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Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments [Abstract]  
Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments
7.
Borrowings and Other Financing Instruments

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
March 31, 2013
  
Twelve Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
 
Borrowing limit
 $100  $100 
Amount outstanding at period end
  20   - 
Average amount outstanding
  2   10 
Maximum amount outstanding
  30   63 
Weighted average interest rate, computed on a daily basis
  0.34 %  0.33 %
Weighted average interest rate at period end
  0.34   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
March 31, 2013
  
Twelve Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
 
Borrowing limit
 $300  $300 
Amount outstanding at period end
  16   9 
Average amount outstanding
  28   18 
Maximum amount outstanding
  49   106 
Weighted average interest rate, computed on a daily basis
  0.34 %  0.39 %
Weighted average interest rate at period end
  0.34   0.36 

Letters of Credit — SPS may use letters of credit, generally with terms of one-year, to provide financial guarantees for certain operating obligations. At March 31, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2012, there were no letters of credit outstanding.

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 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 March 31, 2013, SPS had the following committed credit facility available (in millions):

Credit Facility (a)
  
Drawn (b)
  
Available
 
$300.0  $16.0  $284.0 

(a)
Credit facility expires in July 2017.
(b)
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, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2012.