Cleco Corp. Announces Plan To Streamline Organization.

Business Editors

PINEVILLE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 24, 2002

Cleco Corp. (NYSE, PCX: CNL) today announced it is realigning its organization as part of an overall plan to strengthen the company's position in an industry defined by continuing low power prices and weak demand.

Cleco anticipates reducing its work force by up to 200 positions. The reductions from the staff of 1,350 are expected to be achieved through a combination of enhanced retirement and severance packages.

As a result of the reductions, the company expects to record a one-time restructuring charge during the fourth quarter. The total charge will depend upon the ultimate mix of enhanced retirement and severance costs.

"The prolonged and unprecedented downturn in the power industry required us to make some tough decisions," Cleco President and CEO David Eppler said. "We are taking the necessary steps to reassess our company's direction and redesign our organization in order to best protect and grow our shareholders' value.

"We've shifted our company's immediate focus from pursuing growth in the wholesale generation business to extracting value from those plants already in operation and maintaining our utility's superior customer service and reliability. Our commitment to keeping the lights on day to day and restoring service quickly following severe weather isn't going to change," Eppler added. "I'm confident Cleco will remain well positioned to grow as the industry adjusts to current conditions and begins its eventual recovery."

Dilek Samil, Cleco senior vice president of finance and CFO, said, "We designed our balanced strategy with market cycles in mind, but no one could have anticipated the severity of what has happened to our industry over the last year. The actions we announced today will strengthen our balance sheet so we can more easily ride out this current business cycle and be ready for new, economical opportunities in the future."

Cleco Corporation is a regional energy services company headquartered in Pineville, La. It operates a regulated electric utility that serves more than 250,000 customers across Louisiana. Cleco also operates a nonregulated midstream energy business that has approximately 2,100 megawatts of generating capacity. For more information about Cleco, visit www.cleco.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements about future results and circumstances with respect to which there are many risks and uncertainties, including state and federal legislative and regulatory initiatives, the operating performance of Cleco Power's and Midstream's facilities, and the other risks and uncertainties more fully described in the Company's latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements.