NEW YORK – Standard & Poor’s has raised its underlying rating on Narragansett Bay Commission revenue bonds to “AA-” from its previous “A+” rating, the sewage-treatment utility said today.
In its decision, the ratings agency cited the commission’s large and diverse service area, its strong financial performance and its access to low-interest debt via the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund. (READ MORE)
“This rating by Standard & Poor’s underscores the NBC’s excellent financial record, and will enable us to continue to make important improvements to our clean-water infrastructure at the lowest possible cost to our ratepayers,” Raymond J. Marshall, the utility’s executive director since the beginning of 2007, said in a midday statement.
The sewage-treatment authority has a balanced budget for fiscal 2009, despite expenditures projected to grow 4.6 percent compared with FY 2008, Marshall’s office said. To meet those rising expenses, and its declining industrial customer base, the Narragansett Bay Commission plans an 11.2-percent rate increase in FY 2009. Despite the rate-hike – already approved by the R.I. Public Utilities Commission – its rates are expected to remain below the statewide average, the utility said.
S&P said the system’s high liquidity will stand it in good stead as the commission gears up for two major capital projects: Phase Two of the combined sewer overflow remediation, estimated at $168 million; and nitrogen removal at its two treatment facilities, expected to cost $124 million.
Earlier this year, the commission’s division of planning, policy and regulation recently was honored for its environmental-protection efforts with a National Environmental Achievement Award, awarded in May by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies National, the utility notes on its Web site.
The Narragansett Bay Commission, based in Providence, provides sewage-treatment services 10 communities in the Greater Providence area and the Blackstone Valley via its Field’s Point and Bucklin Point wastewater treatment facilities. Its service area includes about 360,000 residents and 8,000 businesses. Additional information is available at www.NarraBay.com.
Standard & Poor’s – a member of The McGraw-Hill Cos. – is a provider of financial research, credit ratings and risk analysis. Additional information, including S&P scores for Rhode Island and other bonds, is available at www.StandardAndPoors.com.
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