US Unregulated Utilities Outlook: High prices benefit sector
The outlook change to stable from negative reflects near term high natural gas prices balanced against ample supplies.
- Rising demand drives high natural gas and power prices but sustainability of current prices is uncertain given ample supplies
- Declining capacity prices will partially offset net energy margin gains, leaving gas-fired peaking plants most at risk
- ERCOT and CAISO remain vulnerable to reliability issues
- Continuing shift to renewables and lower carbon emissions represents a longer term risk to existing fossil generation
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SpeakersAngelo J. Sabatelle Associate Managing Director, Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings
Clifford Kim Vice President-Senior Credit Officer, Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service
Gayle Podurgiel Vice President – Senior Analyst, Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service
Toby Shea Vice President - Senior Credit Officer, Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings
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A.J. Sabatelle is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Group where he manages the Project Finance Team for the Americas, including Latin America and Canada. A.J. also acts as a rating chair across all segments of the Global Infrastructure and Project Finance franchise, is a member of the Infrastructure Finance Franchise Committee and a member of the Global Infrastructure Focus Editorial Board.
A.J. joined Moody’s in 1997. For most of tenure at Moody’s, A.J. has been responsible for assigning ratings to and monitoring issuers across the electric power industry, including electric and gas utilities, independent power companies, and project finance transactions throughout North and South America. He has authored numerous research and rating methodology pieces covering the infrastructure and project finance sectors.
Prior to joining Moody’s, A.J. was a First Vice President and Manager of Mellon Bank’s Utilities and Project Finance Group. Before that, he was a Relationship Manager at Mellon Bank; and previously at Irving Trust Company, where in both cases he handled a portfolio of U.S. utility and energy companies.
A.J. holds an MBA in Finance from Stern School of Business at New York University and a AB in Economics from Columbia College, Columbia University.
Clifford Kim is a Vice President-Senior Credit Officer in the Global Infrastructure Finance Group. His responsibilities include assigning new ratings to power and infrastructure projects. He also serves as the lead analyst for project issuers including both fossil and renewable based power plants and a portfolio of public power issuers located in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. He has also authored Moody’s US Joint Action Agencies methodology and the ‘Breezing Past P50’ special comment on wind projects.
Prior to joining Moody’s, he was an Associate Director in the Credit Risk Management group at WestLB AG responsible for the infrastructure, metals & mining, and hospitality sectors.
He holds a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania with a dual concentration in finance and management and is a CFA charterholder.
Gayle Podurgiel is a Vice President – Senior Analyst in Moody’s Global Project and Infrastructure Finance team based in New York. Gayle serves as lead credit rating analyst for a portfolio of debt issuers including public power utilities, community choice aggregators and joint action agencies. She also covers project issuers including fossil and renewable power generation plants, liquified natural gas projects and other commodity-linked generic project finance debt financings. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2018, Gayle was a vice president in equity research at Credit Suisse covering metals & mining stocks. She also held research roles at Standard and Poor’s covering natural resources corporate debt and at T. Rowe Price supporting coverage of investment grade utility and pipeline bonds. Gayle earned her MBA and Finance MS at the University of Maryland and her BBA at James Madison University in Virginia. She is a CFA charter holder.
Toby Shea is a Vice President - Senior Credit Officer in the Moody’s Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Group. He is responsible for a portfolio of electric and gas utilities.
Prior to joining Moody’s, Toby worked for more than 15 years in the field of credit risk relating to energy and commodities, including Senior Credit Manager at Noble Group, Head of Credit and Portfolio Analytics at RBS Sempra and Director at Standard & Poor’s.
Toby graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and M.A. in International Relations from Tufts University’s Fletcher School.