Cleco Corp. Ready to Protect Interests in Calpine Bankruptcy Filing; Company put in place measures anticipating potential Calpine action.

PINEVILLE, La. -- Cleco Corp. (NYSE:CNL) is prepared to protect its interests in Calpine Corp.'s bankruptcy proceedings.

Calpine Corp. and many of its subsidiaries, including Calpine Acadia Holdings LLC (CAH) and Calpine Energy Services, L.P. (CES), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in New York City.

Acadia Power Holdings LLC (APH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Cleco, and CAH hold 50 percent interests in Acadia Power Partners LLC (APP), which owns the 1,160-megawatt, natural gas-fired Acadia power plant in Eunice, La. CES is a party to two 20-year tolling agreements for the plant's output.

"Calpine's decision to file for bankruptcy is unfortunate, but we're not surprised. We've been preparing for this possibility for quite some time," Cleco President and CEO Michael Madison said Wednesday. "Under the terms of the LLC agreement, APH receives preferred cash and income distributions from APP, which help preserve the value of our stake in the project.

"We're also prepared should CES reject the tolling agreements for the plant. We will actively work to realize the value of the plant, both through marketing its output and by optimizing the asset itself, if necessary," Madison said.

In addition, it is unclear if Calpine's bankruptcy filing will have an impact on Cleco Power's contract to purchase 200 megawatts from CES beginning Jan. 1, 2006.

"Cleco Power already has begun exploring alternatives to ensure it has access to capacity to replace the CES contract, if necessary," Madison said.

Cleco Corp. is a regional energy services provider headquartered in Pineville, La. It operates a regulated electric utility company that serves approximately 265,000 customers across Louisiana. Cleco also operates a wholesale energy business with nearly 1,400 megawatts of generating capacity. For more information, visit www.cleco.com.