Exhibit 99.01
OGE Energy Corp. Cautionary Factors
The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for
forward-looking statements to encourage such disclosures without the threat of
litigation providing those statements are identified as forward-looking and are
accompanied by meaningful, cautionary statements identifying important factors
that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected in
the statement. Forward-looking statements have been and will be made in written
documents and oral presentations of OGE Energy Corp. (the "Company"). Such
statements are based on management's beliefs as well as assumptions made by and
information currently available to management. When used in the Company's
documents or oral presentations, the words "anticipate", "estimate", "expect",
"objective" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. In addition to any assumptions and other factors referred to
specifically in connection with such forward-looking statements, factors that
could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those
contemplated in any forward-looking statements include, among others, the
following:
- Increased competition in the utility industry, including effects of:
decreasing margins as a result of competitive pressures; industry restructuring
initiatives, including state legislation providing for retail customer choice of
electricity providers; transmission system operation and/or administration
initiatives; recovery of investments made under traditional regulation; nature
of competitors entering the industry; retail wheeling; a new pricing structure;
and former customers entering the generation market;
- Changing market conditions and a variety of other factors associated with
physical energy and financial trading activities including, but not limited to,
price, basis, credit, liquidity, volatility, capacity, transmission, currency,
interest rate and warranty risks;
- Risks associated with price risk management strategies intended to mitigate
exposure to adverse movement in the prices of electricity and natural gas on
both a global and regional basis;
- Economic conditions including inflation rates and monetary
fluctuations;
- Customer business conditions including demand for their products or services
and supply of labor and materials used in creating their products and
services;
- Financial or regulatory accounting principles or policies imposed by the
Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission,
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, state public utility commissions,
state entities which regulate natural gas transmission, gathering and processing
and similar entities with regulatory oversight.
- Availability or cost of capital such as changes in: interest rates, market
perceptions of the utility and energy-related industries, the Company or any of
its subsidiaries or security ratings;
- Factors affecting utility operations such as unusual weather conditions;
catastrophic weather-related damage; unscheduled generation outages, unusual
maintenance or repairs; unanticipated changes to fossil fuel, or gas supply
costs or availability due to higher demand, shortages, transportation problems
or other developments; environmental incidents; or electric transmission or gas
pipeline system constraints;
- Employee workforce factors including changes in key executives, collective
bargaining agreements with union employees, or work stoppages;
- Rate-setting policies or procedures of regulatory entities, including
environmental externalities;
- Social attitudes regarding the utility, natural gas and power
industries;
- Identification of suitable investment opportunities to enhance shareowner
returns and achieve long-term financial objectives through business
acquisitions;
- Some future investments made by the Company could take the form of minority
interests which would limit the Companys ability to control the
development or operation of an investment;
- Costs and other effects of legal and administrative proceedings,
settlements, investigations, claims and matters, including but not limited to
those described in Note 10 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements
of the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,
2000, under the caption Commitments and Contingencies;
- Technological developments, changing markets and other factors that result
in competitive disadvantages and create the potential for impairment of existing
assets;
- Other business or investment considerations that may be disclosed from time to
time in the Companys Securities and Exchange Commission filings or in
other publicly disseminated written documents.
The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.