DBRS Releases Report on Duke Energy Corporation

Dominion Bond Rating Service (“DBRS”) has issued a credit report today on Duke Energy Corporation (“Duke Energy” or the “Company”). The report provides the detailed rationale for DBRS’s confirmation, and removal from “Under Review with Developing Implications”, of the Company’s ratings on September 20, 2005.

The report also incorporates an analysis of recent events at Duke Energy, including the Company’s November 2005 agreement to transfer substantially all of Duke Energy North America’s (“DENA”) portfolio of derivative contracts to Barclays Capital by January 3, 2006, in exchange for a payment of about $0.7 billion. The payment will be largely offset by the receipt of net collateral as Barclays Capital becomes the counterparty on the contracts. (DENA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Duke Energy.)

The report and a copy of the September 20, 2005, press release are available at www.dbrs.com.