Aquila Sees No Change in Company's Fundamentals or Capabilities; Management Reiterates Confidence in Earnings Outlook for Third Quarter and Full-Year 2001.

Business Editors

KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2001

In response to the recent decline in its common share price, Aquila, Inc. (NYSE: ILA) announced today that there has been no material change in its business strategy or earnings outlook for the third quarter and full year. Management said it is comfortable with First Call earnings consensus of $.35 for the third quarter and $2.32 for the full year. Aquila is an 80 percent-owned subsidiary of UtiliCorp United (NYSE: UCU) and had its initial public offering in April 2001.

Based in Kansas City, Aquila is one of the top wholesalers of electricity and natural gas in North America, is an innovative provider of risk management products and services and owns or controls a diverse portfolio of merchant assets including power plants, gas storage, pipelines and gas processing, and other complementary merchant infrastructure facilities. Aquila also provides wholesale energy services in the U.K., Scandinavia and Germany. Additional information is available at www.aquila.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about our future financial performance and our projected business results. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our plans, objectives, expectations, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. The words "announced," "comfortable" and "outlook" or the negative of these terms or similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. We make no representation as to whether future results will occur as projected and our actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of various factors, including those described in the "Risk Factors" section of our recent registration statement on Form S-1 and the following factors:

-- Changes in commodity prices and interest rates;

-- Unusual weather conditions;

-- Competition in the markets in which our businesses operate;

-- The success of our growth strategy;

-- Economic and financial market conditions; and

-- Changes in state, federal and other regulations affecting our business.