EXHIBIT 99.2
For more information contact:
[TEXAS GENCO LOGO] MEDIA:
Leticia Lowe, 713-207-7702
INVESTORS
Marianne Paulsen, 713-207-6500
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Page 1 of 1
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TEXAS GENCO HOSTS BUSINESS OVERVIEW CONFERENCE CALL/WEBCAST
AND
PROVIDES 2003 EARNINGS PER SHARE GUIDANCE
HOUSTON, TX - January 27, 2003 - Texas Genco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:
TGN), a majority-owned subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP), will
host a live webcast of its conference call on January 27, 2003, at 1:30 p.m. CST
in which it will present a general overview of its business. Texas Genco, one of
the largest wholesale electric companies in the U.S., sells capacity, energy and
ancillary services in the Texas wholesale electric market which opened for
retail competition in January, 2002.
CenterPoint Energy distributed approximately 19 percent of the
outstanding shares of Texas Genco common stock to CenterPoint Energy
shareholders on January 6, 2003. The publicly traded common stock of Texas Genco
will be used to determine the market value of the generating assets for the
quantification of CenterPoint Energy's stranded costs in the 2004 true-up
proceeding by the Texas Public Utility Commission. This method is prescribed by
Senate Bill 7, the law enacted by the Texas legislature that opened the electric
market to retail competition.
During the conference call, the company plans to discuss its earnings
outlook for 2003.
"The pricing environment in which we conducted our initial auctions for
our 2003 capacity was substantially improved over 2002, resulting in higher
revenues for the 74 percent of our 2003 capacity already sold," said David Tees,
president and chief executive officer of Texas Genco. "We expect to auction the
remaining capacity in January, March and July, at pricing higher than we
received in 2002. The Texas electric market continues to mature and we are
adjusting our auction products to meet customer requirements and are continuing
to improve the efficiency of our operations."
As a result of these and other factors which management will discuss on
the call, the company is providing preliminary 2003 earnings guidance in the
range of $1.10 to $1.30 per share.
Interested parties may listen to a live audio broadcast of the
conference call at either www.txgenco.com/investors, or
www.centerpointenergy.com/investors. Company management will refer to a slide
presentation during the call, which will be available on both websites prior to
the call. A replay of the call can be accessed approximately two hours after the
completion of the call, and will be archived on the websites for 14 days.
News Release - January 27, 2003
Texas Genco, a subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, Inc., is not the same company
as CenterPoint Energy , and you do not have to buy Texas Genco's products to
continue to receive quality regulated services from CenterPoint Energy.
For more information contact:
[TEXAS GENCO LOGO] MEDIA:
Leticia Lowe, 713-207-7702
INVESTORS
Marianne Paulsen, 713-207-6500
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Page 2 of 2
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Texas Genco Holdings, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is one of the
largest wholesale electric power generating companies in the United States with
over 14,000 megawatts of generation capacity. It sells electric generation
capacity, energy and ancillary services in one of the nation's largest power
markets, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Texas Genco has one
of the most diversified generation portfolios in Texas, using natural gas, coal,
lignite, and uranium fuels. The company owns and operates 60 generating units at
11 electric power-generating facilities and owns a 30.8 percent interest in a
nuclear generating plant. Texas Genco currently is a majority-owned subsidiary
of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP). For more information, visit our web site
at www.txgenco.com.
Some of the statements in this release are "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These statements relate to future events, our future financial performance or
our projected business results and involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or
implied by these statements. In some cases, you can identify our forward-looking
statements by the words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," " could,"
"estimate," "expect," intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "should,"
"will," or other similar words.
The following list identifies some of the factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our
forward-looking statements:
o state and federal legislative and regulatory developments, including
deregulation; re-regulation and restructuring of the ERCOT market; and
changes in, or application of environmental and other laws and
regulations to which we are subject,
o the effects of competition, including the extent and timing of the
entry of additional competitors in the ERCOT market,
o the results of our capacity auctions,
o the timing and extent of changes in commodity prices, particularly
natural gas,
o weather variations and other natural phenomena,
o our access to capital and credit,
o political, legal and economic conditions and developments in the United
States, and
o other factors we discuss in our filings with the SEC.
We have based our forward-looking statements on our management's belief
and assumptions based on information available to our management at the time the
statements are made. We caution you that assumptions, beliefs, expectations,
intentions and projections about future events may, and often do, vary
materially from actual results. Therefore, actual results may differ materially
from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements.
###
News Release - January 27, 2003
Texas Genco, a subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, Inc., is not the same company
as CenterPoint Energy , and you do not have to buy Texas Genco's products to
continue to receive quality regulated services from CenterPoint Energy.