Long-term Debt (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017



	December 31, 2017					December 31, 2016
	Long-Term			Current (1)		Long-Term			Current (1)
	(in millions)
Long-term debt:
First mortgage bonds 9.15% due 2021	102			—		102			—
General mortgage bonds 1.85% to 6.95% due 2021 to 2044 (2)	2,812			—		2,512			—
System restoration bonds 3.46% to 4.243% due 2018 to 2022	256			56		312			53
Transition bonds 2.161% to 5.302% due 2019 to 2024	1,181			378		1,560			358
Unamortized debt issuance costs	(22		)	—		(23		)	—
Unamortized discount and premium, net	(10		)	—		(9		)	—
Total long-term debt	$	4,319		$	434	$	4,454		$	411


(1)	Includes amounts due or exchangeable within one year of the date noted.


(2)	Debt issued as collateral is excluded from the financial statements because of the contingent nature of the obligation.

Debt Issuances. Houston Electric issued the following general mortgage bonds during 2017:



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



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

December 31, 2017 (3)

Termination Date (4)

(in millions)

March 3, 2016

300

1.125%

65%

48.6%

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.

Schedule of Maturities of Long-term Debt [Table Text Block]

Maturities of long-term debt, capital leases and sinking fund requirements are as follows:



	Houston Electric (1)		Securitization Bonds
	(in millions)
2018	$	434	$	434
2019	458		458
2020	231		231
2021	613		211
2022	519		219


(1)	These maturities include Securitization Bonds principal repayments on scheduled payment dates.