Georgia Transmission Corporation Shares Top Honors In
Wildlife Habitat Awards Program

Tucker, GA, February 27, 2003--Customers of Georgia Transmission
Corporation (GTC) can be especially proud of their electric utility provider.
GTC, based in Tucker, GA, is one of four electric utilities named to
receive top national honors in the prestigious Project Habitat annual
awards competition. GTC is the recipient of Project Habitat's 2002 Habitat
Restoration & Stewardship Award, in the category of utilities with less
than 5,000 circuit miles.

The award will be formally presented to GTC later this month during the
annual conference of the southern chapter of the International Society
of Arboriculture in Asheville, NC. This meeting is the largest regional
gathering of vegetation management specialists within the electric
utility industry. GTC will receive a commemorative plaque and a $1,000 cash
prize to be donated on its behalf to a local charity or civic
organization.

Project Habitat is a wildlife habitat enhancement program sponsored by
BASF Corporation with numerous wildlife partners, including the
National Wild Turkey Federation and the Quality Deer Management Association.
Project Habitat encourages electric utilities to manage their
rights-of-way in a manner that supports habitat opportunities for wildlife. The
program emphasizes integrated vegetation management, use of low-volume
selective herbicides, and adoption of long-term strategies to eliminate
undesirable plant species while allowing the proliferation of
vegetation that benefits wildlife as a food source or as ground cover.

Scott Peoples, BASF vegetation management marketing manager, said, "We
congratulate Georgia Transmission for its achievements. Its efforts
place it at the top of the industry in terms of wildlife habitat
enhancement. It has committed to a long-term strategy that meets the needs of
wildlife while providing safe and reliable electric service to the
customers it serves."

The Habitat Restoration & Stewardship Award recognizes GTC for
exceptional achievements on its rights-of-way. GTC is in the process of
converting nearly all of its rights-of-way maintained by mowing to herbicide
maintenance programs. GTC converted more than 4,000 mowed acres to
herbicides within the past two years, and plans to convert an additional
1,600 acres in 2003. Also, GTC established a company-wide database to
protect endangered animal and plant species by identifying where they are
located within its rights-of-way.

"Our integrated vegetation management program goals dovetail with our
habitat restoration efforts. Our IVM goal is to provide safe and
reliable cost effective electrical power to our customers by using a variety
of vegetation management methods," says Mark Heffley, GTC system
forester. "Herbicides help us do this by providing the lowest cost means to
eradicate incompatible vegetation, provide good access to our lines and
create wildlife habitat."

The awards competition is judged by the Project Habitat Advisory
Council, which is made up of leaders in vegetation management and wildlife
conservation. In recognition of GTC's commitment to wildlife, a GTC
representative will join the advisory council for a two-year term.
Other top winners in the Project Habitat awards competition include:
Habitat Restoration & Stewardship, utilities with 5,000 circuit miles
or more-Dixie Electric Membership Corporation, Baton Rouge, LA;
Community Outreach, utilities with 5,000 circuit miles or more-Xcel Energy,
Minneapolis, MN; Community Outreach, utilities with less than 5,000
circuit miles-Florence Utilities, Florence, AL.

Utilities that participate in Project Habitat commit to controlling
vegetation in a manner conducive to wildlife enhancement. They make a
long-term commitment to reduce percentage of mowing specifically during
ground-nesting periods; use low-volume, selective herbicide applications
to increase vegetation value to wildlife; and use control methods that
protect and create corridors for wildlife crossings.

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