American Water's Corporate Credit Rating Receives Upgrade from Moody's

American Water's Corporate Credit Rating Receives Upgrade from Moody's

VOORHEES, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYS: AWK) , the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company, announced today that Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) upgraded American Water and its subsidiary, American Water Capital Corp., from Baa2 to Baa1. Moody's also upgraded the mortgage bonds at New Jersey American Water Co. and Pennsylvania American Water Co. from Baa1 to A3 and revised the outlook from positive to stable.

The Moody's upgrade follows last week's upgrade reported by Standard & Poor's (S&P). S&P upgraded the corporate credit rating on American Water and its subsidiaries, American Water Capital Corp., New Jersey American Water Co., and Pennsylvania American Water Co., from 'BBB+' to 'A-' with a stable outlook.

"We are pleased by these decisions to upgrade," said Jeff Sterba, president and chief executive officer of American Water. "Just as last week's S&P decision was good news for our customers, so is Moody's decision. Lower debt costs enhance our access to capital and ability to make needed repairs and upgrades to our water systems. This is all about ensuring reliable water service for the millions of people we serve."

Founded in 1886, American Water is the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. With headquarters in Voorhees, N.J., the company employs approximately 6,700 dedicated professionals who provide drinking water, wastewater and other related services to an estimated 14 million people in more than 30 states and parts of Canada. More information can be found at www.amwater.com.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are predictions based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding future events and relate to, among other things, our future financial performance in 2013, including earnings, our growth strategies, our ability to finance current operations and growth initiatives, trends in our industry, regulatory or legal developments or rate adjustments. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as the decisions of governmental and regulatory bodies, including decisions to raise or lower rates; the timeliness of regulatory commissions' actions concerning rates; changes in laws, governmental regulations and policies, including environmental, health and water quality and public utility regulations and policies; weather conditions, patterns or events, including drought or abnormally high rainfall; changes in customer demand for, and patterns of use of, water, such as may result from conservation efforts; our ability to appropriately maintain current infrastructure and manage the expansion of our business; our ability to obtain permits for projects; changes in our capital requirements; our ability to control operating expenses and to achieve efficiencies in our operations; our ability to obtain adequate and cost-effective supplies of chemicals, electricity, fuel, water and other raw materials that are needed for our operations; our ability to successfully acquire and integrate water and wastewater systems that are complementary to our operations and the growth of our business; cost overruns relating to improvements or the expansion of our operations; changes in general economic, business and financial market conditions; significant changes to our business processes and corresponding technology; access to sufficient capital on satisfactory terms; fluctuations in interest rates; restrictive covenants in or changes to the credit ratings on our current or future debt that could increase our financing costs or affect our ability to borrow, make payments on debt or pay dividends; fluctuations in the value of benefit plan assets and liabilities that could increase our cost and funding requirements; the incurrence of impairment charges; migration of customers into or out of our service territories; difficulty in obtaining insurance at acceptable rates and on acceptable terms and conditions; ability to retain and attract qualified employees; and civil disturbance, labor strikes or terrorist threats or acts or public apprehension about future disturbances or terrorist threats or acts.

For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with American Water's business, please refer to American Water's annual, quarterly and periodic SEC filings. The Company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement.

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American Water Works Company, Inc.
Edward Vallejo
Vice President, Investor Relations
856-566-4005
edward.vallejo@amwater.com
or
Maureen Duffy
Vice President, Communications
856-309-4546
maureen.duffy@amwater.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America New Jersey

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