Calpine Misses Deadline for Filing Results

Calpine Corp., owner of power plants in 21 states, said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it would delay filing its annual report because of an accounting error.

In a separate filing, Calpine disclosed that executive officers wouldn’t get bonuses this year for their performance in 2004.

The annual report, which was to have been filed Wednesday, now will be filed by March 31, San Jose-based Calpine said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The report will be delayed pending a restatement of earnings for the third quarter of 2004. Calpine previously announced the planned restatement, which relates to the way the company accounted for taxes after the sale of Canadian and some U.S. oil and natural gas reserves.

In the second filing with the SEC, the company also said it had signed a new contract guaranteeing founder and Chief Executive Peter Cartwright, 75, at least two more years as head of the company, with a minimum salary of $1 million a year.

Cartwright has headed Calpine since its founding in 1984.

Shares of Calpine dropped 12 cents Thursday to $3.03 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company’s stock fell 18% last year and has dropped 88% in the last five years as plummeting wholesale power prices depressed revenue.