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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
ESTIMATES, SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND BALANCE SHEET DETAIL:
Basis of Presentation. The Company’s consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with GAAP.
The Company is subject to regulation by certain state and federal authorities. The Company has accounting policies under GAAP that do not conform to authoritative guidance which are in accordance with the accounting requirements and ratemaking practices of the regulatory authorities. The Company does not apply regulatory-based accounting policies, primarily due to the level of discounting from tariff rates and its inability to recover specific costs. If regulatory-based accounting policies were applied, certain transactions would be recorded differently, including, among others, recording of regulatory assets, the capitalization of an equity component of invested funds on regulated capital projects and depreciation differences. The Company periodically reviews its level of discounting and negotiated rate contracts, the length of rate moratoriums and other related factors to determine if the regulatory-based authoritative guidance should be applied.
Principles of Consolidation.  The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of all majority-owned subsidiaries, after eliminating significant intercompany transactions and balances.  Investments in which the Company has significant influence over the operations of the investee are accounted for using the equity method.
Business Combination Accounting. Southern Union’s March 26, 2012 merger transaction with ETE was accounted for by ETE using business combination accounting.  Under this method, the purchase price paid by the acquirer is allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed as of the acquisition date based on their fair value.  By the application of “push-down” accounting, PEPL’s assets, liabilities and partners’ capital were accordingly adjusted to fair value on March 26, 2012.  Determining the fair value of certain assets and liabilities assumed is judgmental in nature and often involves the use of significant estimates and assumptions.  See Note 3 for a discussion of the estimated fair values of assets and liabilities recorded in connection with the ETE Merger.
Due to the application of “push-down” accounting, the Company’s financial statements and certain footnote disclosures are presented in two distinct periods to indicate the application of two different bases of accounting.  Periods prior to March 26, 2012 are identified herein as “Predecessor,” while periods subsequent to the ETE Merger are identified as “Successor.”
Use of Estimates.  The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Cash and Cash Equivalents.  Cash equivalents consist of highly liquid investments, which are readily convertible into cash and have original maturities of three months or less. Total cash balances at December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011 were each less than $1 million, respectively.
Non-cash investing and financing activities and supplemental cash flow information are as follows:
 
Successor
 
 
Predecessor
 
Year Ended December 31, 2013
 
Period from Acquisition
(March 26, 2012) to
December 31,
2012
 
 
Period from
January 1, 2012 to
March 25,
2012
 
Year Ended December 31, 2011
Supplemental Cash Flow Information:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cash paid for interest, net of interest capitalized
$
84

 
$
75

 
 
$
17

 
$
106

Cash paid for income taxes

 
32

 
 

 
35


Inventories. System natural gas and operating supplies consist of natural gas held for operations and materials and supplies, both of which are carried at the lower of weighted average cost or market, while natural gas owed back to customers is valued at market. The natural gas held for operations that the Company does not expect to consume in its operations in the next twelve months is reflected in non-current assets.
The following table presents the components of inventory:
 
 
December 31,
 
 
2013
 
2012
Natural gas (1)
 
$
184

 
$
124

Materials and supplies
 
19

 
20

 
 
