Cleco Restoring Power after Rita Hits Service Territory; Utility restores power to more than 42,000 customers by Sunday.

PINEVILLE, La. -- Restoration work by Cleco Power, a subsidiary of Cleco Corp. (NYSE:CNL), was in full gear Sunday after Hurricane Rita left more than half of the company's utility customers without power. Initial estimates are the majority of customers should have power restored within a week.

As of 4 p.m. Sunday, Cleco Power had restored electricity to 41,638, or 30 percent, of the 136,584 customers affected by Rita, the second hurricane to hit the utility's territory within a month. None of Cleco's generating stations was damaged by Rita.

"Rita was a large storm that hit our entire service territory, but our initial assessments show the damage does not approach what we suffered from Hurricane Katrina," said Michael Madison, president and CEO of Cleco Corp. "We expect to have power restored to the majority of our customers within the next week, although it may take longer to reach customers in some of the more remote areas. We have approximately 1,800 workers from other utilities and contracting firms helping us recover from this storm."

Approximately 600 miles of transmission lines, roughly half of Cleco Power's transmission system, were affected by the storm, and damage assessment is continuing today. "The good news is our initial review shows minor structural damage to our transmission system. Most of the problems are tree-related such as trees leaning on transmission lines," Madison said.

When Rita hit, Cleco still had approximately 2,000 customers out in the North Shore area who were unable to accept power to their homes due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. "We're officially wrapping up work on Katrina today, ending the longest restoration effort in the company's 70-year history," Madison said.

Cleco Corp. is an energy services company headquartered in Pineville, La. It operates a regulated electric utility that serves approximately 265,000 customers across Louisiana. Cleco also operates a wholesale energy business that has more than 1,300 megawatts of generating capacity. For more information about Cleco, visit www.cleco.com.

Please note: In addition to historical information, this news release contains forward-looking statements about future results and circumstances with respect to which there are many risks and uncertainties that are more fully described in the company's latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements.