EXHIBIT 99.01
OGE ENERGY CORP. CAUTIONARY FACTORS
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe
harbor" for forward-looking statements to encourage such disclosures without the
threat of litigation providing those statements are identified as
forward-looking and are accompanied by meaningful, cautionary statements
identifying important factors that could cause the actual results to differ
materially from those projected in the statement. Forward-looking statements
have been and will be made in written documents and oral presentations of OGE
Energy Corp. (the "Company"). Such statements are based on management's beliefs
as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to
management. When used in the Company's documents or oral presentations, the
words "anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "objective" and similar expressions
are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition to any
assumptions and other factors referred to specifically in connection with such
forward-looking statements, factors that could cause the Company's actual
results to differ materially from those contemplated in any forward-looking
statements include, among others, the following:
o Increased competition in the utility industry, including effects of:
decreasing margins as a result of competitive pressures; industry
restructuring initiatives; transmission system operation and/or
administration initiatives; recovery of investments made under
traditional regulation; nature of competitors entering the industry;
retail wheeling; a new pricing structure; and former customers entering
the generation market;
o Changing market conditions and a variety of other factors associated
with physical energy and financial trading activities including, but
not limited to, price, basis, credit, liquidity, volatility, capacity,
transmission, currency, interest rate and warranty risks;
o Risks associated with price risk management strategies intended to
mitigate exposure to adverse movement in the prices of electricity and
natural gas on both a global and regional basis;
o Economic conditions including inflation rates and monetary
fluctuations;
o Customer business conditions including demand for their products or
services and supply of labor and materials used in creating their
products and services;
o Financial or regulatory accounting principles or policies imposed by
the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Securities and Exchange
Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, state public
utility commissions, state entities which regulate natural gas
transmission, gathering and processing and similar entities with
regulatory oversight.
o Availability or cost of capital such as changes in: interest rates,
market perceptions of the utility and energy-related industries, the
Company or any of its subsidiaries or security ratings;
o Factors affecting utility operations such as unusual weather
conditions; catastrophic weather-related damage; unscheduled generation
outages, unusual maintenance or repairs; unanticipated changes to
fossil fuel, or gas supply costs or availability due to higher demand,
shortages,
121
transportation problems or other developments; environmental incidents;
or electric transmission or gas pipeline system constraints;
o Employee workforce factors including changes in key executives,
collective bargaining agreements with union employees, or work
stoppages;
o Rate-setting policies or procedures of regulatory entities, including
environmental externalities;
o Social attitudes regarding the utility, natural gas and power
industries;
o Identification of suitable investment opportunities to enhance
shareowner returns and achieve long-term financial objectives through
business acquisitions;
o Some future investments made by the Company could take the form of
minority interests which would limit the Company's ability to control
the development or operation of an investment;
o Costs and other effects of legal and administrative proceedings,
settlements, investigations, claims and matters, including but not
limited to those described in Note 10 of the Notes to the Consolidated
Financial Statements of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 1998, under the caption Commitments and
Contingencies;
o Technological developments, changing markets and other factors that
result in competitive disadvantages and create the potential for
impairment of existing assets;
o Other business or investment considerations that may be disclosed from
time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission
filings or in other publicly disseminated written documents.
The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.
122