Grade

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) is casting a wary eye on gas-weighted North American producers with low-speculative-grade ratings. Such firms could face downgrades if gas prices fall below $6.50/Mcf, S&P warned in a note last week, but it conceded that gas prices should see support from fundamentals.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) is casting a wary eye on gas-weighted North American producers with low-speculative-grade ratings. Such firms could face downgrades if gas prices fall below $6.50/Mcf, S&P warned in a note Monday, but it conceded that gas prices should see support in the near term.

The Department of Energy (DOE) gets a failing grade when it comes to meeting its statutory obligation to issue rules on minimum energy efficiency standards for consumer products and industrial equipment, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The poor performance could cost the nation billions of dollars in lost savings, it said.

The Department of Energy (DOE) gets a failing grade when it comes to meeting its statutory obligation to issue rules on minimum energy efficiency standards for consumer products and industrial equipment, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The poor performance could cost the nation billions in lost savings, it said.

While generally the investment-grade utilities and power companies represent a majority of the latest annual rankings from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, vertically integrated utilities for the most part get average or below-average ratings on a 1-to-10 scale for their respective business profiles. S&P released the listing last Friday, noting that within one of five industry sub-sectors, the companies were ranked by their relative corporate credit rating and outlook, then by their relative credit strength within the same rating and outlook profile.

Dynegy Inc.’s speculative grade liquidity rating was raised a notch this week by Moody’s Investors Service, which noted that the company has “substantial” liquidity back up, but possibly weaker operating cash flow for the next 12-24 months.

A number of leading mainstream newspapers across the nation, both conservative and liberal, have come out in opposition to the Republican-crafted omnibus energy bill, calling it a mishmash of tax breaks and subsidies for special interest groups rather than a serious stab at bolstering energy supplies and infrastructure. They urged the Senate to filibuster the measure and go back to the drawing board.

The financial storm enveloping Aquila Corp. — cuts in its credit rating to below investment grade, forced asset sales, restructuring of its operations and widespread federal investigations into its trading — will have “possible negative impacts” on the company’s regulated natural gas distribution facilities and power utilities in Missouri, but an immediate rate hike doesn’t appear to be in the cards for customers, according to a Missouri Public Service Commission staff report.

The below-investment-grade credit ratings plaguing many energy suppliers right now have substantially shrunk the pool of natural gas suppliers that California can tap to meet the 15 Bcf annual supply needs of a coalition of major state and local government facilities, which aggregate their loads through the state General Services Department’s gas-buying program.