Standard & Poor’s today downgraded Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc.’s long-term corporate credit and debt ratings to one notch above junk status.

The credit rating agency also lowered the long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings for HEI’s utility subsidiaries: Hawaiian Electric Co., Maui Electric Co, and Hawaii Electric Light Co. S&P made no change to the ratings of American Savings Bank, HEI’s other major subsdiary.

“The downgrade of rating for HEI reflects our view that HECO’s aggressive financial profile is unlikely to meaningfully improve over the next two years,” S&P analyst Anne Selting said in a news release.

The “BBB-” rating assigned to HEI by S&P is one level above BB+, which the agency considers non-investment grade, or “junk.”

“The global recession, which hit island tourism particularly hard in 2008, is contributing to sideways performance by shrinking electric sales that had already been in decline due to island conservation efforts,” S&P said in the release.

S&P said the outlook for HEI debt is stable, reflecting expectations that the company’s credit metrics will remain at a level consistent with its new rating for the next several years.