Wisconsin Gas LLC (WG) benefits from various credit-supportive recovery mechanisms in Wisconsin, including forward-looking test periods that support stable and predictable operating cash flow and mitigate regulatory lag. Higher capital spending including about $180 million in 2019 is leading to discretionary cash flow that is negative. The capital spending includes new information technology to improve billing, call center, and credit collection functions. The stable outlook on WG is based on S&P Global Ratings' expectation that management will continue to focus on core utility operations and reach constructive regulatory outcomes to avoid any meaningful increase in business risk. The outlook also reflects our base-case scenario of adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt averaging around 20%, which is in line with
