Reportable Business Segments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Reportable Business Segments [Text Block]

Reportable Business Segments

Because CERC is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, CERC’s determination of reportable business segments considers the strategic operating units under which CenterPoint Energy manages sales, allocates resources and assesses performance of various products and services to wholesale or retail customers in differing regulatory environments. CERC uses operating income as the measure of profit or loss for its business segments.

CERC’s reportable business segments include the following: Natural Gas Distribution, Energy Services, Midstream Investments and Other Operations.  Natural Gas Distribution consists of intrastate natural gas sales to, and natural gas transportation and distribution for, residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers. Energy Services represents CERC’s non-rate regulated gas sales and services operations. Midstream Investments consists of CERC’s investment in Enable. The Other Operations business segment includes unallocated corporate costs and inter-segment eliminations.

Financial data for business segments is as follows:

	For the Three Months Ended September 30, 2016
	Revenues from External Customers		Inter-segment Revenues			Operating Income (Loss)
	(in millions)
Natural Gas Distribution	$	370	$	7		$	22
Energy Services	608		6			5
Midstream Investments (1)	—		—			—
Other Operations	—		—			(1		)
Reconciling Eliminations	—		(13		)	—
Consolidated	$	978	$	—		$	26

	For the Three Months Ended September 30, 2015
	Revenues from External Customers		Inter-segment Revenues			Operating Income
	(in millions)
Natural Gas Distribution	$	353	$	6		$	11
Energy Services	446		6			7
Midstream Investments (1)	—		—			—
Other Operations	—		—			—
Reconciling Eliminations	—		(12		)	—
Consolidated	$	799	$	—		$	18

	For the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016
	Revenues from External Customers		Inter-segment Revenues			Operating Income (Loss)			Total Assets as of September 30, 2016
	(in millions)
Natural Gas Distribution	$	1,672	$	21		$	202		$	5,732
Energy Services	1,433		17			11			990
Midstream Investments (1)	—		—			—			2,535
Other Operations	—		—			(3		)	410
Reconciling Eliminations	—		(38		)	—			(841		)
Consolidated	$	3,105	$	—		$	210		$	8,826

	For the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2015
	Revenues from External Customers		Inter-segment Revenues			Operating Income		Total Assets as of December 31, 2015
	(in millions)
Natural Gas Distribution	$	1,958	$	21		$	176	$	5,657
Energy Services	1,482		28			29		857
Midstream Investments (1)	—		—			—		2,594
Other Operations	—		—			—		777
Reconciling Eliminations	—		(49		)	—		(744		)
Consolidated	$	3,440	$	—		$	205	$	9,141

(1) Midstream Investments’ equity earnings are as follows:

	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016		2015			2016		2015
	(in millions)
Enable (a)	$	73	$	(794	)	$	164	$	(699	)

(a) These amounts include CERC’s share of Enable’s impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets and the impairment of CERC’s equity method investment in Enable totaling $862 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015. This impairment is partially offset by $68 million and $163 million of earnings for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively.

Midstream Investments’ total assets are as follows:

	September 30, 2016		December 31, 2015
	(in millions)
Enable	$	2,535	$	2,594