CenterPoint Energy 2010 Annual Report Download - page 67

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 67 of the 2010 CenterPoint Energy annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 152

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141
  • 142
  • 143
  • 144
  • 145
  • 146
  • 147
  • 148
  • 149
  • 150
  • 151
  • 152

45
CERTAIN FACTORS AFFECTING FUTURE EARNINGS
Our past earnings and results of operations are not necessarily indicative of our future earnings and results of
operations. The magnitude of our future earnings and results of our operations will depend on or be affected by
numerous factors including:
• the resolution of the true-up proceedings, including, in particular, the results of appeals to the Texas
Supreme Court regarding rulings obtained to date;
• state and federal legislative and regulatory actions or developments relating to the environment, including
those related to global climate change;
• other state and federal legislative and regulatory actions or developments affecting various aspects of our
business, including, among others, energy deregulation or re-regulation, pipeline safety, health care reform,
financial reform and tax legislation;
• timely and appropriate rate actions and increases, allowing recovery of costs and a reasonable return on
investment;
• the timing and outcome of any audits, disputes and other proceedings related to taxes;
• problems with construction, implementation of necessary technology or other issues with respect to major
capital projects that result in delays or in cost overruns that cannot be recouped in rates;
• industrial, commercial and residential growth in our service territory and changes in market demand,
including the effects of energy efficiency measures and demographic patterns;
• the timing and extent of changes in commodity prices, particularly natural gas and natural gas liquids, and
the effects of geographic and seasonal commodity price differentials;
• the timing and extent of changes in the supply of natural gas, including supplies available for gathering by
our field services business and transporting by our interstate pipelines;
• weather variations and other natural phenomena;
• the impact of unplanned facility outages;
• timely and appropriate regulatory actions allowing securitization or other recovery of costs associated with
any future hurricanes or natural disasters;
• 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 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. (GenOn) (formerly known as RRI Energy, Inc., Reliant Energy, Inc. and
Reliant Resources, Inc.) and its subsidiaries to satisfy their obligations to us, including indemnity
obligations, or in connection with the contractual arrangements pursuant to which we are their guarantor;
• the ability of REPs, including REP subsidiaries of NRG Retail LLC and REP subsidiaries of TXU Energy
Retail Company LLC, which are CenterPoint Houston’s two largest customers, to satisfy their obligations
to us and our subsidiaries;