Benefiting from the hot summer and increased air conditioningloads in the Southwest, Reliant Energy announced it anticipates itsthird quarter earnings to be “substantially higher” than during thesame period last year. The company expects to exceed FirstCall/Thomson Financial’s projections of $1.07 per share by 25 to30%. Reliant’s adjusted earnings for the third quarter of 1999 were$283 million, or 99 cents a share.

The company cited increased earnings from its wholesale energygroup, primarily due to the seasonal dynamics in the Southwestregion of the U.S., and a surge in customer growth in its regulatedelectric service territory, as reasons for the expected strongthird quarter.

“It was a combination of weather and market factors affectingsome of the operations we did have in place last year, along withthe fact that we have been aggressively expanding and adding newsources of revenues since last year at this time,” said Reliantspokesperson Sandy Fruhman

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