Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

We are a power generation company engaged in the ownership and operation of primarily natural gas-fired and geothermal power plants in North America. We have a significant presence in major competitive wholesale and retail power markets in California, Texas and the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. We sell power, steam, capacity, renewable energy credits and ancillary services to our customers, which include utilities, independent electric system operators, industrial and agricultural companies, retail power providers, municipalities and other governmental entities, power marketers as well as retail commercial, industrial, governmental and residential customers. We continue to focus on getting closer to our customers through expansion of our retail platform which began with the acquisition of Champion Energy in 2015 and was followed by the acquisitions of Calpine Solutions in late 2016 and North American Power in early 2017. We purchase primarily natural gas and some fuel oil as fuel for our power plants and engage in related natural gas transportation and storage transactions. We also purchase power for sale to our customers and purchase electric transmission rights to deliver power to our customers. Additionally, consistent with our Risk Management Policy, we enter into natural gas, power, environmental product, fuel oil and other physical and financial commodity contracts to hedge certain business risks and optimize our portfolio of power plants.

Basis of Interim Presentation — The accompanying unaudited, interim Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements of Calpine Corporation, a Delaware corporation, and consolidated subsidiaries have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC. In the opinion of management, the Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements include the normal, recurring adjustments necessary for a fair statement of the information required to be set forth therein. Certain information and note disclosures, normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, have been condensed or omitted from these statements pursuant to such rules and regulations and, accordingly, these financial statements should be read in conjunction with our audited Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2017, included in our 2017 Form 10-K. The results for interim periods are not indicative of the results for the entire year primarily due to acquisitions and disposals of assets, seasonal fluctuations in our revenues and expenses, timing of major maintenance expense, variations resulting from the application of the method to calculate the provision for income tax for interim periods, volatility of commodity prices and mark-to-market gains and losses from commodity and interest rate derivative contracts.

Use of Estimates in Preparation of Financial Statements — The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses and related disclosures included in our Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Reclassifications — We have reclassified certain prior period amounts for comparative purposes. These reclassifications did not have a material effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Cash and Cash Equivalents — We consider all highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. We have cash and cash equivalents held in non-corporate accounts relating to certain project finance facilities and lease agreements that require us to establish and maintain segregated cash accounts. These accounts have been pledged as security in favor of the lenders under such project finance facilities, and the use of certain cash balances on deposit in such accounts is limited, at least temporarily, to the operations of the respective projects.

Restricted Cash — Certain of our debt agreements, lease agreements or other operating agreements require us to establish and maintain segregated cash accounts, the use of which is restricted, making these cash funds unavailable for general use. These amounts are held by depository banks in order to comply with the contractual provisions requiring reserves for payments such as for debt service, rent and major maintenance or with applicable regulatory requirements. Funds that can be used to satisfy obligations due during the next 12 months are classified as current restricted cash, with the remainder classified as non-current restricted cash. Restricted cash is generally invested in accounts earning market rates; therefore, the carrying value approximates fair value. Such cash is excluded from cash and cash equivalents on our Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheets.

The table below represents the components of our restricted cash as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 (in millions):



	March 31, 2018						December 31, 2017
	Current		Non-Current		Total		Current		Non-Current		Total
Debt service	$	12	$	7	$	19	$	11	$	8	$	19
Construction/major maintenance	25		18		43		28		16		44
Security/project/insurance	88		—		88		92		—		92
Other	3		3		6		3		1		4
Total	$	128	$	28	$	156	$	134	$	25	$	159

Property, Plant and Equipment, Net — At March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, the components of property, plant and equipment are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation as follows (in millions):



	March 31, 2018		December 31, 2017		Depreciable Lives
Buildings, machinery and equipment	$	16,512	$	16,506	3	–	46	Years
Geothermal properties	1,500		1,494		13	–	58	Years
Other	252		236		3	–	46	Years
	18,264		18,236
Less: Accumulated depreciation	6,545		6,383
	11,719		11,853
Land	117		117
Construction in progress	787		754
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	12,623	$	12,724

Depreciable Lives — During the first quarter of 2018, we reviewed our accounting policies related to depreciation associated with our estimates of useful lives related to our componentized balance of plant parts. As a result, the useful lives of our rotable parts are now generally estimated to range from 1.5 to 12 years. Our change in the method of depreciation for rotable parts is considered a change in accounting estimate and will result in changes to our depreciation expense prospectively.

