October 30, 2009

Bangor Hydro Electric Company Customers to See Transmission Rate Change

Bangor, ME-- Bangor Hydro Electric Company customers will see an increase in electric transmission rates as of November 1, 2009. Transmission rates are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which approved the new transmission rate for implementation on June 1, 2009.

The transmission rate increase will affect all Bangor Hydro customers, residential, commercial, and industrial. The increase will amount to about one-half of one percent or 44 cents for the average residential customer with an average bill of $90. The rate for commercial and industrial customers will amount to about one-half to two-and-a-half percent of each company's bill. The new rate is posted at www.bhe.com.

Bangor Hydro continues to work to control costs for its customers while maintaining the infrastructure necessary to provide reliable service. Bangor Hydro is currently working to bring Smart Grid to customers, which will provide them the tools to make educated decisions about their energy consumption and allow them to take advantage of lower costs during non-peak electricity usage hours.

Bangor Hydro Electric Company (BHE) is an electric utility wholly-owned by Emera Inc. BHE serves a population of 192,000 in an area encompassing 5,275 square miles in eastern and east coastal Maine. BHE is a member of the New England Power Pool and is interconnected with other New England utilities to the south and with the New Brunswick Power Corp. to the north. Visit us at www.bhe.com.

Emera Inc. (EMA-TSX) is an energy and services company with $4.7 billion in assets. Electricity is Emera's core business. The company has two wholly-owned regulated electric utility subsidiaries, Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro Electric Company, which together serve 600,000 customers. Emera also owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and 25% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the Caribbean island of Grand Bahama. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera has a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage Hydro Electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; a 7.4% interest in Open Hydro and Emera Energy Services which manages energy assets on behalf of third parties. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com.