Long-term Debt (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

Long-term Debt, Unclassified [Abstract]

Schedule of Debt [Table Text Block]

Debt Issuances. During the nine months ended September 30, 2017, Houston Electric issued the following general mortgage bonds:

Issuance Date	Aggregate Principal Amount		Interest Rate	Maturity Date
	(in millions)
January 2017	$	300	3.00%	2027

Schedule of Line of Credit Facilities [Table Text Block]

Revolving Credit Facility. In June 2017, Houston Electric entered into an amendment to its revolving credit facility to extend the termination date thereof from March 3, 2021 to March 3, 2022 and to terminate the swingline loan subfacility thereunder. No changes were made to the aggregate commitments under the revolving credit facility.

As of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, Houston Electric had the following revolving credit facility and utilization of such facility:

		September 30, 2017				December 31, 2016
Size of Facility		Loans		Letters of Credit		Loans		Letters of Credit
(in millions)
$	300	$	—	$	4	$	—	$	4

Execution Date	Size of Facility		Draw Rate of LIBOR plus (1)	Financial Covenant Limit on Debt for Borrowed Money to Capital Ratio (2)	Debt for Borrowed Money to Capital Ratio as of September 30, 2017 (3)	Termination Date (4)
	(in millions)
March 3, 2016	$	300	1.125%	65%	49%	March 3, 2022

(1) Based on current credit ratings.

(2) The financial covenant limit will temporarily increase from 65% to 70% if Houston Electric experiences damage from a natural disaster in its service territory and Houston Electric certifies to the administrative agent that Houston Electric has incurred system restoration costs reasonably likely to exceed $100 million in a consecutive 12-month period, all or part of which Houston Electric intends to seek to recover through securitization financing. Such temporary increase in the financial covenant would be in effect from the date Houston Electric delivers its certification until the earliest to occur of (i) the completion of the securitization financing, (ii) the first anniversary of Houston Electric’s certification or (iii) the revocation of such certification.

(3) As defined in the revolving credit facility agreement, excluding Securitization Bonds.

(4) Amended on June 16, 2017 to extend the termination date as noted above.