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President's Report on Operations

2004 operations leadership (left to right): Ruth Shaw, Duke Power; Bill Easter, Duke Energy Field Services; Fred Fowler, President and Chief Operating Officer, Duke Energy; Bobby Evans, Duke Energy Americas; Tom O’Connor, Duke Energy Gas Transmission; Art Fields, Crescent Resources

Dear Shareholders,

Overall, 2004 was a year of considerable progress in Duke Energy’s operations. I welcome this opportunity to report on those results, and review some of the past year’s successes and disappointments.

Duke Energy’s diverse portfolio allows us to balance the market risk in our nonregulated businesses with the relatively stable earnings that our regulated companies provide.

Regulated Businesses Generated Steady Earnings

Duke Power contributed $1.47 billion in segment earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in 2004. The utility provides us with a solid base of earnings and cash flow. Duke Power is working hard at diversifying its customer base and attracting new business to our area. Duke Power’s customers pay essentially the same average rate per kilowatt-hour today as in 1986. At about 21 percent below the national average (due to efficient operations, cost management and lower-cost nuclear generation) those competitive rates offer an important advantage to customers in our service territory, and are especially attractive to potential new industries.

In 2004, Duke Energy Gas Transmission’s (DEGT’s) 17,500 miles of transmission pipeline continued to move natural gas to key distribution companies along the U.S. East Coast and in Canada, contributing $1.31 billion in segment EBIT. Expansion activity has been brisk over the past year, with infrastructure projects completed in western Canada and in the U.S. Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Gulf Coast regions. Transportation reliability was also strong, with DEGT operations in both the United States and Canada setting numerous all-time peak volume records. Reliability, combined with outstanding customer service, contributed to contract renewal levels of nearly 100 percent in our northeast U.S. market.

Weather – as it relates to heating and cooling needs – has a major impact on both DEGT and Duke Power, but the weather created a different challenge in 2004. For most of the southeastern United States, 2004 will be remembered as the year of the hurricanes. Several of our businesses experienced minor disruptions, but Duke Power’s transmission and distribution system was largely spared from effects of the hurricanes. That allowed our line crews to provide needed support to utility customers in Florida and throughout the Southeast.

Unregulated Businesses Saw Challenges and Opportunities

Paul provided an overview of our progress with Duke Energy Americas, which includes Duke Energy North America (DENA) and Duke Energy International (DEI). Those businesses ended 2004 with very different scale and scope than when they began. The sale of DEI’s Asia-Pacific assets allows us to focus on our operations in Latin America. In 2004, DEI generated segment EBIT from continuing operations of $222 million and is looking for a 2 to 3 percent compound annual growth rate over the next three years, based on its 2004 ongoing segment EBIT of $236 million.

Duke Energy North America’s Moss Landing facility in California is one of the largest and most efficient generating plants in the state. (Photo: David Sievert)

While unfinished business remains for DENA in 2005, we should not overlook the significant progress made in 2004. We sold our generating portfolio in the Southeast as well as two deferred plants in the West – and expect to close on the sale of a third in March 2005. We also changed the DENA business model to focus on contracting a larger share of electric generation through tolls and capacity sales. (Tolls are agreements to sell all or part of a plant’s capacity or production for a fee.) We are now beginning to see the benefits of that approach. For example, in 2004 DENA sold more than 50 major tolls and future capacity contracts to investor-owned utilities, municipalities and other customers, adding significantly to DENA revenue for 2005 and beyond. Additionally, DENA reduced operating expenses by nearly $180 million. We expect to cut DENA’s $288 million ongoing segment EBIT loss from continuing operations in 2004 roughly in half, to a projected ongoing EBIT loss of approximately $150 million in 2005. We continue to pursue various options that will create a sustainable business model for DENA, including consideration of potential business partners.

While market conditions have challenged DENA, they have provided opportunities for our other businesses. Record-high crude oil prices meant a blockbuster year for Duke Energy Field Services (DEFS), generating EBIT from continuing operations of $380 million to Duke Energy. DEFS is the largest processor of natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the United States, and NGL prices roughly track the price of crude oil. But it is not only the price of crude that is helping DEFS. Even in a record-breaking year, DEFS initiated business improvements that reduced costs for its ongoing operations by $30 million.

