Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Impact of Changes in Interest Rates, Equity Prices and Energy Commodity Prices
The Registrants are exposed to various market risks. These risks arise from transactions entered into in the normal course of business and are inherent in the Registrants’ consolidated financial statements. Most of the revenues and income from the Registrants’ business activities are affected by market risks. Categories of market risk include exposure to interest rates, equity prices and commodity prices through non-trading activities. A description of each market risk is set forth below:
• Interest rate risk primarily results from exposures to changes in the level of borrowings and changes in interest rates;
• Equity price risk results from exposures to changes in prices of individual equity securities (CenterPoint Energy); and
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• Commodity price risk results from exposures to price volatilities of commodities, such as natural gas, NGLs and other energy commodities (CenterPoint Energy).
Management has established comprehensive risk management policies to monitor and manage these market risks.
Interest Rate Risk
As of December 31, 2025, the Registrants had outstanding long-term debt and lease obligations and CenterPoint Energy had obligations under its ZENS that subject them to the risk of loss associated with movements in market interest rates. The Registrants seek to manage interest rate exposure by monitoring the effects of changes in market interest rates and using a combination of fixed and variable rate debt. Additionally, interest rate swaps are used to mitigate interest rate exposure when deemed appropriate.
CenterPoint Energy’s floating rate obligations aggregated $1.5 billion as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, which consisted primarily of commercial paper outstanding and short-term borrowings at Houston Electric. If the floating interest rates were to increase by 100 basis points from the floating interest rates at December 31, 2025, CenterPoint Energy’s combined interest expense would increase by approximately $15 million annually. CenterPoint Energy has $500 million of floating rate notes that mature in 2026.
Houston Electric’s floating rate obligations were $500 million as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, which mature in the first quarter of 2026. If the floating interest rates were to increase by 100 basis points from the floating interest rates at December 31, 2025, Houston Electric’s combined interest expense would increase by approximately $5 million annually.
CERC’s floating rate obligations aggregated $559 million and $599 million as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, which consisted of commercial paper outstanding. If the floating interest rates were to increase by 100 basis points from December 31, 2025 rates, CERC’s combined interest expense would increase by approximately $6 million annually. CERC has no floating rate notes maturing in 2026.
As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, CenterPoint Energy had outstanding fixed-rate debt (excluding indexed debt securities) aggregating $21.7 billion and $19.7 billion, respectively, in principal amount and having a fair value of $21.1 billion and $18.4 billion, respectively. Because these instruments are fixed-rate, they do not expose CenterPoint Energy to the risk of loss in earnings due to changes in market interest rates. However, the fair value of these instruments would increase by approximately $800 million if interest rates were to decline by 10% from their levels as of December 31, 2025. CenterPoint Energy has $517 million of fixed-rate senior notes, $1 billion of fixed-rate convertible senior notes, $300 million of fixed-rate Houston Electric general mortgage bonds and $60 million of fixed-rate CERC senior notes maturing in 2026.
As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, Houston Electric had outstanding fixed-rate debt aggregating $9.7 billion and $8.4 billion, respectively, in principal amount and having a fair value of approximately $8.9 billion and $7.3 billion, respectively. Because these instruments are fixed-rate, they do not expose Houston Electric to the risk of loss in earnings due to changes in market interest rates. However, the fair value of these instruments would increase by approximately $400 million if interest rates were to decline by 10% from their levels as of December 31, 2025. Houston Electric has $300 million of fixed-rate general mortgage bonds maturing in 2026.
As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, CERC had outstanding fixed-rate debt aggregating $4.2 billion and $4.6 billion, respectively, in principal amount and having a fair value of $4.2 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively. Because these instruments are fixed-rate, they do not expose CERC to the risk of loss in earnings due to changes in market interest rates. However, the fair value of these instruments would increase by approximately $120 million if interest rates were to decline by 10% from their levels at December 31, 2025. CERC has $60 million fixed-rate senior notes maturing in 2026.
In general, such an increase in fair value previously described would impact earnings and cash flows only if the Registrants were to reacquire all or a portion of these instruments in the open market prior to their maturity. The ZENS obligation is bifurcated into a debt component and a derivative component. The debt component of less than $1 million at December 31, 2025 was a fixed-rate obligation and, therefore, did not expose CenterPoint Energy to the risk of loss in earnings due to changes in market interest rates. However, the fair value of the debt component would increase by less than $1 million if interest rates were to decline by 10% from levels at December 31, 2025. Changes in the fair value of the derivative component, a $564 million recorded liability at December 31, 2025, are recorded in CenterPoint Energy’s Statements of Consolidated Income and, therefore, it is exposed to changes in the fair value of the derivative component as a result of changes in the underlying risk-free interest rate. If the risk-free interest rate were to increase by 10% from December 31, 2025 levels, the fair value of the
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derivative component liability would decrease by less than $1 million, which would be recorded as a gain on indexed debt securities in CenterPoint Energy’s Statements of Consolidated Income.
Equity Market Value Risk (CenterPoint Energy)
CenterPoint Energy is exposed to equity market value risk through its ownership of 10.2 million shares of AT&T Common, 0.9 million shares of Charter Common and 2.5 million shares of WBD Common, which CenterPoint Energy holds to facilitate its ability to meet its obligations under the ZENS. See Note 10 to the consolidated financial statements for a discussion of CenterPoint Energy’s ZENS obligation. Changes in the fair value of the ZENS-Related Securities held by CenterPoint Energy are expected to substantially offset changes in the fair value of the derivative component of the ZENS. A decrease of 10% from the December 31, 2025 aggregate market value of these shares would result in a net loss of less than $1 million, which would be recorded on a gross basis as both a gain on indexed debt securities and as a loss on equity securities in CenterPoint Energy’s Statements of Consolidated Income.
Commodity Price Risk From Non-Trading Activities (CenterPoint Energy and CERC)
CenterPoint Energy’s regulated operations are exposed to commodity price risk during severe weather events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes and severe winter weather conditions. Severe weather events can increase commodity prices related to natural gas, coal and purchased power, which may increase our costs of providing service, and those costs may not be recoverable in rates. Recovery of cost increases driven by rising commodity prices during severe weather events could be resisted by our regulators and our regulators might attempt to deny or defer timely recovery of those costs.
However, CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s regulated operations in Indiana have limited exposure to commodity price risk for transactions involving purchases and sales of natural gas, coal and purchased power for the benefit of retail customers due to current state regulations, which, subject to compliance with those regulations, allow for recovery of the cost of such purchases through natural gas and fuel cost adjustment mechanisms. CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s utility natural gas operations in Indiana have regulatory authority to lock in pricing for up to 50% of annual natural gas purchases using arrangements with an original term of up to 10 years. This authority has been utilized to secure fixed price natural gas using both physical purchases and financial derivatives.
Although CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s regulated operations are exposed to limited commodity price risk, natural gas and coal prices have other effects on working capital requirements, interest costs, and some level of price-sensitivity in volumes sold or delivered. Constructive regulatory orders, such as those authorizing lost margin recovery, other innovative rate designs and recovery of unaccounted for natural gas and other natural gas-related expenses, also mitigate the effect natural gas costs may have on CenterPoint Energy’s financial condition. In 2008, the PUCO approved an exit of the merchant function in CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Ohio natural gas service territory, allowing Ohio customers to purchase substantially all natural gas directly from retail marketers rather than from CenterPoint Energy or CERC.
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