Acadia Power Partners Gain Right to Market Plant's Output; Bankruptcy Court Also Approves Mutual Termination of Power Purchase Agreement between Cleco Power LLC and Calpine Energy Services.

PINEVILLE, La. -- Cleco Corp. (NYSE:CNL) today announced the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved a request giving Acadia Power Partners LLC, a joint venture between subsidiaries of Cleco and Calpine Corp., the right to remarket the output of its 1,160-megawatt plant.

In addition, the court approved the mutual termination of a power purchase agreement between Cleco's utility, Cleco Power LLC, and Calpine Energy Services, L.P. (CES). The agreement called for CES to supply Cleco Power 200 megawatts through the end of 2006.

"We've already signed agreements to ensure Cleco Power will have a reliable supply of electricity to meet our customers' needs," Cleco Corp. President and CEO Michael Madison said.

The court's actions stemmed from CES' request to reject its tolling agreements for the output of the Acadia Power Partners' (APP) plant. CES asked to reject the Acadia tolling agreements the day after Calpine, CES and other Calpine subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2005. CES' request to reject the tolling agreements is still pending.

CES stopped making payments to APP under the tolling agreements once it filed for bankruptcy. APP filed a motion asking the bankruptcy court to approve a waiver of CES' exclusive rights under the tolling agreements to sell the output of the Acadia plant so APP could start remarketing the plant's power.

The court also accepted a stipulation by Cleco Power and CES to terminate the remainder of the one-year 200-megawatt contract. The contract required CES to provide power from the Acadia plant, which is located just south of Eunice. With APP's request to take over marketing Acadia's output, CES would have been unable to satisfy its Cleco Power contract because it would no longer have rights to power produced by the Acadia plant.

APP is preparing to market the plant's output on a short-term basis while continuing to explore its long-term options.

Cleco Corp. is a regional energy provider headquartered in Pineville, La. It operates a regulated electric utility company that serves about 267,000 customers across Louisiana. Cleco also operates a wholesale energy business that has approximately 1,350 megawatts of generating capacity. For more information about Cleco, visit www.cleco.com.

Please note: This news release contains forward-looking statements about future results and circumstances with respect to which there are many risks and uncertainties, including the performance of the relevant contract by Cleco's counterparty, and the other risks and uncertainties more fully described in the company's latest Annual Report on Form 10-K. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements.