Moody's changes Entergy view to negative

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed the ratings of Entergy Corp. and its two Louisiana-based utilities Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy New Orleans, LLC. And changed their outlooks to negative from stable.

The negative outlooks follow an 8-K filing on Tuesday, which indicated that restoration costs for the repair and/or replacement of the electrical facilities damaged by Hurricane Ida are estimated to be in the range of $2.1 billion to $2.6 billion, higher than the agency said it had originally anticipated.

"The physical effects of climate change continue to cause significant damage to Entergy's Louisiana service territory, with over $4.5 billion of total storm costs for Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans combined over the past 13 months," said Ryan Wobbrock, a Moody’s vice president and senior credit officer, in a press release.

"These added costs will place incremental pressure on customer bills––increasing risks related to customer relations and potential political intervention into rate making––and could keep Entergy's financial performance lower for longer," added Wobbrock.

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