Commitments and Contingencies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Long-term Purchase Commitment

As of December 31, 2021, minimum purchase obligations were approximately:

	Natural Gas and Coal Supply (1)				Other (2)
	CenterPoint Energy		CERC		CenterPoint Energy
	(in millions)
2022	$	560	$	322	$	66
2023	444		253		500
2024	378		247		178
2025	318		206		30
2026	254		176		29
2027 and beyond	1,586		1,282		596

(1)On January 10, 2022, CERC Corp. completed the sale of its Arkansas and Oklahoma Natural Gas businesses; therefore minimum purchase obligations for the Arkansas and Oklahoma Natural Gas businesses have been excluded from the table above. For additional information, see Note 4.

(2)CenterPoint Energy’s undiscounted minimum payment obligations related to PPAs with commitments ranging from 15 to 25 years and its purchase commitment under its BTA in Posey County, Indiana at the original contracted amount, prior to any renegotiation, are included above. The remaining undiscounted payment obligations relate primarily to technology hardware and software agreements.

Schedule of Environmental Loss Contingencies by Site

Total costs that may be incurred in connection with addressing these sites cannot be determined at this time. The estimated accrued costs are limited to CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s share of the remediation efforts and are therefore net of exposures of other PRPs. The estimated range of possible remediation costs for the sites for which CenterPoint Energy and CERC believe they may have responsibility was based on remediation continuing for the minimum time frame given in the table below.

	December 31, 2021
	CenterPoint Energy		CERC
	(in millions, except years)
Amount accrued for remediation	$	16	$	11
Minimum estimated remediation costs	11		8
Maximum estimated remediation costs	58		36
Minimum years of remediation	5		30
Maximum years of remediation	50		50