In February 2005, we reached agreement with ConocoPhillips to restructure our 70 percent ownership of DEFS into an equal partnership, which will reduce our exposure to commodity price risk and provide more than $500 million in pre-tax cash to Duke Energy. The deal will also transfer DEFS’ natural gas gathering and processing facilities and ConocoPhillips’ natural gas liquids system in western Canada to DEGT – adding significantly to the scope, scale and diversity of DEGT’s Canadian operations.

Crescent Resources, our real estate and land management subsidiary, concentrated on the strongest segments of the U.S. real estate market in 2004, generating record results of $240 million in segment EBIT from continuing operations. While Crescent regularly refreshes its property holdings, 2004 results reflected an opportunistic sale of property in the Washington, D.C. area. Going forward, we expect Crescent’s segment EBIT contribution to return to a more historic level of approximately $150 million in 2005.

Legal Issues Resolved

We made tremendous progress in 2004 in resolving many of the company’s regulatory and legal risks. Most significantly, a comprehensive settlement with western U.S. power market participants, approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in December, provided needed closure to issues that arose in that market in 2000 and 2001. We were also gratified that the U.S. Attorney closed an investigation into Duke Power’s 1998 to 2000 accounting practices, concluding that no action was warranted against the company or its employees.

Safety Performance Must Improve

Regarding safety, I can only say that our performance in 2004 was, in a word, unacceptable. Four people who came to work at Duke Energy facilities last year did not go home to their families. In response, we are building a zero-injury safety culture to prevent employee and contractor injuries.

• We have communicated a new safety vision to all employees that aims for zero injuries through continuous safety improvement, and we are setting the same expectations for our contractors.
• We are leading this culture change from the top -- every member of the Expanded Executive Committee has personal safety objectives that spell out exactly how they will lead their organization to an improved safety record.
• I will discuss in person our safety expectations with more than 2,500 managers and supervisors in 2005.
• Business units are conducting employee safety perception surveys, and I will personally review the safety improvement plans developed in response to those surveys.

We Gave Back to Our Communities

Hector Gutierrez and Pilar Dávila of Duke Energy Peru’s Lima office brighten the educational experience for local elementary students with a fresh coat of paint for their desks.

To customers and communities, our employees are the face of Duke Energy. Corporate giving and volunteerism remain hallmarks of Duke Energy, and in 2004 we continued to make a real difference in our communities in the following ways:

• Duke Energy marks its birthday each year with a Global Service Event. In 2004, thousands of employees and retirees participated in more than 500 volunteer projects in 170 communities where Duke Energy operates. Most of the projects helped improve the lives of children, senior citizens and disabled individuals. In Peru, for example, employees focused on children and education. They donated books and school supplies, painted classrooms, served lunch and organized activities.
• Duke Energy employees were recognized with Ethics in Action’s Community Care Award for developing innovative community partnerships and programs serving the residents of British Columbia.
• In the Carolinas, we are leading economic development efforts to diversify our region’s economy and provide opportunities for growth. That’s good for Duke Power and good for the region. In 2004, Duke Power contracted more than $23.3 million of new annual electric load (compared to $6.2 million for 2003), and nearly 200 additional projects are pending.
• Crescent Resources won accolades from community leaders and state officials for committing to sell nearly 3,000 acres and to make a one-time multi-million-dollar gift to the state of North Carolina to expand Lake James State Park almost sixfold.
• The Texas Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, led by DEGT employees, participated in one of only 12 projects honored nationwide by Coastal America – a partnership of federal agencies and state and local private organizations. Our work on the San Jacinto battleground project near Houston contributed to the restoration of 115 acres of historic marshland as well as adjacent prairie and bottomland forest.

These are just a few examples of the many ways the people of Duke Energy work to improve our communities, economy and environment. On the following pages, the leaders of our businesses will tell you more about their performance and future objectives.

Sincerely,

Fred J. Fowler
President and Chief Operating Officer