NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 9, 2002--Standard&Poor's today assigned its single-'A'-plus rating to Duke Energy Corp.'s (A+/Stable/A-1) $750 million unsecured senior debt to be issued in two tranches: $500 million of senior notes due in January 2012 and $250 million of floating rate notes due in January 2005. The floating rate notes were also assigned an 'A-1' short-term rating. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to repay short-term debt incurred to refinance the $511 million aggregate principal amount of First and Refunding Mortgage bonds that were redeemed early in 2001 and $150 million of debt that matured in 2001. The outlook is stable. The ratings on Duke Energy reflect a consolidated credit assessment methodology
