When PPL Corp., an Allentown, Pa.-based utility with $7.6 billion in 2009 revenue, decided to ratchet down commodity risk by acquiring more rate-regulated utilities, it had to finance two major purchases within 12 months. PPL bought E.on US and its units, Kentucky Utilities Co. and Louisville Gas and Electric, for $7.6 billion in 2010 and purchased the Central Networks electric utilities in the U.K. for $5.7 billion earlier this year. The deals entailed $31 billion in temporary, permanent and liquidity financing.

"I believe we set some land speed records in getting these financings done and behind us, while almost doubling the size of our balance sheet and retaining our credit quality," says James Abel, PPL's senior vice president of finance and treasurer.

PPL's revenue, once evenly split between rate-regulated and unregulated generation, had shifted so that 80% was coming from unregulated generation, exposing the company to more commodity risk. In the wake of the acquisitions, 80% of PPL's revenue comes from rate-regulated sources, Abel says.