Capitalized Interest — The total amount of interest capitalized was $7 million and $7 million during the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Goodwill — We have not recorded any impairment losses associated with our goodwill. During the first quarter of 2018, we altered the composition of our segments to report the results associated with our retail business as a separate segment. This change reflects the manner in which our segment information is presented internally to our chief operating decision maker associated with the strategic utilization of our retail business subsequent to the consummation of the Merger. Thus, beginning in the first quarter of 2018, our geographic reportable segments for our wholesale business are West (including geothermal), Texas and East (including Canada) and we have a separate reportable segment for our retail business. As our goodwill resulted from the acquisition of our retail business over the last several years, our goodwill balance of $242 million was allocated to our Retail segment in connection with the change in segment presentation.

New Accounting Standards and Disclosure Requirements

Revenue Recognition — On January 1, 2018, we adopted Accounting Standards Update 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“Topic 606”). The comprehensive new revenue recognition standard supersedes all pre-existing revenue recognition guidance. The core principle of Topic 606 is that a company will recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The standard also requires expanded disclosures surrounding the recognition of revenue from contracts with customers. We adopted the new revenue recognition standards under Topic 606 using the modified retrospective method and applied Topic 606 to those contracts which were not completed as of January 1, 2018. Results for reporting periods beginning after December 31, 2017 are presented under Topic 606, while prior period amounts continue to be reported in accordance with historical accounting standards. The adoption of Topic 606 resulted in no adjustment to our opening retained earnings as of January 1, 2018. There was no material effect to our revenues, results of operations or cash flows for the three months ending March 31, 2018 from the adoption of Topic 606 and we do not expect the new revenue standard to have a material effect on our results of operations in future periods. See Note 3 for additional disclosures required by Topic 606.

Leases — In February 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2016-02, “Leases.” The comprehensive new lease standard will supersede all existing lease guidance. The standard requires that a lessee should recognize a right-to-use asset and a lease liability for substantially all operating leases based on the present value of the minimum rental payments. Entities may make an accounting policy election to not recognize lease assets and liabilities for leases with a term of 12 months or less. For lessors, the accounting for leases remains substantially unchanged. The standard also requires expanded disclosures surrounding leases. The standard is effective for fiscal periods beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within that reporting period and requires modified retrospective adoption with early adoption permitted. In January 2018, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2018-01, “Land Easement Practical Expedient for Transition to Topic 842” that allows an entity to not evaluate existing and expired land easements that were not previously accounted for as leases upon adoption of Accounting Standards Update 2016-02. Any land easements entered into prospectively or modified after adoption should be evaluated to assess whether they meet the definition of a lease. We expect to adopt the standard in the first quarter of 2019. We have completed our initial evaluation of the standard and believe that the key changes that will affect us relate to our accounting for operating leases that are currently off-balance sheet and tolling contracts which we currently account for as operating leases. Additionally, we are evaluating the potential effects of the removal of the real estate guidance currently applicable to lessors. We are also considering electing the practical expedients in our implementation of the standard; however, this may change as we complete our assessment of the standard.

Statement of Cash Flows — In August 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2016-15, “Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments.” The standard addresses several matters of diversity in practice in how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows including the presentation of debt extinguishment costs and distributions received from equity method investments. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, and requires retrospective adoption. We adopted Accounting Standards Update 2016-15 in the first quarter of 2018 which resulted in the reclassification of cash payments for debt extinguishment costs from a cash outflow for operating activities to a cash outflow for financing activities. The adoption of this standard did not have a material effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Income Taxes — In October 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2016-16, “Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other than Inventory.” The standard requires an entity to recognize the income tax consequences of an intra-entity transfer of an asset other than inventory when the transfer occurs which differs from the current requirement that prohibits the recognition of current and deferred income taxes for an intra-entity asset transfer until the asset has been sold to an outside party. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within that reporting period and requires modified retrospective adoption. We adopted Accounting Standards Update 2016-16 in the first quarter of 2018 which did not have a material effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows as a result of adopting this standard.

Restricted Cash — In November 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2016-18, “Restricted Cash.” The standard requires restricted cash to be included with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning and ending amounts in the statement of cash flows and also requires disclosures regarding the nature of restrictions on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods and requires retrospective adoption with early adoption permitted. We adopted Accounting Standards Update 2016-18 in the first quarter of 2018 which did not have a material effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows as a result of adopting this standard.

Derivatives and Hedging — In August 2017, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2017-12, “Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities.” The standard better aligns an entity’s hedging activities and financial reporting for hedging relationships through changes to both the designation and measurement guidance for qualifying hedging relationships and the presentation of hedge results in the financial statements. The standard will prospectively make hedge accounting easier to apply to hedging activities and also enhances disclosure requirements for how hedge transactions are reflected in the financial statements when hedge accounting is elected. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted. We are currently assessing the future effect this standard may have on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.