CenterPoint Energy, Inc. announced today that it completed a refinancing of its $2.85 billion bank credit facility. On September 9th, the company and its subsidiary, CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC (CEHE), issued a total of $500 million of secured and unsecured debt which was used to reduce the credit facility to $2.35 billion. Today, the company closed on a new $2.35 billion credit facility to replace the prior facility.

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The new three-year facility is composed of a revolving credit facility of $1.425 billion with a 12-bank syndicate and a $925 million term loan from institutional investors.

"We continue to execute our financing strategy which is to reduce our borrowing costs, ensure adequate liquidity and maintain financial flexibility for the company," said Gary L. Whitlock, chief financial officer of CenterPoint Energy. "This new facility reduces our interest expense, extends the maturity on the facility and diversifies our financing sources. In addition, it reduces our reliance on the bank market. We believe that this refinancing further enhances our financial stability and liquidity during our transition period through 2005, by which time we expect to have recovered our investment in our generating assets and returned to a debt level more typical for a regulated utility."

The new credit facility takes advantage of improved conditions for utility companies like CenterPoint Energy in the credit markets.

  Key features of the new facility:
   --  The term of the new facility is three years, maturing on
       October 7, 2006.
   --  The rate for the term loan is LIBOR+350 basis points and the drawn
       cost under the revolving credit facility is LIBOR +300 basis points
       versus borrowing costs of LIBOR + 450 basis points in the previous
       facility.
   --  The company's Texas Genco stock, pledged as security for the previous
       facility, will be pledged to the lenders under the new facility.
   --  The company also is continuing its commitment to limit the dividend
       paid on its common stock to an annualized $0.40 per share.
   --  As in the prior facility, the company has committed to use proceeds
       from any sale of its generating assets to reduce its borrowings under
       the facility.  Any net cash proceeds from the issuance of
       securitization bonds in excess of the proceeds required to repay
       CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric's $1.310 billion term loan, due
       in November 2005, also must be used to reduce borrowings under the
       facility.
   --  In addition to its other benefits, the new credit facility eases
       certain restrictions contained in the prior facility.  For example
       any money raised in other future capital markets offerings and in the
       sale of other significant assets will not have to be used to pay down
       the bank credit facility.

Since February 2003, CenterPoint Energy has raised more than $3.5 billion in the debt capital markets. This includes the most recent issuance of $500 million. Of this, $200 million are 7-year senior unsecured notes issued by CenterPoint Energy, Inc. at an interest rate of 7.25 percent and $300 million are 10-year general mortgage bonds issued by CEHE, the company's electric transmission and distribution subsidiary, at an interest rate of 5.75 percent. A portion of the proceeds from these financings has been used to reduce borrowings under the prior facility to the current $2.35 billion level.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission and distribution, natural gas distribution and sales, interstate pipeline and gathering operations, and more than 14,000 megawatts of power generation in Texas. The company serves nearly five million customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Assets total approximately $20 billion. CenterPoint Energy became the new holding company for the regulated operations of the former Reliant Energy, Incorporated in August 2002. With more than 11,000 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 .

This news release includes forward-looking statements. Actual events and results may differ materially from those projected. You can generally identify forward-looking statements by the words "believe," "will," "expect" or other similar words. Factors that could affect actual results include the timing and impact of future regulatory and legislative decisions, effects of competition, weather variations, changes in CenterPoint Energy's business plans, financial market conditions and other factors discussed in CenterPoint Energy's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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SOURCE: CenterPoint Energy, Inc.