S&P lowers Duke Energy view to negative

S&P said it affirmed the ratings on Duke Energy Corp. and all of its rated subsidiaries.

The agency also said it revised the outlook on Duke and all of its subsidiaries to negative from stable.

The agency said it lowered the stand-alone credit profile for subsidiary Duke Energy Carolinas LLC to A from A+, reflecting expectations for weaker stand-alone financial measures.

S&P said it expects a weakening of Duke Energy's financial measures compared to previous expectations due to recent storm costs and uncertainty about coal ash recovery in South Carolina.

The negative outlook considers an expectation that Duke's financial measures may not be consistently above the downgrade threshold of FFO-to-debt of greater than 15%, S&P explained.

The company is facing several headwinds, including coal ash risks, project delays, regulatory lag and high capital spending that could pressure and weaken its financial measures over the next 12- to 24-months, the agency said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.