Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' ratings on PSEG Power LLC reflect the credit profile of parent Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG). The credit risk of U.S. utility holding company PSEG is a blend of PSEG Power's exposure to merchant power, offset by the regulated operations of utility subsidiary Public Service Electric&Gas Co. (PSE&G), which we categorize as having an "excellent" business risk profile under our criteria. Given various insulation provisions that shelter the rest of the PSEG companies from its business activities, we consider subsidiary PSEG Resources LLC (Resources) as an equity investment, and thus not core to PSEG's ongoing business strategy. As of Dec. 31, 2011, PSEG (excluding Resources) had about $7.0 billion of balance sheet