Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

 Income Taxes

CenterPoint Houston reported an effective tax rate of 12% for the three months ended March 31, 2012 compared to 38% for the same period in 2011. The decrease in the effective tax rate of 26% was primarily due to a $10 million reduction to the uncertain tax liability related to a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of CenterPoint Energy’s consolidated federal income tax returns for tax years 2006 and 2007 of which CenterPoint Houston is a member.

The following table summarizes CenterPoint Houston’s unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2011 and March 31, 2012:

	December 31, 2011		March 31, 2012
	(in millions)
Unrecognized tax benefits	$	44	$	12
Portion of unrecognized tax benefits that, if recognized, would reduce the effective income tax rate	18		12
Interest accrued on unrecognized tax benefits	5		(1		)

CenterPoint Houston does not expect the amount of unrecognized tax benefits to change significantly over the 12 months ending March 31, 2013.

CenterPoint Energy’s consolidated federal income tax returns, of which CenterPoint Houston is a member, are currently under examination by the IRS for tax years 2008 and 2009 and are at various stages of the examination process.