UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

or

For the transition period from                  to                 

Commission File Number 333-177662-01

CenterPoint Energy Transition Bond Company IV, LLC

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC

(Exact name of depositor and sponsor as specified in its charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒     No    ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

The aggregate market value of the member’s equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2020: None

Documents incorporated by reference: A portion of the proxy statement relating to the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. is incorporated by reference in Item 11 of Part III of this report.

PART I

Item 1. Business.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Properties.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

Not applicable.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosures.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

Item 9B. Other Information.

None.

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.

As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, CenterPoint Energy Transition Bond Company IV, LLC (the “Issuing Entity”) has five managers. For as long as necessary under applicable Rating Agency criteria (as such term is defined in the Issuing Entity’s Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement (the “LLC Agreement”)) in order to maintain a rating of “AAA” (or the equivalent thereof) for the Issuing Entity’s Series 2012 Senior Secured Transition Bonds, the Issuing Entity shall have at least two individuals who are Independent Managers (as such term is defined in the LLC Agreement). In the event that two Independent Managers are not necessary under applicable Rating Agency criteria in order to maintain such a rating, the Issuing Entity shall have at least one individual who is an Independent Manager. Currently, Messrs. Angelo and O’Connor serve as the Independent Managers of the Issuing Entity.

Independent Manager is defined in the LLC Agreement as a manager of the Issuing Entity who is not, and within the previous five years was not (except solely by virtue of such Person’s serving as, or affiliation with any other Person serving as, a special member or an independent director or manager, as applicable, of CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC (“Houston Electric”), the Issuing Entity or any bankruptcy remote special purpose entity that is an Affiliate of Houston Electric or the Issuing Entity), (i) a stockholder, member, partner, director, officer, employee, Affiliate, customer, supplier, creditor or independent contractor of, or any Person that has received any benefit in any form whatsoever from (other than in such Manager’s capacity as a ratepayer or customer of Houston Electric in the ordinary course of business), or any Person that has provided any service in any form whatsoever to, or any major creditor (or any Affiliate of any major creditor) of, the Issuing Entity, Houston Electric or any of their Affiliates, or (ii) any Person owning beneficially, directly or indirectly, any outstanding shares of common stock, any limited liability company interests or any partnership interests, as applicable, of the Issuing Entity, Houston Electric, or any of their Affiliates, or of any major creditor (or any Affiliate of any major creditor) of any of the foregoing, or a stockholder, member, partner, director, officer, employee, Affiliate, customer, supplier, creditor or independent contractor of, or any Person that has received any benefit in any form whatever from (other than in such Person’s capacity as a ratepayer or customer of Houston Electric in the ordinary course of business), or any Person that has provided any service in any form whatever to, such beneficial owner or any of such beneficial owner’s Affiliates, or (iii) a member of the immediate family of any person described above; provided that the indirect or beneficial ownership of stock through a mutual fund or similar diversified investment vehicle with respect to which the owner does not have discretion or control over the investments held by such diversified investment vehicle shall not preclude such owner from being an Independent Manager. For purposes of this definition, “major creditor” shall mean a natural person or business entity to which the Issuing Entity, Houston Electric or any of their Affiliates has outstanding indebtedness for borrowed money or credit on open account in a sum sufficiently large as would reasonably be expected to influence the judgment of the proposed Independent Manager adversely to the interests of the Issuing Entity when the interests of that Person are adverse to those of the Issuing Entity. Capitalized terms used in this paragraph have the meanings assigned to them in the LLC Agreement.

The following are the managers of the Issuing Entity as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K:

Code of Conduct

The Issuing Entity is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Houston Electric which in turn is an indirect subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (“CenterPoint Energy”). CenterPoint Energy has adopted a code of ethics for its Chief Executive Officer and Senior Financial Officers, which group consists of its Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer, Treasurer and Assistant Controller. CenterPoint Energy has also adopted an Ethics and Compliance Code applicable to all directors, officers and employees, including those of its subsidiaries. CenterPoint Energy maintains a corporate governance page on its website which includes key information about its corporate governance initiatives, including its Ethics and Compliance Code and its Code of Ethics for Chief Financial Officer and Senior Financial Officers. The corporate governance page can be found at https://investors.centerpointenergy.com/governance.

Item 11. Executive Compensation.

Other than the annual independent managers fee of $3,500 paid to Global Securitization Services, LLC, the Issuing Entity does not pay any compensation to its executive officers or managers.

The information required by this item with respect to Houston Electric is incorporated herein by reference to the material under Compensation Discussion and Analysis of the definitive proxy statement of CenterPoint Energy for its 2021 annual meeting of shareholders filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2021.

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.

None.

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.

None.

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.

Omitted pursuant to General Instruction J of Form 10-K.

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.

(a) Documents filed as a part of this report:

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

(b) Exhibits required by this Form and Item 601 of Regulation S-K (exhibits marked with an asterisk are filed herewith):

(c) Not applicable.

Item 16. Form 10-K Summary.

None.

Item 1112(b). Significant Obligors of Pool Assets.

None.

Item 1114(b)(2). Credit Enhancement and Other Support, Except for Certain Derivatives Instruments.

None.

Item 1115(b). Certain Derivatives Instruments.

None.

Item 1117. Legal Proceedings.

None.

Item 1119. Affiliations and Certain Relationships and Related Transactions.

The Issuing Entity is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC.

Item 1122. Compliance with Applicable Servicing Criteria.

