EL PASO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Board of Directors of El Paso Electric (NYSE:EE) has declared a
regular quarterly cash dividend on its common stock of $0.22 per share.
The dividend is payable on March 30, 2012 to shareholders of record on
March 15, 2012.
El Paso Electric is a regional electric utility providing generation,
transmission, and distribution service to approximately 380,000 retail
and wholesale customers in a 10,000 square mile area of the Rio Grande
valley in west Texas and southern New Mexico. El Paso Electric has a net
dependable generating capability of 1,795 MW. El Paso Electric's common
stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EE.
Safe Harbor
This news release includes statements that may constitute
forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This
information may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements.
Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but
are not limited to: (i) our rates in Texas following the rate case to be
filed on February 1, 2012 pursuant to the El Paso City Council's
resolution ordering us to show cause why our base rates for El Paso
customers should not be lower; (ii) increased prices for fuel and
purchased power and the possibility that regulators may not permit EE to
pass through all such increased costs to customers or to recover
previously incurred fuel costs in rates; (iii) recovery of capital
investments and operating costs through rates in Texas and New Mexico;
(iv) uncertainties and instability in the general economy and the
resulting impact on EE's sales and profitability; (v) unanticipated
increased costs associated with scheduled and unscheduled outages;
(vi) the size of our construction program and our ability to complete
construction on budget and on time; (vii) costs at Palo Verde;
(viii) deregulation and competition in the electric utility industry;
(ix) possible increased costs of compliance with environmental or other
laws, regulations and policies; (x) possible income tax and interest
payments as a result of audit adjustments proposed by the IRS;
(xi) uncertainties and instability in the financial markets and the
resulting impact on EE's ability to access the capital and credit
markets; and (xii) other factors detailed by EE in its public filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. EE's filings are available
from the Securities and Exchange Commission or may be obtained through
EE's website, http://www.epelectric.com.
Any such forward-looking statement is qualified by reference to these
risks and factors. EE cautions that these risks and factors are not
exclusive. EE does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement
that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of EE except as
required by law.

El Paso Electric
Media:
Teresa Souza,
915-543-5823
or
Analysts:
Steve Busser,
915-543-5983
Lisa Budtke, 915-543-5947
Source: El Paso Electric
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