Moody's ups Scana, cuts PSNC

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded the long-term ratings of Scana Corp. to Baa3 from Ba1 and Dominion Energy South Carolina, Inc. to Baa2 from Baa3 At the same time, the senior unsecured ratings for Public Service Co. of North Carolina, Inc. were downgraded to Baa1 from A3, due to a weakened financial profile. The outlooks for the three companies are stable.

“DESC's rating upgrade reflects the $875 million equity infusion received from parent Dominion Energy, the retirement of approximately $1 billion of debt and a pending rate case proceeding, which should bring further financial improvement,” said Ryan Wobbrock. a Moody’s vice president and senior credit officer, in a press release. “DESC's stronger financial metrics will have a direct impact on the credit quality of Scana as well, since we expect DESC will represent about 90% of SCANA's cash flow going forward.”

The downgrade for PSNC is the result of a weakened financial profile, where the ratio of cash flow to debt is expected to remain in the 14-17% range over the next three years, down from a historical average of about 27% (from 2012-2017), the agency said.

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