Lower-risk regulated natural gas distribution operations; Effective management of regulatory risk; and Smaller than average customer base of about 550,000 gas distribution customers in the greater New York City area. We assess the company's financial measures using our medial volatility table, reflecting the company's lower-risk, rate-regulated gas distribution operations and effective management of regulatory risk; Despite elevated capital spending and tax reform, we expect the company to maintain financial measures within the higher half of the range for the significant financial risk profile category, reflecting the company's 2017 rate case increase and customer growth; and Continued negative discretionary cash flow, indicating external funding needs over the forecast period. The stable outlook on KeySpan Gas East Corp. (KGE) reflects S&P Global
