February 25, 2003

Richmond, VA and Lisle, IL -- Dominion Retail, a subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE:D), today announced the acquisition of approximately 132,000 commercial and residential customer accounts in deregulated natural gas markets in northern Illinois. The accounts were acquired from Nicor Energy, a retail energy marketer owned equally by Nicor, Inc. (NYSE:GAS) and Dynegy (NYSE:DYN).

Dominion currently serves natural gas customers in Illinois and will now have more than 1.1 million customer accounts in Northeast and Midwest markets. About 725,000 of these customers purchase natural gas or electricity through Customer Choice programs. The remaining customers buy energy-related products and services.

The 132,000 accounts acquired from Nicor Energy are as follows:

• Approximately 126,000 customers in the Nicor Gas Customer Select program in northern Illinois, and 6,000 city of Chicago customers in the Peoples Gas Choices for You program.
• 93,000 customers are residential, 39,000 customers are commercial.

"We've enjoyed serving Illinois natural gas customers, and we are excited at the opportunity to gain even more customers in one of the best natural gas markets in the nation," said Richard Zelenko, general manager of Dominion Retail. "As the deregulated natural gas and electricity markets grow, we expect to bring energy products and services to more customers in Illinois."

Customers' prices and other terms will not change, and customers will continue to receive one bill from either Nicor Gas or Peoples Gas. Also, the utilities will continue to be responsible for emergency response, pipes and delivery, meter reading, bill issuance and remittance and related services.

Nicor Energy President Kevin Kirby stated: "While we believe in customer choice, changes in the energy markets have caused both of our owners to reassess their strategies going forward. Having made the decision to exit this business, we are very pleased that we have found a reputable and certified energy provider like Dominion to continue to serve our former customers."

Customers will be notified by letter over the coming weeks and do not have to take any action at this time. Customers can contact Dominion Retail at 1-800-260-7297 or visit their website at www.dom.com.

Dominion Retail is a non-utility provider of competitively priced natural gas and electricity, and also provides a variety of related products and services to homes and businesses. It is headquartered in Richmond, Va., and is a subsidiary of Dominion, one of the nation’s largest energy companies.

# # #