Public Power Credit Ratings An analyst roundtable with Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings and Moody's

摘要

The electric indeser has always been capital intensive. If a utility has a good credit rating, it's like money in the bank. Faced with possible expensive upgrades and new construction, public power utilities are especially concerned about their ratings right now. How is a utility given a credit rating, and what does it have to do to get a good one? We invited three analysts, one each from the top three rating services, to clue us in on some of the basics for public power utilities entering the capital markets. Participating in our roundtable are:Peter Murphy, a director at Standard & Poor's ratings services, and the head of S&P's public power and cooperatives group; Karl H. Pfeil III, managing director, public finance, at Fitch Ratings; and Danial Aschenbach, senior vice president in Moody's infrastructure finance team.