CMS ENERGY CORP 10-Q form for quarterly period ended 2024-03-31, page 29: 
Capital Resources and Liquidity

CMS Energy and Consumers expect to have sufficient liquidity to fund their present and future commitments. CMS Energy uses dividends and tax-sharing payments from its subsidiaries and external financing and capital transactions to invest in its utility and non‑utility businesses, retire debt, pay dividends, and fund its other obligations. The ability of CMS Energy's subsidiaries, including Consumers, to pay dividends to CMS Energy depends upon each subsidiary's revenues, earnings, cash needs, and other factors. In addition, Consumers' ability to pay dividends is restricted by certain terms included in its articles of incorporation and potentially by FERC requirements and provisions under the Federal Power Act and the Natural Gas Act. For additional details on Consumers' dividend restrictions, see Notes to the Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements-Note 3, Financings and Capitalization-Dividend Restrictions. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, Consumers paid $265 million in dividends on its common stock to CMS Energy.
Consumers uses cash flows generated from operations and external financing transactions, as well as stockholder contributions from CMS Energy, to fund capital expenditures, retire debt, pay dividends, and fund its other obligations. Consumers also uses these sources of funding to contribute to its employee benefit plans.
Financing and Capital Resources: CMS Energy and Consumers rely on the capital markets to fund their robust capital plan. Barring any sustained market dislocations or disruptions, CMS Energy and Consumers expect to continue to have ready access to the financial and capital markets and will continue to explore possibilities to take advantage of market opportunities as they arise with respect to future funding needs. If access to these markets were to diminish or otherwise become restricted, CMS Energy and Consumers would implement contingency plans to address debt maturities, which could include reduced capital spending.
In 2023, CMS Energy entered into an equity offering program under which it may sell shares of its common stock having an aggregate sales price of up to $1 billion in privately negotiated transactions, in "at the market" offerings, or through forward sales transactions. There have been no sales of securities under this program. 
At March 31, 2024, CMS Energy had $521 million of its revolving credit facility available and Consumers had $1.3 billion available under its revolving credit facilities. CMS Energy and Consumers use these credit facilities for general working capital purposes and to issue letters of credit. An additional source of liquidity is Consumers' commercial paper program, which allows Consumers to issue, in one or more placements, up to $500 million in aggregate principal amount of commercial paper notes with maturities of up to 365 days at market interest rates. These issuances are supported by Consumers' revolving credit facilities. While the amount of outstanding commercial paper does not reduce the available capacity of the revolving credit facilities, Consumers does not intend to issue commercial paper in an amount exceeding the available capacity of the facilities. At March 31, 2024, there were no commercial paper notes outstanding under this program. For additional details on CMS Energy's and Consumers' secured revolving credit facilities and commercial paper program, see Notes to the Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements-Note 3, Financings and Capitalization.
29






Question: What strategies are in place to manage CMS Energy Corp's debt-to-capital ratio for the quarter ended March 31, 2024?
Answer: CMS Energy and Consumers Energy implement several strategies to manage their debt-to-capital ratio and maintain financial stability. These include utilizing dividends and tax-sharing payments from subsidiaries, external financing, and capital transactions to support both utility and non-utility operations. The companies rely on cash flows from operations, external financing transactions, and stockholder contributions to fund capital expenditures, retire debt, and meet other financial obligations.

To ensure liquidity, Consumers maintains access to $1.3 billion in revolving credit facilities and operates a commercial paper program with a $500 million capacity, supported by these credit lines. As of March 31, 2024, there were no outstanding commercial paper notes, preserving borrowing capacity. CMS Energy also maintains a revolving credit facility with $521 million available as of the same date. These financial instruments provide flexibility for managing working capital and addressing debt maturities.

Additionally, CMS Energy has an equity offering program allowing for the issuance of common stock up to $1 billion, enhancing its ability to leverage favorable market conditions when necessary.