Utility Associates Announces Braemar Energy Ventures Investment

Utility Associates Announces Braemar Energy Ventures Investment

ATLANTA, May 25, 2006- Utility Associates Inc. ™ (www.utility.com), a leading provider of hosted mobile field workforce solutions, announced today that Braemar Energy Ventures recently completed a $1.5 million Series A Preferred investment in the company.

The funding will be used primarily to provide additional working capital as Utility Associates launches new sales and marketing programs to further capitalize upon rapid market acceptance of its Avail ™ mobile field workforce solution. The AVaiL ‘software as a service’ solution is used to track and manage field crews and assets. The platform was successfully used recently by several utilities to safely and effectively implement Mutual Aid operations in support of Hurricane Katrina recovery.

Utility Associates chairman and co-founder Robert McKeeman remarked, “We are excited to welcome Braemar Energy Ventures to the team and we look forward to leveraging the experience of Bill Lese as the newest member of our board of directors.”

Braemar Energy Ventures partner Bill Lese remarked, “Utility Associates is redefining mobile workforce automation by providing a new generation of hosted communication and control capabilities required to efficiently manage its customers' large and complex mobile field operations.”

The Braemar Series A Preferred round is the first outside investment in Utility Associates since a seed round of funding was completed by Allegheny Energy Inc., a Utility Associates early adopter customer. Allegheny Energy CIO Tom Gardner is also a member of the Utility Associates’ board of directors.

In just over 24 months since launch, Utility Associates’ AVaiL has become the field mobile operations communication, control, and mutual aid collaboration solution of choice for a number of utilities and government agencies across the United States. Major customers include Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas Light. The company has plans to double its staff in 2006 while also expanding into the government field workforce and construction services market.

Utility Associations recently launched its Avail OnComm™ hardware solution that supports field crew connectivity and mobile asset tracking. With WiFi connectivity the OnComm™ fleet-based on-board computer provides broad mobile operations communication functionality including highly reliable, high-bandwidth Internet connectivity, and GPS location services.

About Utility Associates:

Utility Associates Inc. delivers reliable and cost-effective ‘C3’ (communication, control, and collaboration) solutions for field workforce management and mobile-asset operations. UA is a market leader in hosted / software as a service solutions for field workforce management. Utility Associates currently focuses on the utility, government emergency response, and construction markets. Additional information is available at www.utility.com.

About Braemar Energy Ventures:

Braemar Energy Ventures is a New York City-based venture capital fund making early to mid-stage investments in energy technology and energy-related communications companies. Braemar's principals have a long history of making successful investments in the energy technology sector having invested in 28 energy and environmental technology companies including Ballard Power Systems, AstroPower and Active Power. The fund’s current portfolio includes investments in energy efficiency/IT, energy storage, clean fuels and energy related communications. Braemar principals have significant technical, operating, and financial experience in energy and energy-related industries and are active with a number of energy technology investment organizations. The principals have chaired and participated on numerous industry panels on topics such as electric transmission and distribution system reliability, alternative fuels, renewable energy and corporate venturing in energy technology.