PHOENIX – Pinnacle West Capital Corp (NYSE: PNW) is poised for a bright future full of opportunities to produce excellent long-term results for both customers and investors, Chairman Bill Post told shareholders at the Company’s Annual Meeting held today in Phoenix.

Post attributed this positive outlook to the Company’s on-going operational excellence and its ability to successfully meet the challenges of serving the second fastest growing region in the country.

“Our company recognizes the inherent challenges of growth, but our view emphasizes benefits for customers, shareholders and for theـArizona economy and environment,” Post said. “In short, growth is a good thing, and we will continue to turn it into customer and investor value.”

Over the last decade, APS has added more than 300,000 new customers – all while improving customer service and serving 40 percent more customers per employee than a decade ago. In fact, Post said managing that growth will remain among the Company’s top priorities. “We have met, and will continue to meet, the growing electrical needs of our customers and the state while continuing to focus on improvements in customer satisfaction.”

He added that the Company continued to excel in all facets of its operations in 2004, citing a number of key highlights:

• APS’ retail prices remain below pre-1990 levels even after a recent rate increase, the Company’s first since 1991.
• Pinnacle West’s stock has outperformed both the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Utility Index over the last five years.
• The Company increased its annual dividend by 10 cents per share of common stock for the 11th year in a row. For the ten-year period 1995-2004, its dividend grew at an average annual rate of 7.8 percent, ranking first among U.S. electric utilities. By comparison, the industry average for the same period was a negative 1.4 percent growth rate.
• In the latest J.D. Power and Associates survey, APS again ranked first in overall customer satisfaction among investor-owned utilities in the West and in the top 10 percent nationwide.
• For the 13th consecutive year, Palo Verde was the number one electric producer in the country, and the Company’s fossil plant performance ranked among their best performance years, all while meeting high environmental standards and continuing a remarkable safety record.

Complete text of Post’s speech.

At the business portion of the annual meeting, Pinnacle West shareholders re-elected four directors to the Company’s Board of Directors: Edward N. Basha, Jr., chairman of the board of Basha’s supermarket chain and a director since 1999; Michael L. Gallagher, attorney-at-law with Gallagher & Kennedy, P.A. and a director since 1999; Bruce Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom and Associates, PC, a certified public accounting firm, and a director since 2000; and Post, chairman of the board and CEO of Pinnacle West Capital Corp. and a director since 1997.

In other proposals, shareholders ratified the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the Company’s independent auditors for the 2005 fiscal year.

Pinnacle West is a Phoenix-based company with consolidated assets of approximately $10 billion. Through its subsidiaries, the company generates, sells and delivers electricity and sells electricity and energy-related products and services to retail and wholesale customers in the western United States. It also develops residential, commercial, and industrial real estate projects.

Contacts

Media:
Alan Bunnell, (602) 250-3376

Analyst:
Rebecca Hickman, (602) 250-5668
Lisa Malagon, (602) 250-5671