Aquila Shareholders Elect Three Independent Directors; Chairman Green Says Repositioning is on Track.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Aquila, Inc. (NYSE:ILA) announced today at the company's annual meeting in Kansas City, Mo., that its shareholders re-elected two independent directors and elected one new independent director. Shareholders voted to approve:

--Re-election of Herman Cain to a three-year term. Cain is Chief Executive Officer of T.H.E. Inc., a leadership consulting company, and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Godfather's Pizza, Inc., Omaha, Nebraska. An Aquila Director since 1992, he serves as the board's Lead Independent Director and is a member of its Executive Committee.

--Re-election of Patrick J. Lynch to a three-year term. Lynch retired as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Texaco, Inc. and has served on Aquila's Board since May 2004.

--Election of Nicholas J. Singer, a senior partner at Cyrus Capital Partners, L.P., to a three-year term. In its capacity as an investment manager to a number of investment funds, Cyrus Capital beneficially owns 3.4 percent of Aquila common stock, or 8,228,920 shares, including mandatorily convertible securities.

Singer was nominated to be an Aquila director following John R. Baker's decision to retire from the board after 34 years of service. Baker held a wide range of senior executive positions at Aquila over the years, retiring as Vice Chairman in 1995.

During the annual meeting, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard C. Green reviewed 2005 first quarter financial results, released earlier today, and said that Aquila's repositioning plan is on track. "As we announced in March, we are focusing on our integrated, multi-state utility operations. As we improve our credit profile and further reduce debt, we intend to invest in our rate base to improve service to customers and build for the future," Green said.

A copy of his annual meeting presentation is available at www.aquila.com. Click "Presentations & Webcasts" in the "Investor Information" section.

Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Aquila operates electricity 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. At March 31, 2005, Aquila had total assets of $4.7 billion. More information is available at www.aquila.com.

Forward-looking Statement 

This press release contains the following forward-looking statement: "As we improve our credit profile and further reduce debt, we intend to invest in our rate base to improve service to customers and build for the future." Some important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated include:

--The company may not be able to complete the asset sales necessary to generate the proceeds required to sufficiently reduce debt.

--The sale of Aquila's utility properties may weaken its credit profile if the lost earnings are not more than offset by the savings resulting from using the sale proceeds to reduce debt.

--The company's strategy to reduce debt and generally improve its credit profile may not be successful, which could affect Aquila's ability to invest in its rate base.