Moody's flips WPL outlook to negative

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed the ratings of Wisconsin Power and Light Co. and changed its outlook to negative from stable. Parent company Alliant Energy Corp.'s ratings and stable outlook are unchanged.

"WPL's negative outlook reflects Moody's view that its financial ratios may not fully recover from recent weak levels in light of higher debt being issued to fund elevated capital expenditures, slower cash flow growth, and other challenges facing the utility sector, including higher fuel costs," said Nana Hamilton, a Moody’s senior analyst in a press release.

For the last 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2022, WPL's ratio of cash flow from operations excluding working capital changes (CFO pre-WC) to debt was 9.8% (or about 11% adjusting for cash on hand to repay debt), compared to a ratio of 20.5% posted by the utility in 2018.

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