CenterPoint Q2 2026 GAAP EPS rose to $0.37 from $0.30 as Houston Electric rate recovery lifted Electric segment profit 39% despite flat power deliveries; 2026 guidance reiterated and 10-year capital plan raised to $66.7B.
Revenue
$2.2B
+10.7% YoY
Net income
$244M
+23.2% YoY
Diluted EPS
$0.37
+23.3% YoY
Operating margin
24.8%
Overview
CenterPoint Energy's second-quarter 2026 profit rose 23%. GAAP net income was $244 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, up from $198 million ($0.30) a year earlier. (GAAP means standard accounting rules, before any company adjustments.) Almost all of the gain came from the Houston-centred Electric business. Its net income rose $66 million to $237 million, mainly because customers are now paying new rates that recover past grid spending. How much electricity customers used did not help: total electricity deliveries were flat year on year. The Natural Gas business earned slightly less, and the corporate segment lost more.
In its July 28 earnings release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1), CenterPoint reported non-GAAP EPS of $0.40, up from $0.29. It reiterated full-year 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance of at least the midpoint of $1.89–$1.91. It also raised its 10-year capital plan by $1.2 billion to $66.7 billion (2026–2035) to serve large new loads, such as data centres, connecting in Houston.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. files one combined 10-Q with its two main subsidiaries, CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric and CERC (the gas business). All figures below are for CenterPoint Energy, Inc. as a whole unless stated otherwise.
Key metrics
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Total revenues
$2,152M
$1,944M
+10.7%
Operating income
$534M
$417M
+28.1%
Operating margin
24.8%
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Net income (all attributable to common shareholders)
$244M
$198M
+23.2%
Diluted EPS (GAAP)
$0.37
$0.30
+23.3%
Non-GAAP diluted EPS (per 8-K earnings release)
$0.40
$0.29
+37.9%
Electric segment net income
$237M
$171M
+38.6%
Natural Gas segment net income
$80M
$86M
−7.0%
Electric throughput (GWh)
30,306
30,313
0%
Electric metered customers (period end)
3,042,231
2,996,732
+2%
The company has no preferred stock outstanding in either period, so all net income belongs to common shareholders. Operating margin is the share of revenue left after running the business (fuel, operations and maintenance, depreciation, and non-income taxes), before interest and income tax.
First half (six months to June 30): revenues were $5,127M, up 5.4% from $4,864M. Net income was $560M, up 13.1% from $495M. Diluted EPS was $0.84, up from $0.76 (+10.5%). The first half grew more slowly than the quarter because the first half of 2025 still included about three months of the Louisiana and Mississippi gas utilities, which were sold on March 31, 2025. Their absence accounts for $148M of the year-on-year decline in first-half Natural Gas revenue.
What drove the quarter
Electric: rate recovery, not more electricity sold
Electric segment revenue rose $181M to $1,372M. The 10-Q breaks that increase into these pieces:
Customer rates and rate design: +$82M. New rates now recover investments Houston Electric has already made in its system.
Transmission revenues: +$36M. Some of this is offset because higher transmission costs billed by other providers raised operating costs by $19M.
Bond Companies and SIGECO Securitization Subsidiary: +$62M. These are charges collected to repay storm-cost bonds. They are offset almost entirely by $42M of extra depreciation and amortization and $18M of extra securitization interest, so they add little profit.
Customer growth: +$7M. Weather and usage took away $4M.
This matters for reading the headline. A third of the Electric revenue increase is a pass-through that the company collects and then pays out again. The real profit drivers were rate recovery and transmission. Electric operating income rose 39% to $407M, while segment interest expense rose $32M.
Electricity use did not help. Total throughput was 30,306 GWh, the same as a year earlier. Residential deliveries fell 2% because the quarter was milder: cooling degree days (a measure of how much air-conditioning demand the heat created) were 105% of normal, against 114% a year earlier. The customer count grew 2%, to 3.04 million metered customers.
One cost line worked against the segment. Houston Electric can no longer defer the lease costs of its TEEEF units to be recovered later. TEEEF units are large temporary generators leased for emergencies. Because those costs can no longer be deferred, they now go straight to the income statement, adding $10M in the quarter and $34M in the first half. On the other side, amortization of regulatory assets (costs approved for recovery that are expensed over time) was $28M lower.
Natural Gas: rate increases absorbed by higher costs
Natural Gas segment revenue rose $26M to $777M. Higher customer rates added $35M, but lower gas prices cut revenue by $21M. That $21M is a pass-through: gas costs fell by the same amount. Even so, segment net income fell $6M to $80M, for three reasons:
operation and maintenance expense rose $17M, of which $15M was "all other" O&M including bad-debt expense;
depreciation rose $20M as new pipeline and equipment went into service;
other income fell $8M.
Gas throughput fell 7%, and residential throughput fell 12%, because the spring was warmer. Utility gas revenue depends less on volume than electric revenue does, so the effect on profit was small. The weather-and-usage line was only −$2M.
Corporate: interest costs and a one-off gain that did not repeat
The Corporate and Other loss widened from $59M to $73M. The main reason is that Q2 2025 included a $21M gain on early debt repayment, which did not recur. Company-wide, interest expense and other finance charges rose from $191M to $240M. Securitization-bond interest rose from $4M to $21M, but that increase is recovered through the bond charges described above.
