Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments [Abstract]

Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments

6.Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments

 

Commercial Paper - SPS 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 SPS:

(Amounts in Millions, Except Interest Rates)	Three Months Ended March 31, 2012			Twelve Months Ended Dec. 31, 2011
Borrowing limit	$	300		$	300
Amount outstanding at period end		26			-
Average amount outstanding		13			54
Maximum amount outstanding		50			161
Weighted average interest rate, computed on a daily basis		0.39	%		0.37	%
Weighted average interest rate at period end		0.40			N/A

Credit Facility - In order to use its commercial paper program to fulfill short-term funding needs, SPS 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 the credit agreement.  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 March 31, 2012, SPS had the following committed credit facility available (in millions of dollars):

Credit Facility		Drawn (a)		Available
$	300.0	$	26.0	$	274.0

(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.  SPS had no direct advances on the credit facility outstanding at March 31, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2011.

Letters of Credit - SPS uses letters of credit, generally with terms of one-year, to provide financial guarantees for certain operating obligations.  At March 31, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2011, there were no letters of credit outstanding.

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 utility money pool arrangement does not allow the utility subsidiaries to make investments in Xcel Energy Inc.  The following table presents the money pool borrowings for SPS:

(Amounts in Millions, Except Interest Rates)	Three Months Ended March 31, 2012			Twelve Months Ended Dec. 31, 2011
Borrowing limit	$	100		$	100
Amount outstanding at period end		31			5
Average amount outstanding		26			12
Maximum amount outstanding		63			71
Weighted average interest rate, computed on a daily basis		0.32	%		0.35	%
Weighted average interest rate at period end		0.33			0.35