Subsequent Events (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Subsequent Events [Abstract]

Subsequent Events [Text Block]

Subsequent Events

On January 22, 2016, Enable declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.318 per unit on all of its outstanding common and subordinated units for the quarter ended December 31, 2015. Accordingly, CERC Corp. expects to receive a cash distribution of approximately $74 million from Enable in the first quarter of 2016 to be made with respect to CERC Corp.’s limited partner interest in Enable for the fourth quarter of 2015.

On January 28, 2016, CenterPoint Energy entered into a purchase agreement with Enable pursuant to which it agreed to purchase in a private placement (Private Placement) an aggregate of 14,520,00010% Series A Fixed-to-Floating Non-Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Units representing limited partner interests in Enable (Series A Preferred Units) for a cash purchase price of $25.00 per Series A Preferred Unit. The Private Placement closed on February 18, 2016. In connection with the Private Placement, Enable redeemed approximately $363 million of notes scheduled to mature in 2017 payable to a wholly-owned subsidiary of CERC Corp. CERC Corp. made a dividend to CenterPoint Energy of $363 million and CenterPoint Energy used the dividend for its investment in the Series A Preferred Units.

On January 29, 2016, CES announced an agreement to acquire the retail commercial and industrial businesses of Continuum Energy Services, a Tulsa and Houston-based company, for $77.5 million plus working capital.  The transaction is conditioned upon the receipt of certain third party consents and approvals.  CERC expects the transaction to close by the end of the first quarter of 2016.