(LOUISVILLE, Ky. - April 11, 2005) Increasing business opportunities for Minority and Women Business enterprises will be the focus of a joint reception between LG&E Energy LLC, Louisville Metro Government, Metropolitan Sewer District and the Louisville Water Company, to be held Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Louisville Water Tower, located at 3005 Upper River Road.

The reception, which was also held last year, allows sponsor representatives to meet potential vendors and have one-on-one conversations with them. Building relationships with diverse suppliers allows the utilities to develop lasting relationships that increase supplier diversity across the lines of business.

Currently, minority and women-owned businesses supply LG&E Energy with an array of goods and services - fuel for power generation, construction services for distribution and computer equipment for IT - that are mission critical. MSD seeks out minority and women-owned businesses for engineering, professional and construction services to meet the company's established goals of 15 percent for minority and 6 percent for women-owned businesses. The Louisville Water Company utilizes minority and women-owned business for distribution construction and grounds and facility maintenance. Louisville Metro Government purchases a large variety of goods and services, in addition to construction and/or construction-related projects, and makes a good faith effort to identify minority and-women-owned companies to meet these needs.

"One of the goals behind the joint outreach is to turn business contacts into business contracts," said Victor Staffieri, LG&E Energy, Chairman, CEO and President. "LG&E Energy, Louisville Metro, MSD, and the Louisville Water Company are proud to promote and support minority-owned and women-owned businesses."

Mayor Jerry Abramson said the collaboration among government agencies and utilities provides opportunities to learn more about the expertise of minority- and women-owned companies and to share with them the ongoing needs of public agencies. "This ongoing effort will help us better ensure that minority- and women-owned companies have opportunities to provide goods and services that benefit our community," Abramson said.

Louisville Water Company President, John Huber is glad this event is returning for a second year because it provides the four organizations an opportunity to collaborate. "By looking for common opportunities among our businesses, we are in a position to leverage those opportunities with the M/WBEs we do business with," said Huber.

Executive Director, Bud Schardein said, "in the future this alliance hopes to identify opportunities for best performing M/WBEs to build their business capabilities."



LG&E Energy LLC, headquartered in Louisville, Ky., is a diversified energy services company. LG&E Energy owns and operates Louisville Gas and Electric Company, a regulated utility that serves 318,000 natural gas and 390,000 electric customers in Louisville and 16 surrounding counties, and Kentucky Utilities Company, a regulated electric utility in Lexington, Ky., that serves 518,000 customers in 77 Kentucky counties and five counties in Virginia.