$
203

 
$
144

(1) 
Natural gas volumes held for operations at December 31, 2013 and 2012 were 42,843,000 MMBtu and 34,891,000 MMBtu, respectively.
Natural Gas Imbalances.  Natural gas imbalances occur as a result of differences in volumes of natural gas received and delivered.  The Company records natural gas imbalance in-kind receivables and payables at cost or market, based on whether net imbalances have reduced or increased system natural gas balances, respectively.  Net imbalances that have reduced system natural gas are valued at the cost basis of the system natural gas, while net imbalances that have increased system natural gas and are owed back to customers are priced, along with the corresponding system natural gas, at market.
Fuel Tracker.  The fuel tracker is the cumulative balance of compressor fuel volumes owed to the Company by its customers or owed by the Company to its customers.  The customers, pursuant to each pipeline’s tariff and related contracts, provide all compressor fuel to the pipeline based on specified percentages of the customer’s natural gas volumes delivered into the pipeline.  The percentages are designed to match the actual natural gas consumed in moving the natural gas through the pipeline facilities, with any difference between the volumes provided versus volumes consumed reflected in the fuel tracker.  The tariff of Trunkline Gas, in conjunction with the customers’ contractual obligations, allows the Company to record an asset and direct bill customers for any fuel ultimately under-recovered.  The other FERC-regulated Panhandle entities record an expense when fuel is under-recovered or record a credit to expense to the extent any under-recovered prior period balances are subsequently recouped as they do not have such explicit billing rights specified in their tariffs.  Liability accounts are maintained for net volumes of compressor fuel natural gas owed to customers collectively.  The pipelines’ fuel reimbursement is in-kind and non-discountable.
Property, Plant and Equipment.
Additions.  Ongoing additions of property, plant and equipment are stated at cost. The Company capitalizes all construction-related direct labor and material costs, as well as indirect construction costs. Such indirect construction costs primarily include capitalized interest costs (more fully described below in the “Interest Cost Capitalized” accounting policies disclosure) and labor and related costs of departments associated with supporting construction activities.  The indirect capitalized labor and related costs are largely based upon results of periodic time studies or management reviews of time allocations, which provide an estimate of time spent supporting construction projects.  The cost of replacements and betterments that extend the useful life of property, plant and equipment is also capitalized. The cost of repairs and replacements of minor property, plant and equipment items is charged to expense as incurred.
Retirements.  When ordinary retirements of property, plant and equipment occur, the original cost less salvage value is removed by a charge to accumulated depreciation and amortization, with no gain or loss recorded.  When entire regulated operating units of property, plant and equipment are retired or sold, the original cost less salvage value and related accumulated depreciation and amortization accounts are removed, with any resulting gain or loss recorded in earnings.
Depreciation.  The Company computes depreciation expense using the straight-line method.
Interest Cost Capitalized.  The Company capitalizes interest on certain qualifying assets that are undergoing activities to prepare them for their intended use.  Interest costs incurred during the construction period are capitalized and amortized over the life of the assets. 
For additional information, see Note 12.
Asset Impairment.  An impairment loss is recognized when the carrying amount of a long-lived asset used in operations is not recoverable and exceeds its fair value.  The carrying amount of a long-lived asset is not recoverable if it exceeds the sum of the undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use and eventual disposition of the asset.  A long-lived asset is tested for recoverability whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that its carrying amount may not be recoverable.
Goodwill.  Goodwill resulting from a purchase business combination is not amortized, but instead is tested for impairment at the Company’s reporting unit level at least annually during the fourth quarter by applying a fair-value based test.  The annual impairment test is updated if events or circumstances occur that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of the reporting unit below its book carrying value.
