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To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (127416)	6/29/2001 3:39:00 AM
From: craig crawford	Respond to of 164684

yup ge was up a buck in ah's

To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (127416)	6/29/2001 7:13:18 AM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Thursday June 28, 5:27 pm Eastern Time Aquila officials say recent stock hit unjustified biz.yahoo.com By Chris Baltimore WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - Electricity and natural gas wholesaler Aquila Inc. (NYSE:ILA - news) has not gotten a fair shake from investors lately, top executives of the company said on Thursday. Energy firms with exposure to Western power markets saw their stock prices slide after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week enacted more measures to rein in California wholesale prices. But Aquila said it has been misperceived by Wall Street since it has little exposure to the volatile market. ``We don't have much to do with California now,'' said Richard Green, chairman and chief executive of Kansas City-based Utilicorp United, which owns 80 percent of Aquila United. Green and his brother Robert, the chairman of Aquila, spoke to reporters at a briefing in Washington, D.C. Aquila Chief Executive Keith Stamm said the firm ``dialed back'' its California market exposure last year when it saw signs of trouble in the credit-worthiness of its trading partners. After an initial public offering in late April, Aquila's stock has fallen about 30 percent from its high near $33.50 per share on May 21. The stock traded near its IPO value of $24 per share on Thursday, closing trading at $24.70. FERC's move has been viewed as negative by Wall Street analysts because it limits the amount of money energy firms can charge for wholesale electricity sales in California. The action will ``scare capital away from peaking generation investment,'' Robert Green said. The aftermath of FERC's decision was ``a loud signal that investors ... don't want to deal with the uncertainty of the government getting into the business,'' Richard Green said. ``Investors will see that we're not exposed to that kind of risk and come back in,'' Richard Green said. A replay of the California energy crisis is unlikely in Utilicorp's Midwest backyard because the region has ``good transmission and good supply,'' Richard Green said. The Midwest price spikes of 1998 and 1999 -- which spurred their own FERC investigation and a gaggle of power marketer bankruptcies -- were caused by transmission bottlenecks rather than supply shortages, he said. Unlike executives from competitors such as Enron Corp. (NYSE:ENE - news), Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK - news) and Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN - news), Utilicorp executives were not in Washington to attend the ongoing FERC California refund settlement conference. Instead, they attended a Republican fundraising dinner Wednesday night hosted by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney which netted $20 million in donations. Utilicorp would support an administration-led initiative for nationwide energy deregulation, but sees the issue as ``not a revolution but an evolution,'' Stamm said. Issues surrounding transmission and wholesale market standardization should take precedence over retail competition, Richard Green said. ``Finish the wholesale. Don't worry about retail,'' was Richard Green's advice to the Bush administration.