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S&P upgrades Alabama Power, Nicor Gas

S&P Global Ratings on Sept. 12 upgraded the issuer credit ratings for Alabama Power Co. and Northern Illinois Gas Co. to A from A-, with a negative outlook.

Both utilities also saw their commercial paper ratings upgraded by one notch to A-1 from A-2.

The rating agency also affirmed Georgia Power Co. and Southern Electric Generating Co.'s outlook at negative and removed the four Southern Co. subsidiaries from "under criteria observation."

The upgrades for Alabama Power and Northern Illinois Gas, or Nicor, reflect the view that "the companies separateness, the strength of the cumulative value of the regulatory protections in place, and our assessment of [Alabama Power's and Nicor's stand-alone credit profiles], under our revised criteria, as sufficient to rate these utilities up to one notch higher than their group credit profile," S&P Global Ratings said.

According to the ratings action, the negative outlook on Alabama Power and Nicor Gas reflects Ratings' view that lower ratings could stem from either a ratings downgrade of parent Southern or should fundamental factors underpinning the utilities' stand-alone credit profiles weaken.

The negative outlook on Georgia Power reflects the risks tied to the complexity of the nuclear expansion project at the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Plant units 3 and 4.

This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.