London -- Standard & Poor's CreditWire 9/16/98 -- In line with the downgrade of the sovereign rating of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Standard & Poor's today lowered its issuer credit ratings on JSC Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Co., the country's electricity transmission grid company, to double-'B'-minus from double-'B'-plus local currency and to single-'B'-plus from double-'B'-minus foreign currency. At the same time, Standard & Poor's revised the outlook to negative from stable. -- CreditWire