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NEWS RELEASE

Consumers Energy
2908 S. Center St.
Marshalltown, IA 50158
800-696-6552

Release Date: Immediate

Contact: Deb Borton @ 641-752-1593

Consumers Energy Recognized for SchoolNet Project

National Touchstone Energy award focuses on community involvement.

AUG, 5 2003, MARSHALLTOWN — Consumers Energy, a Touchstone Energy Cooperative, recently received national recognition for its sponsorship of the SchoolNet weather station program that awarded weather monitoring equipment to: Nevada Middle School in Nevada, Ankeny Christian Academy in Ankeny; and the Colo-NESCO Community School Building in Colo, Iowa.

Consumers Energy was among the group of cooperatives that took first-place honors in the 2003 “Spotlight on Excellence” awards program, receiving an Award of Excellence in the Best Touchstone Energy Program for the cooperatives’ sponsorship of the KCCI-TV SchoolNet program.

An alliance of over 600 electric cooperatives nationwide, Touchstone Energy promotes the values of integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community. The Award of Excellence recognizes Touchstone Energy Cooperatives that have demonstrated community involvement. The Council of Rural Electric Communicators presented the award, which was judged by faculty from the University of Missouri School of Journalism at the 2003 NRECA Marketing, Member Services and Communication Conference in Reno, Nev.

With the dual purposes of increasing awareness of the Touchstone Energy brand and demonstrating member cooperatives’ commitment to the communities they serve, Touchstone Energy Cooperatives of Iowa sponsor the SchoolNet weather stations that are installed at 51 schools throughout Central Iowa. Mounted on the roofs of the schools, the weather stations measure temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill and barometric pressure. A computer that is part of the package provided by the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives records the information and then provides the real-time data via the Internet to KCCI-TV in Des Moines. The project provides lesson plans to teachers to incorporate study of weather into both elementary and secondary curricula.

Data from the SchoolNet sites are used during five newscasts each day on KCCI-TV and are also available on the KCCI-TV Website, www.theiowachannel.com.

In addition to donating the high-tech weather equipment to the schools, the SchoolNet program also allows Touchstone Energy Cooperatives to promote the smaller rural communities they serve, increasing awareness among the greater Des Moines viewing audience and establishing pride among the students when their school is shown on TV. The local SchoolNet data reported live on the Internet also gives residents more accurate information about local weather conditions.

Consumers Energy is a local, energy delivery and energy management cooperative located in Marshalltown with an outpost in Nevada serving over 4700 members and customers in five counties in Central Iowa: Marshall, Story, Polk, Jasper and Tama.