Nevada Utilities Ask FERC to Assert Exclusive Jurisdiction in Enron Dispute;
                 State Attorney General Expected to Intervene

    LAS VEGAS, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Electric utility units of Sierra Pacific
Resources (NYSE: SRP) today filed a complaint at the United States Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prevent bankrupt Enron Power Marketing,
Inc. (Enron) from obtaining a final judgment -- pending FERC review  --
involving more than $330 million from "unlawful termination payments."
    Enron had been found by the FERC earlier this year to have unlawfully
manipulated the Western energy market, engaging in fraud, deception and other
actions that created power market prices that were unjust and unreasonable.
Prior and subsequent to the FERC ruling, numerous Enron employees pled guilty
to related criminal charges.
    Today's filing is intended to address Enron's purported "early
termination" of power contracts with Sierra Pacific's Nevada utilities in a
maneuver that would provide a "windfall" by obtaining payment for electric
power that Enron did not, nor could not, provide.  It describes the "great
harm" that could be done to the utilities as well as the citizens of Nevada
should any money be paid to Enron -- pending appeals and FERC review -- while
Enron enjoys the protection of its bankruptcy.
    The company said it expects that the Nevada Attorney General's office,
through its Bureau of Consumer Protection, will intervene on behalf of Nevada
citizens, joining the Nevada utilities in opposing Enron's actions.
    Walter Higgins, chairman and CEO of Sierra Pacific Resources, said,
"Enron's latest maneuvers, seeking to reach out from bankruptcy and seriously
damage our Nevada utilities, would have profound effects on our state's
citizens and the reliable delivery of energy supplies that are at the heart of
our economy.
    "The issues presented in this FERC case are clear," Higgins added.  "A
company like Enron that engaged in pervasive wrongdoing should not be
permitted to adroitly 'game' the legal system so it can benefit from its
criminal and regulatory misconduct."
    The complaint filed today calls for the FERC to preserve the status quo
while it reviews the complaint and ultimately find that Enron's actions
violated the terms of tariff language and therefore is not entitled to "a
penny for power not delivered."  The filing adds that in the unlikely event
these terminations were found lawful, it is not in the public interest to
permit Enron to collect a windfall under these circumstances.

    Summary of New FERC Complaint

     * Sierra Pacific Resources believes that Enron's violations of federal
       law, including the Federal Power Act, breached FERC's regulations and
       power tariffs governing the transactions.  Under these circumstances,
       it would be grossly unfair to permit Enron to -- again -- line its
       pockets and claim yet another set of victims.

     * The new complaint asks FERC to (a) assert its jurisdiction over the
       issue of whether Enron may lawfully claim rights under the power deals
       to be paid for not providing power that it could not provide anyway,
       (b) preserve the status quo by preventing Enron from enforcing the
       tariffs in dispute while FERC reviews the matter; (c) find that the
       applicable rules do not permit the sort of maneuver to create a
       windfall that Enron has attempted, and (d) find that, even if
       hypothetically Enron is technically entitled to a payment, it is
       neither equitable nor in the public interest for the Nevada Companies
       to be required to pay Enron an additional $300 million plus award.

     * The new complaint asks FERC to find that Enron failed to act
       "reasonably" as required by the tariffs when it purported to terminate
       the contracts.  Enron acted unreasonably because it had sold its
       marketing business, had no means of performing the contract, and
       apparently had one and only one objective -- to use any pretext to get
       out of its contracts and get paid for doing nothing.

     * Sierra Pacific Resources will also demonstrate that the harm to the
       public at large and third parties, not just the harm to the utilities
       themselves, would be so substantial as to require FERC to prevent the
       payment to Enron.

     * The new complaint is consistent with recent FERC orders that underscore
       the very different roles and perspectives of bankruptcy courts and the
       Commission.  As the Commission has made clear in the recent NRG case
       involving a very similar effort by a bankrupt power supplier to
       terminate contracts with a public utility (Connecticut Power & Light),
       FERC's broader mandate under the Federal Power Act to protect the
       public interest takes jurisdictional precedence over a bankruptcy
       court's limited perspective of debtor rights.

     * FERC has previously expressed the well-founded view that power
       suppliers cannot use the bankruptcy courts to "maneuver" around FERC's
       expertise and jurisdiction.  Here, Enron has thus far succeeded in
       "jurisdictional manipulation," just as it previously was found to have
       been guilty of "market manipulation."

    Headquartered in Nevada, Sierra Pacific Resources is a holding company
whose principal subsidiaries are Nevada Power Company, the electric utility
for most of southern Nevada, and Sierra Pacific Power Company, the electric
utility for most of northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area of California.
Sierra Pacific Power Company also distributes natural gas in the Reno-Sparks
area of northern Nevada.  Other subsidiaries include the Tuscarora Gas
Pipeline Company, which owns 50 percent interest in an interstate natural gas
transmission partnership and several unregulated energy services companies.

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