Paducah Power System management says a new credit rating by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services is “very good news” and a positive development in the beleaguered utility’s rate recovery efforts.
PPS rates skyrocketed after it cut ties with the Tennessee Valley Authority and invested millions in the Prairie State Energy Campus coal-fired power plant.
S&P gave Paducah Power an “A-” rating – the same grade given recently to the Kentucky Municipal Power Agency. PPS makes up 84 percent of KMPA.
"The rating sends a message of confidence to the vendors we do business with and to potential business partners who may be interested in buying or leasing our excess power generation," said PPS general manager Gary Zheng in a news release.
The new rating from S&P comes less than two weeks after the utility received a revenue bond rating downgrade from Moody’s Investors Service. But PPS officials were also encouraged by that adjustment, saying it was better than a December downgrade from Fitch Ratings.
The utility’s rate recovery plan aims to save $4.7 million this fiscal year and provide rate relief to customers by July 1.