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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):
January 31, 2000
DQE, Inc.
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(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Pennsylvania 1-10290 25-1598483
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(State or other jurisdiction of (Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization) Identification No.)
Cherrington Corporate Center, Suite 100
500 Cherrington Parkway, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania 15108-3184
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(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (412) 262-4700
N/A
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report.)
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Items 1-4. Not applicable.
Item 5. Other Events.
Incorporated herein by reference as Exhibit 99.1 is a press release issued
on January 31, 2000.
Item 6. Not applicable.
Item 7. Exhibit.
99.1 Press release.
Items 8-9. Not applicable
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
DQE, Inc.
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(Registrant)
Date January 31, 2000 /s/ Morgan K. O'Brien
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(Signature)
Morgan K. O'Brien
Executive Vice President
Corporate Development
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EXHIBIT 99.1
[DQE Logo]
Cherrington Corporate Center
Suite 100
500 Cherrington Parkway
Coraopolis, PA 15108-3181
Contact: Thomas Hurkmans FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(412) 231-3787
[email protected]
DQE SUBSIDIARY DUQUESNE ENTERPRISES OUTLINES
STRATEGIC E-COMMERCE AND ENERGY TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS
Pittsburgh, Pa. - January 31, 2000 - In DQE's year-end earnings release Internet
Webcast, subsidiary Duquesne Enterprises today outlined six of its existing
strategic investments in businesses that utilize technology to make delivered
commodities, such as electricity, gas, water, communications and information,
more valuable for customers.
Duquesne Enterprises President Thomas Hurkmans detailed the company's ownership
interest in six promising E-commerce and energy technology businesses and
discussed the market potential for their services.
Enermetrix.com provides a first-of-its-kind Internet service which allows
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commercial and industrial users of electricity and natural gas to post energy
requirements on a secure website and utilize an on-line Internet auction
involving over 50 energy suppliers to purchase energy at the lowest possible
price. Nominated by Bill Gates for the prestigious Smithsonian Award and named
to Information Week's E-Business 100 List, Enermetrix facilitated millions of
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dollars in energy transactions during 1999, on which it earned commissions which
averaged 2% of the price of the energy sold. Forrester Research has predicted
that energy trade on the Internet will reach $266 billion by 2004. Duquesne
Enterprises was the first outside investor and remains the largest shareholder
in Enermetrix, owning 23% of the fully diluted common stock in this on-line,
real-time, reverse auction energy procurement business. Other strategic
investors include General Electric and Insight Capital Partners.
OnlineChoice.com uses the Internet to create pools of customers to purchase
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goods and services at lower prices. Its first product offering,
ElectricityChoice.com, which assists residential and commercial customers with
electricity purchases, closed its first buying pool in December 1999,
registering more than 4,000 customers in the Pittsburgh market, who were being
given the opportunity to save between 15 and 25 percent off the electricity
generation portion of their monthly bill. OnlineChoice recently launched its
second essential-services Internet site, GasChoice.com. In addition,
OnlineChoice has a relationship with Priceline.com whereby OnlineChoice
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provides electricity and gas services to Priceline.com's Webhouse Club members.
The success of OnlineChoice's first pool has generated significant interest in
its current electricity and gas offerings as well as its planned offerings of
telephone service, home security and other essential services. The residential
markets for electricity and gas for the 12 months ended September 1999 were $93
billion and $30 billion, respectively, according to the U.S. Department of
Energy. OnlineChoice is poised to capture a share of these large markets as
deregulation occurs. Duquesne Enterprises was the first outside investor and
currently is the largest shareholder in OnlineChoice.com, with 34% of the fully
diluted common stock. Other strategic investors include Lycos Ventures and
Draper Triangle Ventures.
DepositSaver.com is a first-of-its-kind insurance product, developed by
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Predictive Data, Inc. that replaces landlord requirements for cash deposits.
The primary market for DepositSaver, which is delivered and serviced through
efficient and scalable E-commerce channels, is the approximately 40 million
apartments in the U.S., including both new leases and the conversion of current
tenant deposits to DepositSaver. More than 400 landlords, with nearly 500,000
units under management nationwide, have applied for the coverage. The Predictive
Data system provides flexible, automatic bill presentation and payment and cash
disbursal services for its customers and partners, allowing flexible payment
dates, terms and methods. The insurance and the underwriting is provided by a
CNA insurance company and is sold through Swett & Crawford, an Aon Company, with
10,000 independent insurance agents throughout the U.S. In addition to the
apartment market, several utilities are planning to use DepositSaver to
eliminate utility deposits required of customers. The DepositSaver product
creates an Internet-based electronic link to its customers through which other
valuable services, such as on-line insurance and financial services products,
may be provided. Duquesne Enterprises was the first outside investor and
remains the largest shareholder in PredictiveData, currently owning 51% of the
fully diluted common stock of the company.
BroadPoint Communications offers targeted, interactive electronic commerce media
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service through a free long-distance telephone service, called FreeWay.
Subscribers earn two minutes of free calling time for each 7-12 second audio
advertisement to which they listen. BroadPoint bridges the gap between the
telephone and the Internet by enabling its subscribers to interact with
advertisers' web sites via the telephone. BroadPoint currently has more than
400,000 subscribers, with extremely attractive demographics. More than 150
national advertisers use the FreeWay system, including About.com, ebay, E-Loan,
First USA, the Wall Street Journal, GEICO and WebMD. In a nationally
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representative study, 60% of consumers indicated they would be likely to use
FreeWay on an average of 50% of their long-distance calls, translating into well
over 100 million potential subscribers. Duquesne Enterprises was the first
outside investor in BroadPoint and owns approximately 26% of the fully diluted
equity.
H Power is a leading fuel-cell development company that offers a proton exchange
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membrane fuel cell, commonly referred to as a PEM fuel cell, which converts
natural gas into electricity in a chemical non-combustion reaction with water as
the only
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byproduct. Fuel cells provide customers with the ability to generate electricity
outside the traditional electric grid, thereby providing an alternative power
source for customers and for back-up generation. H Power provided the New Jersey
Department of Transportation a sizable number of competitively bid,
non-subsidized fuel cell systems used for back-up power for the state's entire
fleet of variable highway message signs. In 1999, H Power entered into an
agreement with ECO Fuel Cells (a subsidiary of ECO, Inc., an association of more
than 150 U.S. rural electric cooperatives which was founded to provide products
and services to more than 900 U.S. rural electric cooperatives) calling for a
significant equity investment in H Power and a long-term partnership to
introduce its fuel cell technology to ECO's member corporations. Duquesne
Enterprises owns a minority interest in H Power.
SatCon Technology Corporation manufactures and sells power and energy management
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products for telecommunications, factory automation, aircraft, satellites and
automotive applications and also supplies important components to leading fuel
cell manufacturers, including Plug Power and H Power. Duquesne Enterprises owns
9% of the outstanding common stock of this publicly traded company.
For more information, please go to www.DuquesneEnterprises.com.
DQE is an evolving multi-utility delivery company, providing essential
commodities to homes and businesses and developing services which make these
delivered commodities more valuable for customers.
Duquesne Enterprises acquires, develops and invests in companies involved
in electronic commerce, energy services and communications. Duquesne
Enterprises' companies are developed as independent, stand-alone businesses,
pursuing compelling market opportunities, each with its own specialized
management team. Duquesne Enterprises develops these businesses in an
environment which is enriched and supportive, in which synergies and linkages
with DQE affiliates are offered as options to improve business results.
This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to a number of
known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results to
be materially different from any results expressed or implied by such forward-
looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, general
economic and business conditions with respect to Internet and energy technology
companies.
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