Calpine Board of Directors Updates Corporate Governance Practices

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Calpine Corporation (NYSE: CPN - News) continued to advance its program of evaluating corporate governance practices with two recent actions by its Board of Directors. In the first action, the Board of Directors unanimously agreed to amend the term of Calpine's existing Shareholder Rights Agreement, commonly referred to as a poison pill, to provide for early termination. In the second action, the Board of Directors adopted a resolution to propose to Calpine's stockholders an amendment to the company's Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to eliminate the classification of the Board of Directors.

"Calpine and our Board of Directors remain committed to having the best corporate governance practices," stated Peter Cartwright, Calpine chairman, president and CEO. "We believe these actions will provide stronger accountability and further align management's and stockholders' interests. By providing stockholders with the opportunity to annually register their views on the performance of our directors and Board collectively, Calpine will further our goal of maintaining best practices in corporate governance."

The amendment of the Shareholder Rights Agreement will provide for a termination date of May 1, 2005. The resolution to eliminate the classification of the Board of Directors will be proposed to Calpine stockholders at the 2005 Annual Meeting of Stockholders scheduled for May 25, 2005.

A major power company, Calpine Corporation supplies customers and communities with electricity from clean, efficient, natural gas-fired and geothermal power plants. Calpine owns, leases and operates integrated systems of plants in 21 U.S. states, three Canadian provinces and the United Kingdom. Its customized products and services include wholesale and retail electricity, natural gas, gas turbine components and services, energy management, and a wide range of power plant engineering, construction and operations services. Calpine was founded in 1984. It is included in the S&P 500 Index and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CPN. For more information, visit http://www.calpine.com.