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Short-term Borrowings and Long-term Debt
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]  
Short-term Borrowings and Long-term Debt Short-term Borrowings and Long-term Debt
Inventory Financing. CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas businesses have third-party AMAs associated with their utility distribution service in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi and Texas. The AMAs have varying terms, the longest of which expires in 2027. Pursuant to the provisions of the agreements, CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas either sells natural gas to the asset manager and agrees to repurchase an equivalent amount of natural gas throughout the year at the same cost, or simply purchases its full natural gas requirements at each delivery point from the asset manager. These transactions are accounted for as an inventory financing. CenterPoint Energy and CERC had $-0- and $7 million outstanding obligations related to the AMAs as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively, recorded in Short-term borrowings on CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Outstanding obligations related to third-party AMAs associated with utility distribution service in Arkansas and Oklahoma of $36 million as of December 31, 2021 are reflected in current liabilities held for sale on CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. See Note 3 for further information.

Debt Transactions. During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the following debt instruments were issued or incurred:
RegistrantIssuance DateDebt InstrumentAggregate Principal AmountInterest Rate Maturity Date
(in millions)
Houston ElectricFebruary 2022General Mortgage Bonds$300 3.00%2032
Houston ElectricFebruary 2022General Mortgage Bonds500 3.60%2052
Total Houston Electric (1)
800 
Total CenterPoint Energy $800 

(1)Total proceeds, net of discounts and issuance expenses and fees, of approximately $784 million were used for general limited liability company purposes, including capital expenditures and the repayment of all or a portion of Houston Electric’s borrowings under the CenterPoint Energy money pool.
Debt Repayments and Redemptions. During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the following debt instruments were repaid at maturity or redeemed prior to maturity with proceeds received from the sale of Energy Transfer units discussed further in Note 10:

RegistrantRepayment/Redemption DateDebt InstrumentAggregate PrincipalInterest RateMaturity Date
(in millions)
CERC (1)
January 2022Floating Rate Senior Notes$425 
Three-month LIBOR plus 0.5%
2023
Total CERC425 
CenterPoint Energy (2)
January 2022First Mortgage Bonds5 0.82%2022
CenterPoint Energy (3)
March 2022Senior Notes250 3.85%2024
CenterPoint Energy (4)
March 2022Senior Notes350 4.25%2028
Total CenterPoint Energy$1,030 

(1)In January 2022, CERC provided notice of partial redemption, and on January 31, 2022, CERC redeemed a portion of the outstanding $1 billion aggregate principal amount of the series at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest on the principal amount being redeemed.
(2)First Mortgage Bonds issued by SIGECO.
(3)In March 2022, CenterPoint Energy provided notice of redemption, and on March 31, 2022, CenterPoint Energy redeemed all of the remaining outstanding senior notes of the series at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest of approximately $2 million, the write off of issuance costs of $1 million and an applicable make-whole premium of approximately $7 million for a total redemption price of $260 million.
(4)In March 2022, CenterPoint Energy provided notice of partial redemption, and on March 31, 2022, CenterPoint Energy redeemed a portion ($350 million) of the outstanding $500 million aggregate principal amount of the series at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest of approximately $6 million, the write off of issuance costs of $3 million and an applicable make-whole premium of approximately $34 million for a total redemption price of $393 million.

Credit Facilities.

The Registrants had the following revolving credit facilities as of March 31, 2022:
Execution
 Date 		RegistrantSize of
Facility
Draw Rate of LIBOR plus (1)
Financial Covenant Limit on Debt for Borrowed Money to Capital Ratio 
Debt for Borrowed Money to Capital
Ratio as of
March 31, 2022 (2)
Termination Date
(in millions)
February 4, 2021CenterPoint Energy $2,400 1.625%65.0%(3)56.9%February 4, 2024
February 4, 2021
CenterPoint Energy (4)
400 1.250%65.0%47.0%February 4, 2024
February 4, 2021Houston Electric300 1.375%67.5%(3)53.7%February 4, 2024
February 4, 2021CERC 900 1.250%65.0%52.7%February 4, 2024
Total$4,000 

(1)Based on current credit ratings.
(2)As defined in the revolving credit facility agreements, excluding Securitization Bonds.
(3)For CenterPoint Energy and Houston Electric, the financial covenant limit will temporarily increase to 70% if Houston Electric experiences damage from a natural disaster in its service territory and CenterPoint Energy 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 CenterPoint Energy delivers its certification until the earliest to occur of (i) the completion of the securitization financing, (ii) the first anniversary of CenterPoint Energy’s certification or (iii) the revocation of such certification.
(4)This credit facility was issued by VUHI, is guaranteed by SIGECO, Indiana Gas and VEDO and includes a $20 million letter of credit sublimit. This credit facility backstops VUHI’s commercial paper program.

The Registrants, including the subsidiaries of CenterPoint Energy discussed above, were in compliance with all financial debt covenants as of March 31, 2022.

The table below reflects the utilization of the Registrants’ respective revolving credit facilities:
March 31, 2022December 31, 2021
RegistrantLoansLetters
of Credit
Commercial
Paper (1)
Weighted Average Interest RateLoansLetters
of Credit
Commercial
Paper (1)
Weighted Average Interest Rate
(in millions, except weighted average interest rate)
CenterPoint Energy $— $11 $325 0.54 %$— $11 $1,400 0.34 %
CenterPoint Energy (2)
— — 260 0.58 %— — 350 0.21 %
Houston Electric— — — — %— — — — %
CERC — — 123 0.54 %— — 899 0.26 %
Total$— $11 $708 $— $11 $2,649 

(1)Outstanding commercial paper generally has maturities of 60 days or less and each Registrants’ commercial paper program is backstopped by such Registrants’ long-term credit facilities. Houston Electric does not have a commercial paper program.
(2)This credit facility was issued by VUHI and is guaranteed by SIGECO, Indiana Gas and VEDO.
Liens. As of March 31, 2022, Houston Electric’s assets were subject to liens securing approximately $5.8 billion of general mortgage bonds, including approximately $68 million held in trust to secure pollution control bonds that mature in 2028 for which CenterPoint Energy is obligated. The general mortgage bonds that are held in trust to secure pollution control bonds are not reflected in Houston Electric’s consolidated financial statements because of the contingent nature of the obligations. As of March 31, 2022, Houston Electric could issue approximately $4.1 billion of additional general mortgage bonds on the basis of retired bonds and 70% of property additions.
Other. As of March 31, 2022, certain financial institutions agreed to issue, from time to time, up to $20 million of letters of credit on behalf of Vectren and certain of its subsidiaries in exchange for customary fees. These agreements to issue letters of credit expire on February 4, 2024. As of March 31, 2022, such financial institutions had issued $1 million of letters of credit on behalf of Vectren and certain of its subsidiaries.