AltaLink L.P.

The stable outlook on ALP reflects that of ultimate parent company Berkshire Hathaway Energy Inc. (BHE). The stable outlook on BHE over the next 24 months reflects S&P Global Ratings' expectation that management will continue to focus on its core utility operations and reach constructive regulatory outcomes supporting the existing business risk profile. Although BHE has used significant debt leverage for acquisitions and capital investments, we expect credit measures to strengthen modestly, supporting the current rating. Under our base-case forecast, we expect adjusted FFO to debt to average about 14%-16.5% over the next few years. We could lower the ratings on ALP and BHE if BHE's core financial measures continuously underperform our base-case forecast and remain consistently at less credit-supportive

...We expect AltaLink L.P. (ALP) to effectively manage regulatory risk, supporting our assessment of its excellent business risk profile. This reflects the company's essential transmission operations under a generally credit-supportive framework in Alberta, Canada. We expect ALP's forecast credit metrics to remain comfortably within the range for the significant financial risk profile category. On a forward-looking basis, we forecast adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt to average in the range of 11%-12%, evaluated using our low-volatility financial benchmark tables....

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