Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

The components of Houston Electric’s income tax expense (benefit) were as follows:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2017			2016			2015
	(in millions)
Current income tax expense:
Federal	$	70		$	165		$	106
State	19			18			21
Total current expense	89			183			127
Deferred income tax expense (benefit):
Federal	(98		)	(34		)	18
Total deferred expense (benefit)	(98		)	(34		)	18
Total income tax expense (benefit)	$	(9	)	$	149		$	145

Reconciliation Of Expected Federal Income Tax Expense To Actual [Table Text Block]

A reconciliation of income tax expense (benefit) 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,
	2017			2016			2015
	(in millions)
Income before income taxes	$	424		$	425		$	406
Federal statutory income tax rate	35		%	35		%	35		%
Expected federal income tax expense	148			149			142
Increase (decrease) in tax expense resulting from:
State income tax expense, net of federal income tax	12			12			14
Federal income tax rate reduction	(158		)	—			—
Other, net	(11		)	(12		)	(11		)
Total	(157		)	—			3
Total income tax expense (benefit)	$	(9	)	$	149		$	145
Effective tax rate	(2		)%	35		%	36		%

Income Tax Asset Liability Disclosure [Table Text Block]

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



	December 31,
	2017		2016
	(in millions)
Deferred tax assets:
Benefits and compensation	$	28	$	47
Asset retirement obligations	7		12
Regulatory liabilities	198		17
Other	3		4
Total deferred tax assets	236		80

Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant, and equipment	1,030		1,541
Regulatory assets	265		542
Total deferred tax liabilities	1,295		2,083
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	1,059	$	2,003