Evergy Kansas South Inc.

The stable outlook on EKS reflects that on its ultimate parent, Evergy Inc. This reflects our base-case scenario that Evergy's regulated utility operations will continue to generate sufficient cash flow to maintain adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt of 16%-17% from 2019 through 2021. This range places the company just below the midpoint of our financial risk profile assessment of significant. The outlook also reflects our expectation of a stronger business risk profile and a clear path to realizing proposed synergies that result in operational improvements and cost savings. Further enhancing the business risk profile is the now almost full ownership of the Wolf Creek nuclear plant, strengthening control and leading to additional operating efficiencies. We could lower the

...S&P Global Ratings expects Evergy Kansas South Inc.'s (EKS's) cash flow to remain stable over the forecast period. We expect EKS, formerly known as Kansas Gas & Electric Co., to maintain stable margins over the coming years, with minimal revenue growth. EKS's strong financial measures bolster the intermediate financial risk profile during a rate-case moratorium.EKS's financial measures are expected to be comfortably in the middle of the intermediate financial risk profile category through 2022, providing the company with a cushion during the five-year rate-case moratorium. Limited upcoming debt maturities provide a cushion for unexpected cash outflows. EKS's next long-term debt maturity is $50 million due in 2023, allowing the utility to direct its cash flow toward capital expenditures, among other things, in the near term....

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