NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 14, 2002--Standard&Poor's said today that it assigned a preliminary rating of triple-'B'-plus to the $1 billion Rule 415 SEC shelf registration filed by Xcel Energy Inc. When added to the existing shelf of $400 million, security issuance capacity increases to $1.4 billion. The shelf registration is for the issuance of debt securities or common stock. Standard&Poor's recently placed its ratings on Xcel (A-/A-2) and its subsidiaries on CreditWatch with negative implications. At the same time, the ratings on Xcel's subsidiary NRG Energy Inc. (BBB-/--) were placed on CreditWatch with positive implications. The CreditWatch listing affects about $13 billion of debt--about $4.5 billion of Xcel's regulated electric utilities and $8.5 billion
