MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) May 7, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said that its 'A-' long-term rating and stable outlook on ETSA Utilities Finance Pty Ltd., the financing arm of South Australia's sole electricity distributor ETSA Utilities Ltd. (ETSA), are unaffected by the Australian Energy Regulator's final decision on ETSA's price reset for the period July 2010 to July 2015. The final decision was largely in line with the draft outcome of November 2009; at that time, Standard&Poor's had assessed that the draft decision did not represent a risk to the credit profile of ETSA. We expect ETSA to operate within the bounds of the regulator's approved operating and capital expenditure for the company, and maintain adequate
