Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'BBB-' underlying rating to municipal gas utility Philadelphia Gas Works' (PGW) $320 million sixth series refunding bonds. PGW is issuing these bonds to refund previously issued bonds under the 1998 senior ordinance. Standard&Poor's also affirmed its 'BBB-' ratings on PGW's series 1975 and series 1998 senior lien revenue bonds and its 'BB+' ratings on PGW's series 1998 subordinate lien bonds. The outlook is negative. As of Aug. 31, 2005, the utility had $1.16 billion of outstanding debt. The ratings on PGW reflect the service territory's weak demographics, resulting poor collections of billed revenues that have recently shown improvement following the legislative enactment of more stringent collection tools, the utility's high leverage,
