April 14, 2004 (Seattle, WA) — Puget Sound Energy, Snohomish County Public Utility District and Tacoma Power have teamed up on a public information campaign to encourage customers to purchase environmentally-friendly renewable energy, also called "green" power. The centerpiece of the campaign is a television spot to be broadcast starting today on KING 5 Television (a NBC affiliate) and KONG 6/16.

"This collaboration demonstrates the commitment of these three utilities to educating the region about clean, renewable energy. Better still, it offers individuals and businesses alike the opportunity put their money where their values are by supporting their utility's green power program," said Angus Duncan, president of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), a non-profit supplier of "green" resources to the utilities and a partner in the campaign. "We believe this unified message from partnering utilities will get people talking about the benefits of growing the amount of green power in the Northwest's electricity mix."

The campaign was conceived from market research by Belo Marketing Solutions (BMS), an division of KING 5, that confirmed what the three participating utilities saw in their own research findings. "The market research indicated that customer awareness of green power programs was pretty limited, but interest in green power was very high," said Noreen King, Marketing Consultant BMS. "This provided an excellent opportunity to create a coalition to work on a public service campaign to further engage the public and inspire a positive response."

The integrated campaign combines television, internet, permission-based e-mail and utility bill inserts to increase awareness and encourage residents of western Washington to sign up for their utility's green power program. Participants in these voluntary programs pay a modest premium, usually $3 to $6 a month, to support the generation of new renewable energy in the Pacific Northwest.

The primary message will be delivered through a 30-second television spot designed by the project's partners and produced by KING5. It will be broadcast on KING 5 and KONG 6/16 over an eight-week period, including prime-time placement. The campaign is designed to reach more than two-thirds of western Washington's population. The TV campaign will integrate KING 5's web site, www.king5.com and include a targeted, permission-based e-mail campaign to more than 80,000 registered king5.com subscribers.

To encourage customers to sign up for green power, BEF secured a commitment from one of its retail "green" customers, Olympia-based Batdorf Bronson Coffee Roasters. The coffee company will contribute two bags of its premium coffee and a Batdorf Bronson mug to the first 3,000 customers who sign up in response to the campaign.

For more information, visit: www.GetGreenPower.com.