Reassessment

The sharp downturn in the economy since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks caused a significant reassessment of quarterly and annual earnings expectations among energy companies last week. AES had the worst news with expectations of dramatically lower earnings because of its currency exposure in Brazil, changes in the power market in the United Kingdom and events affecting some of its domestic operations. Exelon also will suffer and will reduce its work force by another 450 jobs. Meanwhile, Duke Energy, PPL, NRG and Entergy all reaffirmed their earnings expectations.