Aquila Completes Exit of Batesville Power Purchase and Sale Agreements.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Aquila, Inc. (NYSE:ILA) announced today that it has completed arrangements to exit its Batesville, Miss., power purchase and sale agreements. In closing the transaction, Aquila received $16.25 million.

The exit involved the restructuring of a power purchase agreement between Aquila and LSP Energy Limited Partnership, which owns the Batesville power plant, and a power sales agreement between Aquila and South Mississippi Electric Power Association (SMEPA), which uses the power purchased by Aquila from the plant. Specifically, Aquila assigned to SMEPA its LSP power purchase agreement and terminated its SMEPA power sales agreement. The power purchase and power sales agreements were a part of Aquila's residual merchant operations, which are no longer part of the company's ongoing businesses.

The transaction received approval from the Kansas Corporation Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service.

Based in Kansas City, Mo., Aquila operates electric and natural gas distribution utilities serving customers in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. The company also owns and operates power generation assets. More information is available at www.aquila.com.