Moody’s upgrades CMS Energy to Baa1

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded CMS Energy Corp.’s senior unsecured ratings to Baa1 from Baa2 and its electric and gas utility subsidiary Consumers Energy Co.’s senior unsecured shelf to provisional A2 from provisional A3), and revised the outlook for both issuers to stable.

Concurrently, consistent with the improved credit quality of Consumers, the agency upgraded its short-term rating for commercial paper to P-1.

"Today's upgrades recognize the continued strong financial performance that has been demonstrated by both Consumers and CMS as the companies invest meaningfully in their systems while controlling costs and benefiting from a supportive relationship with their regulator," Moody’s vice president, senior credit officer Laura Schumacher said in a news release.

The agency also said the upgrades consider ongoing modest deleveraging that is slowly reducing CMS consolidated debt and bringing its holding company debt to a level that, while still substantial, is commensurate with some other utility families with similar ratings.

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