SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wells Fargo & Company(NYSE: WFC) said today it will offer electricity price hedging to middlemarket companies to help them manage their power costs. The hedging program -- believed to be the first offered by a major U.S.bank to middle market companies -- can benefit companies spending at least$1 million annually on electricity and also help them purchaseenvironmental management products, including renewable energy credits, toreduce their carbon footprint and offset greenhouse gas emissions. "As electricity costs continue their long-term upward trend, managingpower costs can often mean the difference between profit and loss for manysmall and medium-sized companies," said Anil Suri, managing director inWells Fargo's Financial Products Group. "All middle market companies dependon having reliable, affordable power, but many do not have in-house expertsor the time to effectively manage electricity market risk. We now offerthat increasingly vital service using the same disciplined approach WellsFargo brings to its customers in other areas of financial risk managementevery day." Just as interest rate and commodity hedging can protect a company'scash flow and budget from volatility, electricity hedges can help a companymanage electricity pricing in concert with its physical supply contracts."Our goal is to provide well-researched and clearly structured, costefficient financial hedges against electricity price exposure, based on acompany's geographic power consumption profile," said Suri. "We work withcustomers to understand their exposure and design hedging programs thatallow them to manage through significant electricity price volatilityacross several budget years." Hedging gives companies greater control over both short- and long-termelectricity costs and protects them from potentially large year-over-yearfluctuations in the price of electricity. "The program has been designed tohelp take the guessing out of unexpected and erratic short-term changes inthe cost of energy," said Suri. "It also enables companies to focus ontransitioning to renewable energy sources and energy-saving businesspractices." "Wells Fargo has been at the forefront of bringing best risk managementpractices to middle market customers in the capital and commodity markets,"said John Shrewsberry, executive vice president in Wells Fargo'sSpecialized Financial Services Group. "Addition of electricity hedges tothe suite of products offered by Wells Fargo is an example of our continuedcommitment to help customers manage risk." In addition to electricity, Wells Fargo offers interest rate, equity,credit, natural gas, metals, fuel and agricultural risk management productsto its wholesale customers. Renewable Energy's Hedging Role As part of the program's offerings, companies looking for ways to go"green" can purchase renewable energy credits (RECs), with financing fromWells Fargo that also supports the renewable energy industry. "RECscontribute to the development of new renewable energy sources such as wind,solar, geothermal and small hydroelectric by enabling companies to purchasethe green attributes of the electricity generated by these sources," saidSuri. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green PowerPartnership program, at year-end 2006, Wells Fargo was one of the nation'slargest purchasers of renewable energy. More than 40 percent of WellsFargo's electricity nationwide is offset with wind power. The company alsosupports the development of new renewable energy sources through financingand other investments. About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with$540 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgageand consumer finance through almost 6,000 stores and the internet(wellsfargo.com) across North America and internationally. Wells FargoBank, N.A. is the only bank in the U.S., and one of only two banksworldwide, to have the highest credit rating from both Moody's InvestorsService, "Aaa," and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, "AAA."
