HOUSTON, Jun 3, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) announced that at its annual meeting of shareholders today, Robert T. O'Connell has been elected to the company's board of directors effective June 3, 2004. Also re-elected to the board were Milton Carroll, John T. Cater and Michael E. Shannon.

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O'Connell, 65, has not previously served as a director of CenterPoint Energy and is currently engaged in financial, strategic and business development consulting. He served as a director of RWD Technologies, Inc. from 1997 to 2003 and as its senior vice president of Strategic Business Planning from August 2000 to June 2001. O'Connell served as senior vice president and chief staff officer of EMC Corporation from 1995 to 1997. Between 1965 and 1994, he held several positions in General Motors Corporation, including chief financial officer of General Motors Corporation from 1988 to 1992 and chairman of General Motors Acceptance Corporation from 1992 to 1994.

O'Connell joins CenterPoint Energy board members, Chairman Milton Carroll, John T. Cater, Derrill Cody, O. Holcombe Crosswell, Thomas F. Madison, David M. McClanahan and Michael E. Shannon.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission & distribution, natural gas distribution and sales, interstate pipeline and gathering operations, and more than 14,000 megawatts of power generation in Texas, of which approximately 2,500 megawatts are currently in mothball status. The company serves nearly five million metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. Assets total over $21 billion. With more than 11,000 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 130 years. For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.CenterPointEnergy.com .

SOURCE CenterPoint Energy, Inc.

media, Leticia Lowe, +1-713-207-7702, or investors, Marianne
Paulsen, +1-713-207-6500, both of CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
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