy trading, energy e-commerce, and Enron competitive analysis studies. Company chairman, Peter Fusaro, has authored six books on energy and environmental trading and will release Energy Hedging in Asia this fall through MacMillan. The company holds the annual Green Trading Summit in New York City .

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