Item 2. Properties
Item 2. Properties
The following discussion is based on the Registrants’ businesses as of December 31, 2023.
Character of Ownership
We lease or own our principal properties in fee, including our corporate office space and various real property. Most of our electric lines and natural gas mains are located, pursuant to easements and other rights, on public roads or on land owned by others.
Electric (CenterPoint Energy and Houston Electric)
Properties
All of Houston Electric’s properties are located in Texas. Its properties consist primarily of high-voltage electric transmission lines and poles, distribution lines, substations, service centers, service wires, telecommunications networks and meters. Most of Houston Electric’s transmission and distribution lines have been constructed over lands of others pursuant to easements or along public highways and streets under franchise agreements and as permitted by law.
All real and tangible properties of Houston Electric, subject to certain exclusions, are currently subject to the lien of the M&DOT and the lien of the General Mortgage, which is junior to the lien of the M&DOT.
No first mortgage bonds are outstanding under the M&DOT and Houston Electric is contractually obligated to not issue any additional first mortgage bonds under the M&DOT and is undertaking actions to release the lien of the M&DOT and terminate the M&DOT. For information related to debt outstanding under the General Mortgage, see Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements.
Indiana Electric’s properties are primarily located in Indiana. They consist of transmission lines in Indiana and Kentucky, distribution lines, substations, service centers, coal-fired generating facilities, gas-fired turbine peaking units, a landfill gas electric generation project and solar generation facilities.
All real and tangible properties of Indiana Electric, subject to certain exclusions, are currently subject to the lien of the Amended and Restated Mortgage Indenture dated as of January 1, 2023, between SIGECO (Indiana Electric) and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (formerly known as Bankers Trust Company), as Trustee.
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Electric Lines - Transmission and Distribution. As of December 31, 2023, Houston Electric and Indiana Electric owned and operated the following electric transmission and distribution lines:
Houston Electric Indiana Electric
Description Overhead Lines Underground Lines Indiana Kentucky (1)
Transmission lines: (in Circuit Miles)
69 kV 132 2 567 —
138 kV 2,333 24 420 9
345 kV 1,445 — 49 15
Total 3,910 26 1,036 24
(in Circuit Miles)
Distribution lines 29,270 27,267 7,266 —
(1) These assets interconnect with Louisville Gas and Electric Company’s transmission system at Cloverport, Kentucky and with Big Rivers Electric Cooperative at Sebree, Kentucky.
Generating Capacity. In 2023, SIGECO completed the planned retirement of its A.B. Brown Units 1 & 2. As of December 31, 2023, Indiana Electric had 727 MW of installed generating capacity, as set forth in the following table.
Generation Source Unit No. Location Date in Service Capacity
(MW)
Coal
F.B. Culley 2 Warrick County 1966 90
F.B. Culley 3 Warrick County 1973 270
Warrick (1)
4 Warrick County 1970 150
Total Coal Capacity 510
Gas
Brown (2)
3 Posey County 1991 80
Brown 4 Posey County 2002 80
Renewable Landfill Gas Pike County 2009 3
Total Gas Capacity 163
Solar
Oak Hill Evansville, Indiana 2018 2
Volkman Evansville, Indiana 2018 2
Troy Spencer County 2021 50
Total Solar Capacity 54
Total Generating Capacity (3)
727
(1) SIGECO and AGC own a 300 MW unit at the Warrick Power Plant as tenants in common. SIGECO exited joint operations of Warrick 4 on January 1, 2024.
(2) Brown Unit 3 is also equipped to burn oil.
(3) Excludes 1.5% participation in OVEC. See Item 1. Business for more details.
Natural Gas Combustion Turbines. In 2022, Indiana Electric received approval from the IURC for a CPCN seeking approval to construct two natural gas combustion turbines to replace portions of its existing coal-fired generation fleet. The turbines are targeted to be operational by year end 2025. For further information, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources — Regulatory Matters” in Item 7 of Part II of this report, which discussion is incorporated herein by reference.
Solar. Indiana Electric entered into an amended and restated BTA to build a 191 MW solar array in Posey County, Indiana. Additionally, Indiana Electric entered into a BTA to acquire a 130 MW solar array in Pike County, Indiana through a special purpose entity for a capped purchase price. For further information about Indiana Electric’s BTA’s, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources — Regulatory Matters” in Item 7 of Part II of this report, which discussion is incorporated herein by reference.
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Mobile Generation. As allowed by a law enacted by the Texas legislature after the February 2021 Winter Storm Event and amended in 2023, Houston Electric is leasing TEEEF that can aid in restoring power to customers during certain significant power outages that are impacting its distribution system. As of December 31, 2023, Houston Electric leased 505 MW of TEEEF. For more information, see Note 20 to the consolidated financial statements.
Substations. A substation is a facility that transforms electricity from a higher voltage to a lower voltage or vice versa. Generally, this facility is the interface between the transmission system and the distribution grid.
As of December 31, 2023
Number of Substations Transformer Capacity (in Mva)
Houston Electric 240 72,806
Indiana Electric 108 6,913
Total CenterPoint Energy 348 79,719
Service Centers. Service centers consist of office buildings, warehouses and repair facilities that are used in the business of transmitting and distributing electricity.
As of December 31, 2023
Number of Service Centers Acres of Land
Houston Electric 13 375
Indiana Electric 6 70
Total CenterPoint Energy 19 445
Natural Gas (CenterPoint Energy and CERC)
CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas use various third-party storage services or owned natural gas storage facilities to meet peak-day requirements and to manage the daily changes in demand due to changes in weather. CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas may also supplement contracted supplies and storage from time to time with stored LNG and propane-air plant production.
As of December 31, 2023, CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas owned and operated the following natural gas facilities:
No. of Assets Storage Capacity (Bcf) Working Capacity (Bcf) Maximum Daily Withdrawal Rate (MMcf)
CenterPoint Energy
Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility 8 43 14 305
CERC
Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility 5 32 9 205
On-site Storage Capacity
No. of Assets Daily Production Rate (Dth) Millions of Gallons Dth
CenterPoint Energy and CERC
Propane Air-Gas Manufacturing Plant 16 247,000 14.1 1,228,000
LNG Plant Facility 1 72,000 12.0 1,010,000
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The table below reflects CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas contracted upstream storage services as of December 31, 2023:
Storage Capacity (Bcf) Maximum Peak Daily Delivery (MMcf)
Upstream Storage Service 84 2,241
The table below reflects the approximate total linear miles of CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas distribution and transmission mains owned as of December 31, 2023:
CenterPoint Energy
CERC
All Locations
84,000 81,000
Indiana and Ohio
22,000 19,000
CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas owned mains varying in size from one-half inch to 24 inches in diameter. CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas Indiana and Ohio mains are located in Indiana and Ohio except for, in the case of CenterPoint Energy, pipeline facilities extending from points in northern Kentucky to points in southern Indiana so that gas may be transported to Indiana and sold or transported to customers in Indiana. Generally, in each of the cities, towns and rural areas served by CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas, they own the underground gas mains and service lines, metering and regulating equipment located on customers’ premises and the district regulating equipment necessary for pressure maintenance. With a few exceptions, the measuring stations at which CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Natural Gas receives gas are owned, operated and maintained by others, and their distribution facilities begin at the outlet of the measuring equipment. These facilities, including odorizing equipment, are usually located on land owned by suppliers.
As of December 31, 2023, CenterPoint Energy and CERC, through CEIP, owned and operated over 217 miles of intrastate pipeline in Louisiana and Texas.