For more information contact:
Emily Mir Thompson
Phone: 713-207-3085
Pager: 713-619-5143

HOUSTON – Aug. 30, 2006 – Florida Power and Light (FPL) released more than 75 CenterPoint Energy linemen and support personnel who left yesterday to help the Florida utility with anticipated power restoration efforts resulting from Tropical Storm Ernesto. The storm made landfall in Florida Tuesday evening with far weaker force than expected, and FPL no longer needs the mutual assistance it requested.

The employees left Houston yesterday from CenterPoint Energy’s South Houston Complex and are expected to arrive home Thursday.

Coming to the aid of other utilities is nothing new to CenterPoint Energy line crews. The company partners with other utilities in mutual assistance agreements that lend a hand to each other if requested during widespread outage emergencies such as hurricanes or ice storms. Last year, crews restored power to hundreds of thousands of people who were left in the dark following an ice storm in Wichita, Kansas and Hurricanes Dennis, Wilma, Katrina and Rita.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission & distribution, natural gas distribution, competitive natural gas sales and services, and pipeline and field services operations.  The company serves more than five million metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. Assets total approximately $16 billion. With about 9,000 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 130 years.  For more information, visit the Web site at www.CenterPointEnergy.com.