Cleco Corp. Reaffirms Confidence in Company's Performance.

Business Editors

PINEVILLE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 7, 2002

In response to an announcement by Moody's Investors Service that the agency will review the ratings of Cleco Corp. (NYSE, PCX: CNL) for potential downgrade, Cleco management reaffirmed its confidence in the company's financial performance. Moody's currently rates Cleco's senior unsecured securities Baa1.

Cleco President and CEO David Eppler said, "We certainly understand there is concern about the financial stability of the four companies who have contracted for power from our nonregulated generating plants. However, the fact remains that all of these power plants are delivering power, and all four of our counterparties are paying their bills under the terms of the tolling agreements. At the end of the day, we own three state-of-the-art generating facilities, and we remain confident that we can realize the value from these plants.

"Also," Eppler added, "the largest portion of our company remains Cleco Power, the regulated utility that has served central Louisiana since 1935. That company continues to deliver strong performance, supporting a healthy dividend for investors. We've never wavered from our focus on maintaining a strong, competitive utility company, and I think our commitment to reliability and customer service has never been more evident than this week through the massive restoration effort following significant damage from Hurricane Lili."

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

Please note: In addition to historical financial information, this news release contains forward-looking statements about future results and circumstances with respect to which there are many risks and uncertainties, including the weather and other natural phenomena, state and federal legislative and regulatory initiatives, the timing and extent of changes in commodity prices and interest rates, 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.