Alliant Energy Industrial Services has entered into a strategic partnership with Enermetrix to provide energy online. Alliant Energy will make an equity investment in Enermetrix, giving Alliant Energy a seat on the Enermetrix board of directors and a representative on the Enermetrix advisory board.

As part of the partnership, Alliant Energy will use the Enermetrix Network to offer customers the option to buy natural gas and electricity online in real-time transactions.

Through the network, customers can purchase their electricity or natural gas, allowing suppliers to bid on providing the service, specifying the price at which they can deliver the energy.

The Enermetrix investment is Alliant Energy's second investment in online energy services. In October, the company became an investor in SmartEnergy.com.

Alliant Energy expects the service to be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2001.