The large swings in "gain (loss) on equity securities" (−$151M) and "gain (loss) on indexed debt securities" (+$148M) almost cancel each other out. Both relate to CenterPoint's ZENS exchangeable notes, which are valued against shares CenterPoint holds. Together they reduced pre-tax income by $3M, and they are excluded from non-GAAP EPS.
Takeaway: Q2 earnings rose 23%, but electricity sales did not grow. The gain came from rates that recover capital CenterPoint has already spent. That makes the investment story depend on two things: getting new capital recovered in rates on time, and whether the large-load pipeline turns into real demand. Houston Electric says about 14 GW of potential large-load customers may qualify for ERCOT's "Batch Zero" process, more than 65% of its current 21 GW peak demand (per the 8-K).
Large loads and data-centre demand
The 10-Q says the PUCT (Texas's utility regulator) approved ERCOT's Batch Zero process on June 18, 2026, under Texas Senate Bill 6. Batch Zero decides how much large-load capacity, such as data centres, can connect to the grid and where. Houston Electric estimates that about 14 GW of its potential large-load customers are eligible to be considered.
In the third quarter of 2026, those customers provided or committed about $900M in contributions in aid of construction (money customers pay toward building their own connections) or financial security. Some of it may be returned depending on how projects turn out. The filing states plainly that the amount of load that finally connects, and when, "remain uncertain."
The earnings release puts the submitted total at over 17 GW, with about 14 GW expected to be eligible as base or studied load by 2031.
Regulatory recovery
Hurricane Beryl storm costs: In February 2026, Restoration Bond Company III issued about $1.193 billion of securitization bonds. Securitization means storm costs are financed with bonds and repaid through a dedicated, non-bypassable charge on customer bills. The bond proceeds bought the Beryl and related storm-restoration costs off Houston Electric's books. This is why the securitization revenue, amortization and interest lines above jumped.
Houston Electric DCRF (a mechanism for recovering new distribution investment between full rate cases): The February 2026 filing asked for $108M. On July 9 the PUCT approved it but required certain resiliency spending to be deferred up front. Houston Electric filed a compliance tariff for $101.4M, with rates expected from September 1, 2026. A second DCRF, filed in July 2026, requests $73M more.
TCOS (transmission cost recovery): $36M, approved in April 2026.
Texas gas GRIP (a gas infrastructure recovery mechanism): $62M, approved in June 2026.
TEEEF settlement: Houston Electric filed a stipulation to take the 15 large and 5 medium TEEEF units out of rates. If the PUCT approves, the revenue requirement falls by $112M. Houston Electric has said it will not charge customers for those units.
Indiana: Under a new state law (HEA 1002), Indiana Electric must file a multi-year rate case in January 2028. The IURC opened two investigations in July 2026 into how that new framework will work. The DOE has ordered the F.B. Culley Unit 2 coal plant to keep running through September 19, 2026, and cost recovery for that is being pursued at FERC and the IURC.
Capital plan, asset sale and financing
Capital spending: The 10-Q projects $4,088M of capital expenditure for the rest of 2026, of which $2,286M is at Houston Electric. First-half cash used in investing activities was $2,527M, up from $1,341M. Part of that increase is because the first half of 2025 included $1.2 billion of sale proceeds from Louisiana and Mississippi. Operating cash flow was $1,060M, up from $970M.
Ohio gas utility sale: CERC is selling its Ohio gas utility (about 334,000 customers) to NFGC for $2.62 billion: $1.42 billion in cash at closing plus a $1.2 billion, 364-day seller note. Ohio regulators accepted the transaction notice on June 24, 2026, and that decision is now final. The sale is expected to close in Q4 2026, and the proceeds are part of how the company plans to fund 2026. First-half Corporate results already include a $21M accrued tax expense related to the sale.
Debt: In the first half, the company issued $800M of 4.85% Houston Electric mortgage bonds due 2036 and $650M of 2.875% convertible notes due 2029 (initial conversion price about $53.61). CERC drew an $800M term loan. The company repaid $500M of 1.45% notes at maturity in June.
Equity: In May 2026 CenterPoint set up a new $1 billion at-the-market program (a way to sell shares gradually on the open market); no shares had been sold under it by June 30. It still has forward sale agreements for 24.9M shares, worth about $910M, that must be settled by February 25, 2027. The company says it does not expect to sell shares under the new program in 2026.
Outlook
Management's own markers (8-K) are 2026 non-GAAP EPS of at least the midpoint of $1.89–$1.91, which would be 8% growth over 2025, and a capital plan raised without raising its equity-financing guidance. Two things are known for the second half. The DCRF rate increase starts in September. The Ohio sale should bring in $1.42B of cash in Q4, but it also removes that utility's earnings from then on.
In our view, the main risks are these:
Interest costs are rising faster than rates are resetting. Company-wide finance charges excluding securitization rose 26% in the quarter.
The PUCT's resiliency deferral on the DCRF shows regulators are willing to slow recovery of storm-hardening spending.
It is still uncertain how much of the 14 GW of large-load demand will actually connect, and when.
The first half was solid, at +10.5% GAAP EPS. The stronger growth the company expects later depends on large-load customers turning into actual electricity use, not only commitments.