Media Contact:  Andrea Smith 702-367-5843
Analyst Contact:  Britta Carlson 702-367-5624 

Reno, Nevadaâ€" Sierra Pacific Resources (NYSE: SRP) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to purchase all $140,860,000 aggregate principal amount of its 7.93% Senior Notes due 2007 (the"Senior Notes") in the remarketing of the Senior Notes that occurred today, as scheduled.  The Senior Notes were originally issued on November 16, 2001 in connection with Sierra Pacific Resources' Premium Income Equity Securities ("PIES") in the form of Corporate PIES (NYSE:SRC).  No holders of Senior Notes elected to exclude their Notes from the remarketing by 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Thursday, August 4, 2005 and therefore all of the Senior Notes were included in the remarketing.  Following the settlement of the remarketing, scheduled for August 15, 2005, Sierra Pacific Resources intends to retire all of the Senior Notes.

The proceeds from the remarketing of the Senior Notes will be used to purchase treasury securities and to pay the fees associated with the remarketing.  The treasury securities will serve as substitute collateral for the Senior Notes component of the PIES to secure holders' obligations under the related forward purchase contracts.  The proceeds of the treasury securities upon or after maturity will be used to provide the consideration necessary to fulfill holders' obligations under the related forward purchase contracts on November 15, 2005 and to pay the aggregate amount of remaining interest payments to the holders of the Corporate PIES through November 15, 2005.  Following the settlement date of the remarketing on August 15, 2005, holders of PIES will hold PIES consisting of a purchase contract to buy shares of the Company's common stock and the applicable ownership interest in the treasury portfolio that will be substituted for the Senior Notes following the remarketing.

Headquartered in Nevada, Sierra Pacific Resources is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries are Nevada Power Company, the electric utility for most of southern Nevada, and Sierra Pacific Power Company, the electric utility for most of northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area of California. Sierra Pacific Power Company also distributes natural gas in the Reno-Sparks area of northern Nevada.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to  sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, the securities of Sierra Pacific Resources, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of any securities of Sierra Pacific Resources in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities law of any such state or jurisdiction.

Certain matters in this press release are forward-looking statements.  Cautionary statements regarding the future performance of Sierra Pacific Resources are contained in its Quarterly Report on Form 10- Q for the period ended June 30, 2005, filed with the SEC.