ENMAX reports strong first quarter net earnings

CALGARY, May 21 /CNW/ - ENMAX Corporation ("ENMAX") today announced first quarter net earnings of $48 million compared to $51 million in 2009 before a recovery of $14 million related to prior year's costs of the regulated distribution business.

"We are very pleased that our financial results remain quite strong in a pretty difficult gas and electricity price market," said Gary Holden, President and CEO of ENMAX Corporation. "Removing the $14 million impact of the retroactive cost recovery granted by the regulator to ENMAX Power in Q1, 2009 for costs incurred in 2007 and 2008, our Q1 earnings remain very close to last year's earnings thanks to our focus on customer service and retention and the tight management of our costs. In spite of recent pool price increases resulting from generator unit downtime, we continue to expect electricity price challenges for the remainder of 2010."

First Quarter 2010 Highlights:

(All financial figures are unaudited and in million of Canadian dollars unless noted otherwise)

    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             3-Months ended   3-Months ended
                                             March 31, 2010   March 31, 2009
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Revenues                                        $ 608.8          $ 700.2
    Net earnings                                    $  48.3          $  65.2
    Capital investment in transmission and
     distribution networks                          $  24.8          $  26.6
    Electricity volumes (GWh)                         4,816            4,694
    Natural gas volumes (TJ)                         12,970           14,086
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    

Notable business developments in the quarter include:

    
    -   Electricity customers on the regulated rate option provided on behalf
        of ENMAX Power purchased 619 GWh in the first three months of 2010
        compared to 571 GWh in the same period of the prior year.
    -   Electricity customers on the options provided by ENMAX Energy
        purchased 4,197 GWh in the first three months of 2010 compared to
        4,123 GWh in the same period of the prior year.
    -   Engineering has commenced on the construction of the South
        transmission project and construction has begun recently on the
        downtown cable replacement to help meet load growth within Calgary as
        well as to replace aging infrastructure.
    -   Initial testing of the Downtown District Energy Centre commenced,
        providing heat for 765 thousand sq. ft. of City-owned buildings in
        the downtown core. When fully operational, this facility will have
        capacity to heat 10 million square feet of new and existing
        residential and commercial buildings.
    -   The Company made the first $15 million instalment on its 2010
        dividend to The City of Calgary.
    

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 650,000 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]