Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments [Abstract]

Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments

7. Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments

Commercial Paper — NSP-Wisconsin meets its short-term liquidity requirements primarily through the issuance of commercial paper and borrowings under its credit facility.  The following table presents commercial paper outstanding for NSP-Wisconsin:

(Amounts in Millions, Except Interest Rates)	Three Months Ended Sept. 30, 2012			Twelve Months Ended Dec. 31, 2011
Borrowing limit	$	150		$	150
Amount outstandingat period end		99			66
Average amount outstanding		88			24
Maximum amount outstanding		116			70
Weighted average interest rate, computed on a daily basis		0.38	%		0.37	%
Weighted average interest rate at period end		0.38			0.46

Letters of Credit— NSP-Wisconsin may use letters of credit, generally with terms of one-year, to provide financial guarantees for certain operating obligations. At Sept. 30, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2011, there were no letters of credit outstanding.

Credit Facility — In order to use its commercial paper program to fulfill short-term funding needs, NSP-Wisconsin must have a revolving credit facility in place at least equal to the amount of its commercial paper borrowing limit and cannot issue commercial paper in an aggregate amount exceeding available capacity under this credit facility. The line of credit provides short-term financing in the form of notes payable to banks, letters of credit and back-up support for commercial paper borrowings.

At Sept. 30, 2012, NSP-Wisconsin had the following committed credit facility available (in millions of dollars):

Credit Facility		Drawn (a)		Available
$	150.0	$	99.0	$	51.0

(a) Includes outstanding commercial paper.

All credit facility bank borrowings, outstanding letters of credit and outstanding commercial paper reduce the available capacity under the credit facility. NSP-Wisconsin had no direct advances on the credit facility outstanding at Sept. 30, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2011.

Amended Credit Agreement — In July 2012, NSP-Wisconsin entered into an amended five-year credit agreement with a syndicate of banks, replacing the previous four-year credit agreement. The amended credit agreement has substantially the same terms and conditions as the prior credit agreement with an improvement in pricing and an extension of maturity from March 2015 to July 2017. The Eurodollar borrowing margin on the line of credit was reduced from a range of 100 to 200 basis points per year, to a range of 87.5 to 175 basis points per year based on applicable long-term credit ratings. The commitment fees, calculated on the unused portion of the line of credit, were reduced from a range of 10 to 35 basis points per year, to a range of 7.5 to 27.5 basis points per year, also based on applicable long-term credit ratings.

NSP-Wisconsin has the right to request an extension of the revolving termination date for an additional one-year period, subject to majority bank group approval.

Other Short-Term Borrowings — The following table presents the notes payable of Clearwater Investments, Inc., a NSP-Wisconsin subsidiary, to Xcel Energy Inc.:

(Amounts in Millions, Except Interest Rates)	Sept. 30, 2012			Dec. 31, 2011
Notes payable to affiliates	$	0.6		$	0.5
Weighted average interest rate		0.33	%		0.46	%