KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2005--Aquila, Inc. (NYSE:ILA) said its Board of Directors will recommend a slate of two current directors and a nominee to an open seat for election at the utility's annual shareholder meeting on May 4, 2005.

Herman Cain and Patrick J. Lynch are the current directors up for election to the nine-member board. Cain, Lead Director, is Chief Executive Officer of T.H.E. Inc., a leadership consulting company, and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Godfather's Pizza, Inc., Omaha, Nebraska. He has been an Aquila Director since 1992. Lynch, former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Texaco, Inc., has served on Aquila's Board since May 2004.

Nominated as a new Director is Nicholas J. Singer, a Senior Partner at Cyrus Capital Partners, L.P. Prior to co-founding Cyrus Capital Partners, Singer was a Principal at OZF Management, L.P. Cyrus Capital, in its capacity as an investment manager to a number of investment funds, beneficially owns 3.4 percent of Aquila common stock, or 8,228,920 shares. This total includes Cyrus's holdings of Aquila's mandatorily convertible securities. The nomination of Nicholas Singer follows the decision of John R. Baker to retire from the Board of Directors after 34 years of service. Baker has held a wide range of senior executive positions at Aquila over the years, retiring as Vice Chairman in 1995.

Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Aquila operates electric and natural gas distribution utilities serving customers in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. The company also owns and operates power generation assets. At December 31, 2004, Aquila had total assets of $4.8 billion. More information is available at www.aquila.com.

CONTACT:
Aquila, Inc.
Media Contact:
George Minter, 816-467-3772
Media Relations, 816-467-3000

Investor Contact:
Neala Clark, 816-467-3562