 In the case of loans or bonds, ringfencing generally allows an investor to have both a link to a specific asset they possess (such as wind farms owned by a utility), while also enjoying the full credit support of a utility's balance sheet.One common form of ringfencing is when a regulated public utility business financially separates itself from a parent company that engages in non-regulated business.This is done mainly to protect consumers of essential services such as power, water and basic telecommunications from financial instability or bankruptcy in the parent company resulting from losses in their open market activities.