CenterPoint Energy 2014 Annual Report Download - page 54

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timely and appropriate regulatory actions allowing securitization or other recovery of costs associated with any future hurricanes or
natural disasters;
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changes in interest rates or rates of inflation;
•
commercial bank and financial market conditions, our access to capital, the cost of such capital, and the results of our financing and
refinancing efforts, including availability of funds in the debt capital markets;
•
actions by credit rating agencies;
•
effectiveness of our risk management activities;
•
inability of various counterparties to meet their obligations to us;
•
non
-
payment for our services due to financial distress of our customers;
•
the ability of GenOn Energy, Inc. (formerly known as RRI Energy, Inc., Reliant Energy, Inc. and Reliant Resources, Inc.), a wholly
owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG), and its subsidiaries to satisfy their obligations to us, including indemnity obligations, or
obligations in connection with the contractual arrangements pursuant to which we are their guarantor;
•
the ability of retail electric providers (REPs), including REP affiliates of NRG and Energy Future Holdings Corp., to satisfy their
obligations to us and our subsidiaries;
•
our ability to recruit, effectively transition and retain management and key employees;
•
the outcome of litigation brought by or against us;
•
our ability to control costs;
•
our ability to invest planned capital;
•
the investment performance of our pension and postretirement benefit plans;
•
our potential business strategies, including restructurings, joint ventures and acquisitions or dispositions of assets or businesses, which
we cannot assure you will be completed or will have the anticipated benefits to us;
•
acquisition and merger activities involving us or our competitors;
•
future economic conditions in regional and national markets and their effect on sales, prices and costs;
•
the performance of Enable, the amount of cash distributions we receive from Enable, and the value of our interest in Enable, and factors
that may have a material impact on such performance, cash distributions and value, including certain of the factors specified above and:
◦
the achievement of anticipated operational and commercial synergies and expected growth opportunities, and the successful
implementation of its business plan;
◦
competitive conditions in the midstream industry, and actions taken by Enable
’
s customers and competitors, including the extent
and timing of the entry of additional competition in the markets served by Enable;
◦
the timing and extent of changes in the supply of natural gas and associated commodity prices, particularly prices of natural gas and
natural gas liquids (NGLs), the competitive effects of the available pipeline capacity in the regions served by Enable, and the
effects of geographic and seasonal commodity price differentials, including the effects of these circumstances on re-
contracting available capacity on Enable
’
s interstate pipelines;
◦
the demand for natural gas, NGLs and transportation and storage services;
◦
environmental and other governmental regulations, including the availability of drilling permits and the regulation of hydraulic
fracturing;
◦
changes in tax status;
◦
access to growth capital;
◦
the availability and prices of raw materials for current and future construction projects; and
•
other factors we discuss under
“
Risk Factors
”
in Item 1A of this report and in other reports we file from time to time with the SEC.