ILA Aquila

RAPID CITY, S.D., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) today issued a response to the approvals recently given by the shareholders of Aquila, Inc. (NYSE:ILA) and Great Plains Energy (NYSE:GXP), pertaining to the proposed transaction where the Company would purchase four gas utility operations in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa and one electric utility operation in Colorado for $940 million. David R. Emery, Chairman, President and CEO of Black Hills Corporation, said, "We are very pleased that shareholders of both Aquila and Great Plains Energy approved the pending deal. With these milestones accomplished, we are making good progress with our plans to acquire the gas and electric operations from Aquila. We are continuing our efforts to receive the remaining state and federal regulatory approvals so that the transaction can close in the first quarter of 2008." ABOUT BLACK HILLS CORPORATION Black Hills Corporation is an integrated energy company. Our retail businesses are Black Hills Power, an electric utility serving western South Dakota, northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana; and Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power, an electric and gas distribution utility serving the Cheyenne, Wyoming vicinity. Black Hills Energy, the wholesale energy business unit, generates electricity, produces natural gas, oil and coal, and markets energy. More information is available at our Internet website: http://www.blackhillscorp.com/. CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release includes "forward-looking statements" as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. We make these forward-looking statements in reliance on the safe harbor protections provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this release that address activities, events or developments that we expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward- looking statements are based on assumptions which we believe are reasonable based on current expectations and projections about future events and industry conditions and trends affecting our business. However, whether actual results and developments will conform to our expectations and predictions is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that, among other things, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward- looking statements, including the risk factors described in Item 1A of Part I of our 2006 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC, and the following: * Our ability to complete acquisitions for which definitive agreements have been executed; * Our ability to obtain regulatory approval of acquisitions which, even if approved, could impose financial and operating conditions or restrictions that could impact our expected results; * Our ability to successfully integrate and profitably operate any future acquisitions; * Our ability to obtain adequate cost recovery for our retail utility operations through regulatory proceedings and receive favorable rulings in periodic applications to recover costs for fuel and purchased power in our regulated utilities; DATASOURCE: Black Hills Corporation CONTACT: Mark T. Thies, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, +1-605-721-2331, or Dale T. Jahr, Director of Investor Relations, +1-605-721-2326, , both of Black Hills Corporation Web site: http://www.blackhillscorp.com/

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