Xcel Energy 2009 Annual Report Download - page 108

Money Pool — Xcel Energy and its utility subsidiaries have established a utility money pool arrangement that allows for
short-term investments in and borrowings from the utility subsidiaries between each other. The Holding Company may
make investments in the utility subsidiaries at market-based interest rates. However, the money pool arrangement does
not allow the utility subsidiaries to make investments in the Holding Company. At Dec. 31, 2009 and 2008, Xcel
Energy and its utility subsidiaries had money pool investments outstanding of $84.0 million and $104.5 million,
respectively. The money pool balances are eliminated upon consolidation. The weighted average interest rates at
Dec. 31, 2009 and 2008 were 0.36 percent and 3.48 percent, respectively.
6. Long-Term Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments
Credit Facilities — At Dec. 31, 2009, Xcel Energy and its utility subsidiaries had the following committed credit
facilities available:
Facility Drawn(a) Available Original Term Maturity
(Millions of Dollars)
NSP-Minnesota ....................... $ 482 $ 6 $ 476 Five year December 2011
PSCo .............................. 675 99 576 Five year December 2011
SPS............................... 248 10 238 Five year December 2011
Xcel Energy — Holding Company ........... 772 365 407 Five year December 2011
NSP-Wisconsin(b) ......................———
Total ............................. $2,177 $480 $1,697
(a) Includes direct borrowings, outstanding commercial paper and issued and outstanding letters of credit.
(b) NSP-Wisconsin does not have a separate credit facility; however, it has a borrowing agreement with NSP-Minnesota.
The lines of credit provide short-term financing in the form of notes payable to banks, letters of credit and back-up
support for commercial paper borrowings. Xcel Energy and its utility subsidiaries have the right to request an extension
of the final maturity date by one year. The maturity extension is subject to majority bank group approval.
• Each credit facility has one financial covenant requiring that the debt-to-total-capitalization ratio of each entity
be less than or equal to 65 percent. Each entity was in compliance at Dec. 31, 2009 and 2008 as evidenced by
the table below:
Debt-to-total
capitalization ratio
2009 2008
NSP-Minnesota ..................................................... 48% 50%
PSCo ............................................................ 45 42
SPS............................................................. 49 52
Xcel Energy — Holding Company ......................................... 15 16
If Xcel Energy or any of its utility subsidiaries do not comply with the covenant, it is deemed an event of
default and any outstanding amounts due under the facility can be declared due by the lender.
• Each credit facility has a cross default provision that provides the borrower will be in default on its borrowings
under the facility if any of its subsidiaries, comprising more than 15 percent of the consolidated assets, defaults
on any of its indebtedness greater than $50 million.
• The interest rates under these lines of credit are based on either the agent bank’s prime rate or the applicable
LIBOR, plus a borrowing margin based on the applicable debt rating. Based on our current credit ratings, the
borrowing margin is 35 basis points for Xcel Energy, PSCo and SPS, and 25 basis points for NSP-Minnesota.
• The commitment fees, also based on applicable debt ratings, are calculated on the unused portion of the lines of
credit at 8 basis points per year for Xcel Energy, PSCo and SPS, and at 6 basis points per year for
NSP-Minnesota.
• At Dec. 31, 2009, the credit facilities were used to provide backup for $459.0 million of commercial paper
outstanding and $21.0 million of letters of credit. At Dec. 31, 2008, Xcel Energy had short-term borrowings of
$125.0 million on this line of credit. In addition, the credit facilities were used to provide backup for
$330.3 million of commercial paper outstanding and $23.0 million of letters of credit.
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