Charles River Associates Honored for Its Work on California's Electricity Pricing Pilot Program

Business Wire, April 22, 2004

Business Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 2004

Charles River Associates Incorporated (Nasdaq: CRAI), an internationally known leader in providing economic, financial, and management consulting services, today announced that the Company was honored recently by the Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA) for its work in developing a statewide pricing pilot program involving approximately 2,500 residential and small commercial electricity customers in California.

CRA worked with California's three investor-owned utilities (Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison) and two regulatory commissions (the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission) to develop the Statewide Pricing Pilot (SPP) as a means of testing the cost-effectiveness of advanced metering infrastructure and dynamic pricing options such as critical peak pricing and time-of-use rates. One of the primary aims of the study was to assess the economic impact of exposing a test group of residential and small commercial customers to variations in electricity pricing that more closely mirror pricing fluctuations occurring in wholesale power markets. Such pricing options give customers the opportunity to reduce their energy costs by modifying/reducing electricity consumption in response to market-oriented price signals. Dynamic pricing options also hold the potential for reducing peak demand on the state's electricity system and saving the state's ten million customers billions of dollars in energy costs.

According to PLMA, the California pilot program showed average reduction in residential electricity usage of nearly 20 percent during peak demand periods when prices are very high. In presenting its Outstanding Research Award for 2003, PLMA Executive Director, Elliot Boardman, said, "This consortium has demonstrated a level of innovation that will help pave the way for demand response to be a normal part of consumer and business energy practices."

James Speyer, Vice President and Co-Leader of CRA's Energy & Environment Practice, said, "We are pleased that the PLMA has recognized our team's insightful work in rate design and econometric analysis. Despite skepticism among some analysts with regard to the efficacy of dynamic pricing in retail markets, results from the SPP confirm that customers will, in fact, respond to market-oriented pricing signals. The results further suggest that such rates can create substantial long-run benefits for both consumers and suppliers of electric power in the state of California."

About CRA

Founded in 1965, Charles River Associates is an economics, finance, and business consulting firm that works with businesses, law firms, accounting firms, and governments in providing a wide range of services. CRA combines economic and financial analysis with expertise in litigation and regulatory support, business strategy and planning, market and demand forecasting, policy analysis, and engineering and technology management. The firm is distinguished by a corporate philosophy of providing responsive, top-quality consulting; an interdisciplinary team approach; unsurpassed economic, financial, and other analytic skills; and pragmatic business insights. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Boston and international offices in Brussels, Dubai, London, Melbourne, Mexico City, Toronto, and Wellington, CRA also has U.S. offices in College Station, Houston, Los Angeles, Oakland, Palo Alto, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, and Washington, D.C. More information about the Company can be found on its website at www.crai.com.