Cinergy Announces Voluntary Early Retirement Program

Business Wire, March 15, 2002

Business Editors, Utilities Writers

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2002

Cinergy Corp. (NYSE:CIN) announced today that it is offering a voluntary early retirement program to approximately 280 employees as part of its on-going efforts to control costs and enhance its position as a low-cost provider in all aspects of its operations, while continuing to provide high quality service.

The early retirement offer is being made to certain non-union employees who will be 54 or older on June 1, 2002, with five years of service. The program offers incentives under the company's pension plan equal to two weeks of pay for each year of service and no early payment reduction for commencing retirement benefits prior to the employee's normal retirement time.

"Cinergy has always been a low-cost provider of energy, and we are focused on continuing that record," said James E. Rogers, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "This early retirement program is part of an ongoing cost leadership initiative designed to put us in the top tier of energy companies in efficiency and productivity. This is another step in continuing to strengthen our financial position and working to meet Wall Street's earnings expectations."

Approximately three percent of the company's workforce of about 8,770 employees are eligible for the program. Actual results will depend on the final number of employees taking advantage of the program.

The company is restricting eligibility for the early retirement program to maintain its workforce responsible for service restoration after storms, a primary concern of business and residential customers. Certain non-union employees in key operating positions will not be eligible to participate in the program, even though they would otherwise meet the age and service criteria.

Cinergy Corp. has a balanced, integrated portfolio consisting of two core businesses: regulated operations and energy merchant. Cinergy owns regulated delivery operations in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky that serve 1.5 million electric customers and about 500,000 gas customers. In addition, its Indiana regulated operations own 6,000 megawatts of generation. Cinergy's energy merchant business is a Midwest leader in low-cost generation owning 7,000 megawatts of capacity with a profitable balance of stable existing customer portfolios, new customer origination, marketing and trading, and industrial-site cogeneration. The "into Cinergy" power-trading hub is the most liquid trading hub in the nation.

Statements made in this release that convey the company's or management's intentions, expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements. The company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, and there can be no assurance that estimates of future results will be achieved. Please refer to the company's SEC filings for additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.