Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

The components of CenterPoint Houston’s income tax expense were as follows:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015		2014			2013
	(in millions)
Current income tax expense:
Federal	$	106	$	136		$	201
State	21		19			20
Total current expense	127		155			221
Deferred income tax expense (benefit):
Federal	18		(24		)	(75		)
Total deferred expense (benefit)	18		(24		)	(75		)
Total income tax expense	$	145	$	131		$	146

Reconciliation Of Expected Federal Income Tax Expense To Actual

A reconciliation of income tax expense using the federal statutory income tax rate to the actual income tax expense and resulting effective income tax rate is as follows:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013
	(in millions)
Income before income taxes	$	406		$	383		$	415
Federal statutory income tax rate	35.0		%	35.0		%	35.0		%
Expected federal income tax expense	142			134			145
Increase (decrease) in tax expense resulting from:
State income tax expense, net of federal income tax	14			12			13
Decrease in settled and uncertain tax positions	—			—			(5		)
Other, net	(11		)	(15		)	(7		)
Total	3			(3		)	1
Total income tax expense	$	145		$	131		$	146
Effective tax rate	35.7		%	34.2		%	35.2		%

Income Tax Asset Liability Disclosure

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of deferred tax assets and liabilities were as follows:



	December 31,
	2015		2014
	(in millions)
Deferred tax assets:
Benefits and compensation	$	69	$	92
Loss and credit carryforwards	6		—
Asset retirement obligations	13		12
Other	7		7
Total deferred tax assets	95		111

Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant, and equipment	1,447		1,284
Regulatory assets/liabilities, net	680		826
Total deferred tax liabilities	2,127		2,110
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	2,032	$	1,999