Our issuer rating on KeySpan Gas East Corp. (KEDLI), a core subsidiary of ultimate parent National Grid PLC (NG), reflects its stand-alone credit profile and is derived from the following characteristics: KEDLI's anchor rating of 'a' based on our "excellent" business risk profile and "intermediate" financial risk profile assessments using our low volatility table. We assigned KEDLI the lower of the two anchor outcomes because we view its business risk profile to be at the lower end of the "excellent" range due to limited geographic diversity; A country risk score that we consider "very low" risk because all the utility's operations are carried out in the U.S.; An industry risk score that we consider "very low" risk, reflecting the low-risk
