Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments

Short-Term Borrowings

Money Pool — Xcel Energy Inc. and its utility subsidiaries have established a money pool arrangement that allows for short-term investments in and borrowings between the utility subsidiaries. Xcel Energy Inc. 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 Xcel Energy Inc. Money pool borrowings for SPS were as follows:



(Amounts in Millions, Except Interest Rates)	Three Months Ended June 30, 2016			Year Ended Dec. 31, 2015
Borrowing limit	$	100		$	100
Amount outstanding at period end	100			—
Average amount outstanding	50			21
Maximum amount outstanding	100			100
Weighted average interest rate, computed on a daily basis	0.64		%	0.40		%
Weighted average interest rate at period end	0.62			N/A

Commercial Paper — SPS meets its short-term liquidity requirements primarily through the issuance of commercial paper and borrowings under its credit facility. Commercial paper outstanding for SPS was as follows:



(Amounts in Millions, Except Interest Rates)	Three Months Ended June 30, 2016			Year Ended Dec. 31, 2015
Borrowing limit	$	400		$	400
Amount outstanding at period end	25			15
Average amount outstanding	71			100
Maximum amount outstanding	140			246
Weighted average interest rate, computed on a daily basis	0.67		%	0.46		%
Weighted average interest rate at period end	0.65			0.60

Letters of Credit — SPS uses letters of credit, generally with terms of one year, to provide financial guarantees for certain operating obligations. At June 30, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2015, there were $7 million of letters of credit outstanding under the credit facility. The contract amounts of these letters of credit approximate their fair value and are subject to fees.

Credit Facility — In order to use its commercial paper program, SPS must have a 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 credit facility capacity. 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 June 30, 2016, SPS had the following committed credit facility available (in millions of dollars):



Credit Facility ^(a)		Drawn ^(b)		Available
$	400	$	32	$	368


^(a)	This credit facility expires in June 2021.


^(b)	Includes outstanding commercial paper and letters of credit.

All credit facility bank borrowings, outstanding letters of credit and outstanding commercial paper reduce the available capacity under the credit facility. SPS had no direct advances on the credit facility outstanding at June 30, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2015.

Amended Credit Agreements - In June 2016, SPS entered into an amended five-year credit agreement with a syndicate of banks. The total borrowing limit under the amended credit agreement remained at $400 million. The amended credit agreement has substantially the same terms and conditions as the prior credit agreement with the following exceptions:


•	The maturity extended from October 2019 to June 2021.


•	The Eurodollar borrowing margins on these lines of credit were reduced to a range of 75 to 150 basis points per year, from a range of 87.5 to 175 basis points per year, based upon applicable long-term credit ratings.


•	The commitment fees, calculated on the unused portion of the lines of credit, were reduced to a range of 6 to 22.5 basis points per year, from a range of 7.5 to 27.5 basis points per year, also based on applicable long-term credit ratings.

SPS has the right to request an extension of the revolving credit facility termination date for two additional one-year periods, subject to majority bank group approval.