California Water Service Company's Debt Rating Lowered by Moody's.Business Editors SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 2002 Moody's Investors Service Moody's Investors Service A leading global credit rating, research and risk analysis firm. Moody's Investors Service A leading firm engaged in credit rating, risk analysis, and research of fixed-income securities and their issuers. announced today that it has lowered California Water Service Company's debt rating from Aa3 to A1, citing continued delays by the California Public Utilities Commission The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC; also often commonly referred to as simply the PUC) [1] is a state Public Utilities Commission which regulates privately-owned utilities in the state of California, including electric power, (Commission) in granting rate relief and ongoing capital spending capital spending Spending for long-term assets such as factories, equipment, machinery, and buildings that permits the production of more goods and services in future years. requirements as its primary reasons for the decision. California Water Service Company (Cal Water) is the largest subsidiary of California Water Service Group (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :CWT cwt 112 pounds avoirdupois weight. ). Moody's previously placed the Company's debt rating on "review" status on October 3, 2002. "Prior to this decision, the Company had the highest debt rating in the water industry. Of course, we do not like to lose such a distinction, but we do understand Moody's concerns about regulatory delays," said Cal Water Chief Financial Officer Gerald F. Feeney. "We have worked proactively to blunt the effects of a difficult regulatory climate regulatory climate The extent to which a regulated firm or industry is permitted to earn an adequate return on the stockholders' investment. This term is nearly always used in reference to utilities, which are required to obtain approval for rate changes. , and we believe our improved 2002 results are evidence that those efforts are yielding dividends," he said. According to Feeney, the Company will continue to seek fair and reasonable rate relief to build stockholder value. California Water Service Group is the parent company of California Water Service Company, Washington Water Service Company, New Mexico Water Service Company, and CWS CWS Chicago White Sox CWS College World Series CWS Church World Service CWS Child Welfare Services CWS Canadian Wildlife Service CWS Community Water System (EPA) CWS Canada-Wide Standard CWS Compressed Work Schedule Utility Services. The subsidiaries provide regulated and non-regulated water service to over 1.7 million people in 98 communities. The Company's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. under the symbol "CWT." This news release contains forward-looking statements intended to qualify for "safe harbor" within the meaning of the Federal securities laws as established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995. Such statements are based on currently available information, expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections, and management's judgment about California Water Service Group, the water utility industry and general economic conditions. Words such as "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "anticipates" or variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may vary materially from what is contained in a forward-looking statement. Factors which may cause a result different than expected or anticipated include: governmental and regulatory commissions' decisions, changes in regulatory commissions' policies or procedures, the timeliness of regulatory commissions' actions concerning rate relief, new legislation, electric power interruption, increases in suppliers' prices and the availability of supplies, changes in environmental compliance requirements, acquisitions, the ability to successfully implement business plans, changes in customer water use patterns and the impact of weather on operating results, especially as it impacts water sales. The Company assumes no obligation to provide public updates of forward-looking statements. Additional information is available at the Company's web site at www.calwater.com. |
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