CenterPoint Energy, Inc. announced today that its natural gas distribution, pipelines and gathering operations subsidiary, CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp. (CERC), closed on a five-year, $400 million bank credit facility, replacing a three- year, $250 million facility due to mature in 2007. This new credit facility has a fully drawn cost of LIBOR plus 65 basis points at existing credit ratings, versus LIBOR plus 150 basis points for the facility it replaced.

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CenterPoint Energy, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission & distribution, natural gas distribution and sales, interstate pipeline and gathering operations. The company serves nearly five million metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. Assets total over $17 billion. With more than 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 http://www.centerpointenergy.com/ .

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SOURCE: CenterPoint Energy, Inc.