Note 7 - Debt

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Debt Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 7 - Debt

The following table provides maturity dates, year-to-date weighted average interest rates and amounts outstanding for our various debt securities and facilities that are included in our unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Position. For additional information on our debt see Note 7 in our Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes in Item 8 of our 2011 Form 10-K.

	Maturity date range				March 31, 2012					December 31, 2011		March 31, 2011
Dollars in millions	Beginning			End	Weighted average interest rate			Outstanding		Outstanding		Weighted average interest rate			Outstanding
Short-term debt
Commercial paper- AGL Capital	-		-	2012		0.5	%	$	625	$	869		0.4	%	$	25
Commercial paper- Nicor Gas	-		-	2012		0.5			105		452		n/a			n/a
Current portion of long-term debt	-		-	2012		8.3			15		15		n/a			0
Current portion of capital leases	-		-	2012		4.9			2		2		4.9			1
Total short-term debt and current portion of long-term debt and capital leases	-		-			0.6	%	$	747	$	1,338		0.4	%	$	26
Long-term debt – excluding current portion
Senior notes		2013	-	2041		5.1	%	$	2,550	$	2,550		5.5	%	$	1,775
First mortgage bonds		2016	-	2038		5.6			500		500		n/a			n/a
Gas facility revenue bonds		2022	-	2033		1.1			200		200		1.2			200
Medium-term notes		2017	-	2027		7.8			181		181		7.8			196
Capital leases		-	-	2012		n/a			0		0		4.9			2
Total principal long-term debt		-	-			4.9	%	$	3,431	$	3,431		5.3	%	$	2,173
First mortgage bonds fair value adjustment		2016	-	2038		n/a		$	97	$	99		n/a			n/a
Interest rate swaps fair value adjustment		-	-	2016		n/a			12		13		n/a			0
Unamortized debt premium (discount), net		-	-	-		n/a			18		18		n/a			n/a
Total non-principal long-term debt		-	-			n/a		$	127	$	130		n/a		$	0
Total long-term debt		-	-					$	3,558	$	3,561				$	2,173
Total debt		-	-					$	4,305	$	4,899				$	2,199

(1) Interest rates are calculated based on the daily average balance outstanding.

Financial and Non-Financial Covenants

The AGL Credit Facility and the Nicor Gas Credit Facility each include a financial covenant that requires us to maintain a ratio of total debt to total capitalization of no more than 70%; however, our goal is to maintain this ratio at levels between 50% and 60%. These ratios, as calculated in accordance with the debt covenants include standby letters of credit and surety bonds and exclude OCI pension adjustments. Adjusting for these items, the following table contains our debt-to-capitalization ratios for the periods presented.

	March 31, 2012			December 31, 2011			March 31, 2011
AGL Credit Facility		54	%		58	%		51	%
Nicor Gas Credit Facility		47	%		60	%		n/a

The credit facilities contain certain non-financial covenants that, among other things, restrict liens and encumbrances, loans and investments, acquisitions, dividends and other restricted payments, asset dispositions, mergers and consolidations and other matters customarily restricted in such agreements.

Default Provisions

Our credit facilities and other financial obligations include provisions that, if not complied with, could require early payment or similar actions. The most important default events include:

· a maximum leverage ratio

· insolvency events and nonpayment of scheduled principal or interest payments

· acceleration of other financial obligations

· change of control provisions

We have no triggering events in our debt instruments that are tied to changes in our specified credit ratings or our stock price and have not entered into any transaction that requires us to issue equity based on credit ratings or other triggering events. We are in compliance with all existing debt provisions and covenants, both financial and non-financial, as of March 31, 2012 and 2011.