| quality of the overall portfolio, debt securities issued by the federal government shall be considered as having a "AAA" rating. (B) Equity investments. (i) At least 70% of the aggregate market value of the equity portfolio, including the individual securities in commingled funds, shall have a quality ranking from a major rating service such as the earnings and dividend ranking for common stock by Standard and Poor's or the quality rating of Ford Investor Services. Further, the overall portfolio of ranked equities shall have a weighted average quality rating equivalent to the composite rating of the Standard and Poor's 500 index assuming equal weighting of each ranked security in the index. If the quality rating, measured quarterly, falls below the minimum quality standard, the utility shall as soon as
practicable and prudent to do so, increase the quality level of the equity portfolio to the required level. (ii) A decommissioning trust shall not invest in equity securities where the issuer has a capitalization of less than $100 million. (C) Commingled funds. The following guidelines shall apply to the investments made through commingled funds. Examples of commingled funds appropriate for investment by nuclear decommissioning trust funds include United States equity-indexed funds, actively managed United States equity funds, balanced funds, bond funds, real estate investment trusts, and international funds. (i) The commingled funds should be selected consistent with the goals specified in paragraph (1) and the requirements in paragraph (2) of this subsection. (ii) In evaluating the appropriateness of a particular commingled fund, the utility has the following duties, which shall be of a continuing
nature: (I) A duty to determine whether the fund manager's fee schedule for managing the fund is reasonable, when compared to fee schedules of other such managers; (II) A duty to investigate and determine whether the past performance of the investment manager in managing the commingled fund has been reasonable relative to prudent investment and utility decommissioning trust practices and standards; and (III) A duty to investigate the reasonableness of the net after-tax return and risk of the fund relative to similar funds, and the appropriateness of the fund within the entire decommissioning trust investment portfolio. (iii) The payment of load fees shall be avoided. (iv) Commingled funds focused on specific market sectors or concentrated in a few holdings shall be used only as necessary to balance the trust's overall investment portfolio mix.
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