During the fourth quarter of 2013, we performed a goodwill impairment test on our Trunkline LNG reporting unit. In accordance with GAAP, we performed step one of the goodwill impairment test and determined that the estimated fair value of the Trunkline LNG reporting unit was less than its carrying amount primarily due to changes related to (i) the structure and capitalization of the planned LNG export project at Trunkline LNG’s Lake Charles facility, (ii) an analysis of current macroeconomic factors, including global natural gas prices and relative spreads, as of the date of our assessment, (iii) judgments regarding the prospect of obtaining regulatory approval for a proposed LNG export project and the uncertainty associated with the timing of such approvals, and (iv) changes in assumptions related to potential future revenues from the import facility and the proposed export facility.  An assessment of these factors in the fourth quarter of 2013 led to a conclusion that the estimated fair value of the Trunkline LNG reporting unit was less than its carrying amount. We then applied the second step in the goodwill impairment test, allocating the estimated fair value of the reporting unit among all of the assets and liabilities of the reporting unit in a hypothetical purchase price allocation. The assets and liabilities of the reporting unit had recently been measured at fair value in 2012 as a result of the acquisition of Southern Union, and those estimated fair values had been recorded at the reporting unit through the application of “push-down” accounting. For purposes of the hypothetical purchase price allocation used in the goodwill impairment test, we estimated the fair value of the assets and liabilities of the reporting unit in a manner similar to the original purchase price allocation. In allocating value to the property, plant and equipment, we used current replacement costs adjusted for assumed depreciation. We also included the estimated fair value of working capital and identifiable intangible assets in the reporting unit. We adjusted deferred income taxes based on these estimated fair values. Based on this hypothetical purchase price allocation, estimated goodwill was $184 million, which was less than the balance of $873 million that had originally been recorded by the reporting unit through “push-down” accounting in 2012. As a result, we recorded a goodwill impairment of $689 million during the fourth quarter of 2013.
Related Party Transactions. Related party expenses primarily include payments for services provided by Southern Union and ETP.  Other income is primarily related to interest income on a note receivable from a related party.  See Note 4 for additional information on related party transactions.
PEPL and certain of its subsidiaries are not treated as separate taxpayers for federal and certain state income tax purposes.  Instead, the Company’s income is taxable to Southern Union.  The Company has entered into a tax sharing agreement with Southern Union pursuant to which the Company will be required to make payments to Southern Union in order to reimburse Southern Union for federal and state taxes that it pays on the Company’s income, or to receive payments from Southern Union to the extent that tax losses generated by the Company are utilized by Southern Union.  In addition, the Company’s subsidiaries that are corporations are included in consolidated and combined federal and state income tax returns filed by Southern Union.  The Company’s liability generally is equal to the liability that the Company and its subsidiaries would have incurred based upon the Company’s taxable income if the Company was a taxpayer filing separately from Southern Union, except that the Company will receive credit under an intercompany note for any increased liability resulting from its tax basis in its assets having been reduced as a result of the like-kind exchange under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.  The tax sharing agreement may be amended from time to time.
Environmental Expenditures.  Environmental expenditures that relate to an existing condition caused by past operations that do not contribute to current or future revenue generation are expensed.  Environmental expenditures relating to current or future revenues are expensed or capitalized as appropriate.  Liabilities are recorded when environmental assessments and/or clean-ups are probable and the costs can be reasonably estimated.  Remediation obligations are not discounted because the timing of future cash flow streams is not predictable.
Revenues.  The Company’s revenues from transportation and storage of natural gas and LNG terminalling are based on capacity reservation charges and, to a lesser extent, commodity usage charges.  Reservation revenues are based on contracted rates and capacity reserved by the customers and are recognized monthly.  Revenues from commodity usage charges are also recognized monthly, based on the volumes received from or delivered for the customer, based on the tariff of that particular Panhandle entity, with any differences in volumes received and delivered resulting in an imbalance.  Volume imbalances generally are settled in-kind with no impact on revenues, with the exception of Trunkline, which settles certain imbalances in cash pursuant to its tariff, and records gains and losses on such cashout sales as a component of revenue, to the extent not owed back to customers.
Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts.  The Company manages trade credit risks to minimize exposure to uncollectible trade receivables.  Prospective and existing customers are reviewed for creditworthiness based upon pre-established standards.  Customers that do not meet minimum standards are required to provide additional credit support.  The Company considers many factors including historical customer collection experience, general and specific economic trends and know specific issues related to individual customers and transactions that might impact collectability.  Increases in the allowance are recorded as a component of operating expenses; reductions in the allowance are recorded when receivables are subsequently collected or written-off.  Past due receivable balances are written-off when the Company’s efforts have been unsuccessful in collecting the amount due.
The following table presents the balance in the allowance for doubtful accounts and activity:
 
