Reliant Energy, Inc. Extends and Changes Terms of Consent Solicitation With Respect to Its Senior Secured Notes and Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority Bonds

HOUSTON, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Reliant Energy, Inc. announced today that it has extended the expiration date for and is amending the terms of its consent solicitation relating to:

-- Three series of its outstanding Senior Secured Notes (collectively, the "Notes"): -- 9.25% Senior Secured Notes due 2010; -- 9.50% Senior Secured Notes due 2013; and -- 6.75% Senior Secured Notes due 2014; and -- Five series of Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority's outstanding Exempt Facilities Revenue Bonds (Reliant Energy Seward, LLC Project) (collectively, the "Bonds"): -- Series 2001A; -- Series 2002A; -- Series 2002B; -- Series 2003A; and -- Series 2004A.

The expiration date has been extended to 5 p.m., EST, on Tuesday November 7, 2006, unless further extended or the consent solicitation is terminated by Reliant Energy.

Reliant Energy has agreed to offer the new terms to address issues raised by the holders of the Bonds and Notes during discussions with Reliant Energy since the end of August 2006. The new terms of the consent solicitation will be set forth in an Amended and Restated Consent Solicitation Statement, expected to be dated October 30, 2006, that amends and restates the consent solicitation statement dated July 26, 2006, as supplemented on August 28, 2006 (the "Consent Solicitation Statement").

As a result of negotiations with Note and Bond holders, Reliant has agreed to offer several additional changes. These changes include refinancing the $450 million receivables securitization at Reliant Energy instead of at the retail group; adding a covenant to require the retail group to distribute cash to Reliant in certain circumstances; reducing the amount of permitted debt at the retail group and reducing the size of the working capital facility and limiting its use to working capital purposes.

The company will also offer to provide consent rights to the Notes and Bonds for the release of liens (other than in connection with a sale or upon obtaining certain credit metrics) in all or substantially all of the retail group or wholesale business. In the event of a sale of all or substantially all of the retail group or wholesale business, certain rights to exclude net sale proceeds from redemption offers would no longer apply and the Bonds would join the Notes in being eligible for such offers.

This announcement is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation of consents. Requests for documents may be directed to Global Bondholder Services Corporation, the Information Agent, by telephone at [phone] (toll free) or [phone]. Questions regarding the consent solicitation may be directed to Goldman, Sachs & Co., the Solicitation Agent, at [phone] (toll-free) or [phone].

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements are statements that contain projections, estimates and assumptions about our revenues, income, earnings and other financial items, our plans and objectives for the future, future economic performance, or other projections or estimates about our assumptions relating to these types of statements. These statements usually relate to future events and anticipated revenues, earnings, business strategies, competitive position or other aspects of our operations or operating results. In many cases you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "continue," "could," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "should," "will," "expect," "objective," "projection," "forecast," "goal," "guidance," "outlook", "effort", "target" and other similar words. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. We have based our forward-looking statements on management's beliefs and assumptions based on information available to management at the time the statements are made. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements as a result of many factors or events, including finalization of an agreement with the Bond holders, negotiation of the proposed series of refinancings, legislative and regulatory developments, the outcome of pending lawsuits, governmental proceedings and investigations, the effects of competition, financial market conditions, access to capital, the timing and extent of changes in commodity prices and interest rates, weather conditions, changes in our business plan and other factors we discuss in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including "Risk Factors" discussed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Item 1A. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Reliant Energy, Inc. based in Houston, Texas, provides electricity and energy services to retail and wholesale customers in the United States. In Texas, the company provides service to approximately 1.9 million retail electricity customers, including residential and small business customers and commercial, industrial, governmental and institutional customers. Reliant also serves commercial, industrial, governmental and institutional customers in the PJM (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland) market.

The company is one of the largest independent power producers in the nation with approximately 16,000 megawatts of power generation capacity in operation across the United States. These strategically located generating assets utilize natural gas, fuel oil and coal. For more information, visit http://www.reliant.com/corporate.