13. GUARANTEES

In the ordinary course of business, Evergy and certain of its subsidiaries enter into various agreements providing financial or performance assurance to third parties on behalf of certain subsidiaries. Such agreements include, for example, guarantees and letters of credit. These agreements are entered into primarily to support or enhance the creditworthiness otherwise attributed to a subsidiary on a stand-alone basis, thereby facilitating the extension of sufficient credit to accomplish the subsidiary's intended business purposes. The majority of these agreements guarantee the company's own future performance, so a liability for the fair value of the obligation is not recorded. In connection with the merger transaction, Evergy assumed the guarantees previously provided to GMO by Great Plains Energy.

At September 30, 2018, Evergy has provided $111.3 million of credit support for GMO as follows:


•	Evergy direct guarantees to GMO counterparties totaling $17.0 million, which expire in 2020, and


•	Evergy's guarantee of GMO long-term debt totaling $94.3 million, which includes debt with maturity dates ranging from 2019 to 2023.

Evergy has also guaranteed GMO's commercial paper program. At September 30, 2018, GMO had $140.4 million of commercial paper outstanding.