Approximately $400 billion of debt affected
New York, November 08, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service placed the ratings of most regulated utilities
and utility holding companies in the United States on review for upgrade,
affecting approximately $400 billion of debt. These companies
have been placed on review because Moody's has adopted a generally
more favorable view of the relative credit supportiveness of the US regulatory
environment, as detailed in our September 23, 2013 Request
for Comment: "Proposed Refinements to the Regulated Utilities
Rating Methodology and our Evolving View of US Utility Regulation."
RATINGS RATIONALE
"Our placement of these issuers on review considers improving regulatory
trends in the US, including better cost recovery provisions,
reduced regulatory lag, and generally fair and open relationships
between utilities and regulators, " said Moody's Managing
Director Larry Hess. We believe that many US regulatory jurisdictions
have become more credit supportive of utilities over time and that our
assessment of the regulatory environment that has been incorporated into
ratings may now be overly conservative.
The US utility sector's low number of defaults, high recovery
levels, and generally strong financial metrics from a global perspective
provide additional corroboration for our view that ratings should generally
be higher.
We expect that most upgrades will be limited to one notch, and that
the reviews of the affected companies will be completed within approximately
90 days. Although we anticipate that most of the utilities placed
under review will be upgraded, there may be selected instances where
ratings will not be upgraded following the completion of our review.
We note that several regulated utilities and utility holding companies
were not placed on review due to issuer specific circumstances that would
preclude an upgrade at this time. These exclusions include utilities
that are engaged in substantial construction programs for new generation
or other large capital projects, currently have a Negative Outlook
or are under potential downward rating pressure, are characterized
by material concentration or event risk, face market or regulatory
risks specific to their particular jurisdictions, or are part of
a corporate family that has significant non-utility operations.
The following companies were placed on review for upgrade:
AEP Texas Central Company
AEP Texas North Company
AGL Capital Corporation
AGL Resources Inc.
Atlanta Gas Light Company
Alabama Power Company
ALLETE, Inc.
Alliant Energy Corporation
Ameren Corporation
Ameren Illinois Company
American Electric Power Company, Inc.
American Transmission Company LLC
Appalachian Power Company
Arizona Public Service Company
Atlanta Gas Light Company
Atlantic City Electric Company
Atmos Energy Corporation
Avista Corp.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Company
Berkshire Gas Company
Black Hills Corporation
Black Hills Power, Inc.
CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC
CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation
Central Maine Power Company
Cleco Corporation
Cleco Power LLC
CMS Energy Corporation
Commonwealth Edison Company
Connecticut Light and Power Company
Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
Consolidated Edison, Inc.
Consumers Energy Company
Delmarva Power & Light Company
Dominion Resources
Dominion Gas Holdings
DTE Electric Company
DTE Energy Company
DTE Gas Company
Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC
Duke Energy Corp.
Duke Energy Florida, Inc.
Duke Energy Indiana, Inc.
Duke Energy Kentucky, Inc.
Duke Energy Progress, Inc.
Duquesne Light Company
Duquesne Light Holdings, Inc.
Edison International
Elm Road Generating Station Supercritical
El Paso Electric Company
Empire District Electric Company (The)
Entergy Arkansas, Inc.
Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, LLC
Entergy Louisiana, LLC
Entergy Mississippi, Inc.
Entergy Texas, Inc.
Florida Power & Light Company
Great Plains Energy Incorporated
Gulf Power Company
Hawaiian Electric Company
Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.
IDACORP, Inc.
Idaho Power Company
Indiana Gas Company, Inc.
Indiana Michigan Power Company
Indianapolis Power & Light Company
Integrys Energy Group, Inc.
International Transmission Company
IPALCO Enterprises, Inc.
ITC Great Plains LLC
ITC Holdings Corp.
ITC Midwest LLC
Kansas City Power & Light Company
Kansas City Power & Light Greater MO Oper
Kentucky Power Company
Kentucky Utilities Co.
Laclede Gas Company
Laclede Group, Inc. (The)
LG&E and KU Energy LLC
Louisville Gas & Electric
Madison Gas and Electric Company
Michigan Electric Transmission Company, LLC
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company
MidAmerican Energy Company
Nevada Power Company
New Jersey Natural Gas Company
New York State Electric and Gas Corporation
NiSource Capital Markets, Inc.
NiSource Finance Corp.
NiSource Inc.
North Shore Gas Company
Northeast Utilities
Northern Illinois Gas Company
Northern Indiana Public Service Company
Northern States Power Company (Minnesota)
Northern States Power Company (Wisconsin)
NorthWestern Corporation
NSTAR Electric Company
NV Energy Inc.
OGE Energy Corp.
Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc.
Otter Tail Corporation
Otter Tail Power Company
PacifiCorp
PECO Energy Company
Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company
Pepco Holdings, Inc.
Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc.
Pinnacle West Capital Corporation
Pivotal Utility Holdings
PNG Companies LLC
PNM Resources, Inc.
Portland General Electric Company
Potomac Electric Power Company
PPL Corporation
PPL Electric Utilities Corporation
Progress Energy, Inc.
Public Service Company of Colorado
Public Service Company of New Hampshire
Public Service Company of New Mexico
Public Service Company of Oklahoma
Public Service Electric and Gas Company
Puget Energy, Inc.
Puget Sound Energy, Inc.
Questar Corporation
Questar Gas Company
Rochester Gas & Electric Corporation
San Diego Gas & Electric Company
SEMCO Energy, Inc.
Sierra Pacific Power Company
SourceGas LLC
South Jersey Gas Company
Southern California Edison Company
Southern California Gas Company
Southern Connecticut Gas Company
Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Company
Southwest Gas Corporation
Southwestern Electric Power Company
Southwestern Public Service Company
Superior Water, Light and Power Company
Tampa Electric Company
TECO Energy, Inc.
Texas-New Mexico Power Company
Tucson Electric Power Company
UGI Utilities, Inc.
UIL Holdings Corporation
Union Electric Company
United Illuminating Company
UNS Electric, Inc.
UNS Energy Corporation
UNS Gas, Inc.
Vectren Utility Holdings, Inc.
Virginia Electric and Power Company
Washington Gas Light Company
Westar Energy, Inc.
Western Massachusetts Electric Company
WGL Holdings, Inc.
Wisconsin Electric Power Company
Wisconsin Energy Corporation
Wisconsin Gas LLC
Wisconsin Power and Light Company
Wisconsin Public Service Corporation
Xcel Energy Inc.
Yankee Gas Services Company
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Regulated Electric
and Gas Utilities published in August 2009. Please see the Credit
Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
The below contact information is provided for information purposes only.
Please see the ratings tab of the issuer page at www.moodys.com,
for each of the ratings covered, Moody's disclosures on the
lead analyst and the Moody's legal entity that has issued the ratings.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Michael G Haggarty
Senior Vice President
Infrastructure Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
William L. Hess
MD - Utilities
Infrastructure Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