 
Successor
 
 
Predecessor
 
 
Year Ended December 31, 2013
 
Period from Acquisition
(March 26, 2012) to
December 31,
2012
 
 
Period from
January 1, 2012 to
March 25,
2012
 
Year Ended December 31, 2011
Beginning balance
 
$
1

 
$
1

 
 
$
1

 
$
1

Additions: charged to cost and expenses
 

 

 
 

 

Deductions: write-off of uncollectible accounts
 

 

 
 

 

Other
 

 

 
 

 

Ending balance
 
$
1

 
$
1

 
 
$
1

 
$
1


The following table presents the relative contribution to the Company’s total operating revenue of each customer that comprised at least 10% of its operating revenues:
 
 
Successor
 
 
Predecessor
 
 
Year Ended December 31, 2013
 
Period from Acquisition
(March 26, 2012) to
December 31,
2012
 
 
Period from
January 1, 2012 to
March 25,
2012
 
Year Ended December 31, 2011
BG Energy Holdings LTD
 
30
%
 
31
%
 
 
30
%
 
30
%
ETC ProLiance (Related Party)
 
13

 
12

 
 
13

 
13

Other top 10 customers
 
24

 
20

 
 
24

 
21

Remaining customers
 
33

 
37

 
 
33

 
36

Total percentage
 
100
%
 
100
%
 
 
100
%
 
100
%

Retirement Benefits.  Employers are required to recognize in their balance sheets the overfunded or underfunded status of defined benefit other postretirement plans, measured as the difference between the fair value of the plan assets and the benefit obligation.  Each overfunded plan is recognized as an asset and each underfunded plan is recognized as a liability.   Employers must recognize the change in the funded status of the plan in other comprehensive income in partners’ capital in the year in which the change occurs. See Note 8 for additional related information.
Derivatives and Hedging Activities.  All derivatives are recognized on the consolidated balance sheet at their fair value.  On the date the derivative contract is entered into, the Company designates the derivative as (i) a hedge of the fair value of a recognized asset or liability or of an unrecognized firm commitment (a fair value hedge);  (ii) a hedge of a forecasted transaction or the variability of cash flows to be received or paid in conjunction with a recognized asset or liability (a cash flow hedge); or (iii) an instrument that is held for trading or non-hedging purposes (a trading or economic hedging instrument).  For derivatives treated as a fair value hedge, the effective portion of changes in fair value is recorded as an adjustment to the hedged item.  The ineffective portion of a fair value hedge is recognized in earnings.  Upon termination of a fair value hedge of a debt instrument, the resulting gain or loss is amortized to earnings through the maturity date of the debt instrument.  For derivatives treated as a cash flow hedge, the effective portion of changes in fair value is recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income until the related hedged items impact earnings.  Any ineffective portion of a cash flow hedge is reported in current-period earnings.  For derivatives treated as trading or economic hedging instruments, changes in fair value are reported in current-period earnings.  Fair value is determined based upon quoted market prices and pricing models using assumptions that market participants would use.  See Note 10 for information related to derivative instruments and hedging activities.
Stock-Based Compensation. The Company measures all employee stock-based compensation using a fair value method and records the related expense in the consolidated statement of operations. For more information, see Note 13.
Fair Value Measurement.  Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.  The Company utilizes market data or assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability, including assumptions about nonperformance risk, which is primarily comprised of credit risk (both the Company’s own credit risk and counterparty credit risk) and the risks inherent in the inputs to any applicable valuation techniques.  The Company places more weight on current market information concerning credit risk (e.g. current credit default swap rates) as opposed to historical information (e.g. historical default probabilities and credit ratings).  These inputs can be readily observable, market corroborated, or generally unobservable.  The Company endeavors to utilize the best available information, including valuation techniques that maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs.  A three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value, is as follows:
Level 1 – Observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities;
Level 2 – Observable inputs such as: (i) quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets; (ii) quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active and do not require significant adjustment based on unobservable inputs; or (iii) valuations based on pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies or similar techniques where significant inputs (e.g., interest rates, yield curves, etc.) are derived principally from observable market data, or can be corroborated by observable market data, for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities; and
Level 3 – Unobservable inputs, including valuations based on pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies or similar techniques where at least one significant model assumption or input is unobservable.  Unobservable inputs are used to the extent that observable inputs are not available and reflect the Company’s own assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the assets or liabilities.  Unobservable inputs are based on the best information available in the circumstances, which might include the Company’s own data.
Assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement.  The Company’s assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement requires judgment and may affect the valuation of these assets and liabilities and their placement within the fair value hierarchy.
See Note 8 and Note 11 for additional information regarding the assets and liabilities of the Company measured on a recurring and nonrecurring basis, respectively.
Asset Retirement Obligations.  Legal obligations associated with the retirement of long-lived assets are recorded at fair value at the time the obligations are incurred, if a reasonable estimate of fair value can be made.  Present value techniques are used which reflect assumptions such as removal and remediation costs, inflation,  and profit margins that third parties would demand to settle the amount of the future obligation.  The Company did not include a market risk premium for unforeseeable circumstances in its fair value estimates because such a premium could not be reliably estimated.  Upon initial recognition of the liability, costs are capitalized as a part of the long-lived asset and allocated to expense over the useful life of the related asset.  The liability is accreted to its present value each period with accretion being recorded to operating expense with a corresponding increase in the carrying amount of the liability.  To the extent the Company is permitted to collect and has reflected in its financials amounts previously collected from customers and expensed, such amounts serve to reduce what would be reflected as capitalized costs at the initial establishment of an ARO.
See Note 5 for additional related information.
Income Taxes.  Income taxes are accounted for under the asset and liability method. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rate is recognized in earnings in the period that includes the enactment date. Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to the amounts more likely than not to be realized.
The determination of the provision for income taxes requires significant judgment, use of estimates, and the interpretation and application of complex tax laws. Significant judgment is required in assessing the timing and amounts of deductible and taxable items and the probability of sustaining uncertain tax positions. The benefits of uncertain tax positions are recorded in our financial statements only after determining a more-likely-than-not probability that the uncertain tax positions will withstand challenge, if any, from taxing authorities. When facts and circumstances change, we reassess these probabilities and record any changes through the provision for income taxes.
As a limited partnership, the Company is treated as a disregarded entity for federal income tax purposes.  Accordingly, the Company and its subsidiaries are not treated as separate taxpayers; instead, their income is directly taxable to Southern Union.  Upon completion of the Holdco transaction on October 5, 2012, Southern Union became a member of a new federal consolidated tax return filing group of which Holdco is the parent company. As a result of the Holdco transaction, Southern Union entered into a tax sharing agreement with Holdco. However, the Company will continue its tax sharing agreement with Southern Union, and will pay its share of taxes based on its taxable income, which will generally equal the liability that the Company would have incurred as a separate taxpayer.