NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 4, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it finalized its 'BBB' corporate credit ratings on Duke Energy Corp. and Duke Power Company LLC, which were preliminary pending the closing of the merger with Cinergy Corp. At the same time, Standard&Poor's lowered its corporate credit rating on Cinergy and its units to 'BBB' from 'BBB+', and removed the ratings from CreditWatch with negative implications. The outlook is stable. "The rating action follows the successful completion of the merger between Duke Energy and Cinergy," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Dimitri Nikas. In the research update on March 30, 2006, Standard&Poor's announced that it expected to execute these rating actions
