East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. Issuer Credit Rating Raised To 'A' From 'A-' On Strong Debt Service Coverage

NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) April 3, 2017--S&P Global Ratings has raised its issuer credit rating on East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. (EKPC) to 'A' from 'A-'. The outlook is stable. "The upgrade reflects a track record of strong debt service coverage during the past five years, a significant departure from insufficient coverage before," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst David Bodek. We believe that the recent years' strong coverage and improving debt-to-capitalization indicate management's commitment to responding to the regulator's directives to focus on improving financial performance. The EKPC is a generation and transmission cooperative. Its 16-member distribution cooperatives serve more than 530,000 retail customers in 87 of Kentucky's 120 counties. In 2015, the cooperative produced 8,619 gigawatt hours

...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) April 3, 2017--S&P Global Ratings has raised its issuer credit rating on East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. (EKPC) to 'A' from 'A-'. The outlook is stable. "The upgrade reflects a track record of strong debt service coverage during the past five years, a significant departure from insufficient coverage before," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst David Bodek. We believe that the recent years' strong coverage and improving debt-to-capitalization indicate management's commitment to responding to the regulator's directives to focus on improving financial performance. The EKPC is a generation and transmission cooperative. Its 16-member distribution cooperatives serve more than 530,000 retail customers in 87 of Kentucky's 120 counties. In 2015, the cooperative produced 8,619 gigawatt hours (GWh) or 65% of the 13,201 GWh it sold. Self-production has fallen from 80% in 2014, 86% in 2012 and 91% in 2011. The variations reflect planned and unplanned outages, in...

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