INCOME TAXES Income Taxes (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

INCOME TAXES

For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, the statutory rate differed from the effective rate primarily due to $14 million of net state tax benefit attributable to statutory rate changes resulting from the merger of ETP and Regency in April 2015 and the non-taxable transfer of ETP common units to an affiliate in September 2015. Additionally, the Company recognized a net tax benefit of $7 million related to the settlement of the Southern Union 2004-2009 Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) examination in July 2015. The effective tax rate exceeded the statutory rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 primarily due to the Lake Charles LNG Transaction. The Lake Charles LNG Transaction, which was treated as a sale for tax purposes, resulted in $81 million of incremental income tax expense.