ENMAX announces excellent 2009 financial results

CALGARY, March 18 /CNW/ - ENMAX Corporation ("ENMAX") is pleased to report the results of a very strong year. ENMAX announced its 2009 annual net earnings of $205.9 million, an increase of 13.7 per cent over 2008, and revenues of $2.3 billion, a decrease of 13.3 per cent, over its 2008 results.

"Despite a tough economic environment and volatile electricity and gas pricing, ENMAX has had another year of strong performance," said Gary Holden, President and CEO of ENMAX Corporation. "ENMAX's customer focused expansion contributed to the organization's success in 2009. We anticipate another challenging year ahead in 2010."

During the past year ENMAX made substantial progress on all its generation projects including the Crossfield Energy Centre, Bonnybrook Energy Centre, Downtown District Energy Centre, and Shepard Energy Centre.

    
    2009 Highlights:

    -  Electricity sales in 2009 were 18,542 gigawatt hours (GWh), an
       increase of 4.3 per cent over the 2008 amount of 17,783 GWh. Natural
       gas sales rose 11.7 per cent from 32,353 terajoules (TJ) in 2008 to
       36,140 TJ in 2009.
    -  Payment of $55 million dividend to shareholder, The City of Calgary.
       The dividend for 2010 will be $61.8 million.
    -  ENMAX Power invested $117.8 million in its transmission and
       distribution networks in 2009 for the continued provision of
       exceptional reliability for Calgary's growing power needs.
    -  In late 2009, ENMAX commissioned the Crossfield Energy Centre, a 120
       MW natural gas peaking plant, delivering on its ongoing strategy to
       provide a secure, cost effective electricity supply for its customers
       while acquiring generation facilities with lower GHG emission rates
       than existing coal plants.
    -  Construction continued on the Downtown District Energy Centre which
       will provide heat for up to 10 million sq. ft. of residential and
       commercial buildings in the downtown core.
    -  ENMAX announced plans to build the Bonnybrook Energy Centre, a 165 MW
       natural gas co-generation facility located on the Canada Malting site.
    -  ENMAX progressed on the permitting of the Shepard Energy Centre, an
       800 MW natural gas fired generation facility that will provide enough
       electricity for over half of Calgary's needs.
    

ENMAX Corporation, through subsidiaries and predecessors, has provided Albertans with safe, reliable electricity for more than 100 years. ENMAX Corporation provides electricity, natural gas and value-added services to more than 640,000 residential, commercial and industrial metered customer locations in Alberta. ENMAX Energy Corporation, a subsidiary of ENMAX Corporation, is Alberta's leading competitive electricity retailer. Through subsidiaries, ENMAX Energy is one of Alberta's largest investors in renewable energy and first Canadian electricity retailer to offer customers the option to support wind generated energy. As well, ENMAX Corporation, through its subsidiary ENMAX Envision Inc., provides fibre optic networks for high speed data and internet communications. Visit our website at enmax.com.

For further information: Media only contact: Doris B. Kaufmann, Senior Media Relations Advisor, ENMAX Corporation, [phone] (media line), [email protected]