MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) March 24, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said that it had assigned its 'A-' long-term ratings to ETSA Utilities Finance Pty Ltd.'s (A-/Stable/NR) A$1 billion medium-term notes (MTN) program and its proposed maiden A$250 million bond issue. ETSA Utilities Finance Pty Ltd. is the financing arm of ETSA Utilities (collectively ETSA). The fixed-rate senior unsecured notes are expected to be issued with a coupon of 6.75% and a tenor of 5.5 years. The proceeds of the bond issue are to partially fund ETSA Utilities' capital expenditure requirements for approximately the next 12 months. The 'A-/Stable' corporate credit rating on ETSA, the sole electricity distributor in the state of South Australia (AAA/Stable/A-1+), reflects our view of