See Exhibits 33.1, 33.2, 34.1 and 34.2 under Item 15.

Item 1123. Servicer Compliance Statement.

See Exhibit 35.1 under Item 15.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Houston, the State of Texas, on the 25th day of March, 2021.

Supplemental Information to be Furnished With Reports Filed Pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act by Registrants Which Have Not Registered Securities Pursuant to Section 12 of the Act.

No such annual report, proxy statement, form of proxy or other proxy soliciting material has been sent to the Registrant’s security holders. The Registrant will not be sending an annual report or any proxy material to its security holders subsequent to the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATION

I, Stacey L. Peterson, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this report on Form 10-K and all reports on Form 10-D required to be filed in respect of the period covered by this report on Form 10-K of CenterPoint Energy Transition Bond Company IV, LLC (the “Exchange Act periodic reports”);

2. Based on my knowledge, the Exchange Act periodic reports, taken as a whole, do not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, all of the distribution, servicing and other information required to be provided under Form 10-D for the period covered by this report is included in the Exchange Act periodic reports;

4. I am responsible for reviewing the activities performed by the Servicer, and based on my knowledge and the compliance review conducted in preparing the servicer compliance statement required in this report under Item 1123 of Regulation AB, and except as disclosed in the Exchange Act periodic reports, the servicer has fulfilled its obligations under the Transition Property Servicing Agreement dated as of January 19, 2012 between CenterPoint Energy Transition Bond Company IV, LLC, as the Issuing Entity, and the Servicer, in all material respects; and

5. All of the reports on assessment of compliance with servicing criteria for asset-backed securities and their related attestation reports on assessment of compliance with servicing criteria for asset-backed securities required to be included in this report in accordance with Item 1122 of Regulation AB and Exchange Act Rules 13a-18 and 15d-18 have been included as an exhibit to this report, except as otherwise disclosed in this report. Any material instances of noncompliance described in such reports have been disclosed in this report on Form 10-K.

In giving the certifications above, I have reasonably relied on information provided to me by the following unaffiliated parties: Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, as Indenture Trustee.

Date: March 25, 2021

Exhibit 33.1

REPORT ON ASSESSMENT OF COMPLIANCE WITH SERVICING CRITERIA FOR ASSET-BACKED SECURITIES FOR CENTERPOINT ENERGY HOUSTON ELECTRIC, LLC

The undersigned hereby certifies that she is the duly elected and acting Senior Vice President and Treasurer of CENTERPOINT ENERGY HOUSTON ELECTRIC, LLC, as servicer (the “Servicer” or “Houston Electric”) under the Transition Property Servicing Agreement dated as of January 19, 2012 (the “Servicing Agreement”) between the Servicer and CENTERPOINT ENERGY TRANSITION BOND COMPANY IV, LLC (the “Issuer”) and further that:

1. The undersigned is responsible for assessing the Servicer’s compliance with the servicing criteria set forth in Item 1122(d) of Regulation AB (the “Servicing Criteria”).

2. With respect to each of the Servicing Criteria, the undersigned has made the following assessment of the Servicing Criteria in accordance with Item 1122(d) of Regulation AB, with such discussion regarding the performance of such Servicing Criteria during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 and covered by the Issuer’s annual report on Form 10-K (such fiscal year, the “Assessment Period”):

3. To the best of the undersigned’s knowledge, based on such review, the Servicer is in compliance in all material respects with the applicable servicing criteria set forth above as of and for the period ending the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 and covered by the Issuer’s annual report on Form 10-K.

4. A registered independent public accounting firm has issued to us an attestation report in accordance with Section 1122(b) of Regulation AB on its assessment of compliance with the applicable servicing criteria as of and for the period ending the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 and covered by the Issuer’s annual report on Form 10-K.

Executed as of this 25th day of March, 2021.

Exhibit 33.2

ASSERTION OF COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE SERVICING CRITERIA

MANAGEMENT’S ASSERTION OF COMPLIANCE

Management of the Trust & Agency Services department of Deutsche Bank National Trust Company and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (collectively the “Company”) is responsible for assessing the servicing criteria set forth in Item 1122(d) of Regulation AB promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission to determine which criteria are applicable to the Company in respect of the servicing platform described below. Management has determined that the servicing criteria are applicable in regard to the servicing platform as of and for the period as follows:

Platform: Publicly-issued (i.e., transaction-level reporting required under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) and certain privately-issued (i.e., for which transaction-level reporting is required pursuant to contractual obligation) residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities and other asset-backed securities issued on or after January 1, 2006, for which the Company provides trustee, certificate administrator, securities administration, paying agent or custodian services, as defined in the transaction agreements, excluding publicly-issued securities sponsored or issued by any government sponsored entity (the “Platform”) (see Appendix A).

Applicable Servicing Criteria: All servicing criteria set forth in Item 1122(d), to the extent required by Item 1122(d) servicing criteria in regards to the activities performed by the Company with respect to the Platform as to any transaction, except for the following criteria: 1122(d)(4)(iv) – 1122(d)(4)(xiv), which management has determined are not applicable to the activities the Company performs with respect to the Platform (the “Applicable Servicing Criteria”). With respect to Applicable Servicing Criteria 1122(d)(1)(ii), 1122(d)(1)(iii), 1122(d)(2)(iii) and 1122(d)(4)(iii) there were no activities performed during the year ended December 31, 2020 with respect to the Platform, because there were no occurrences of events that would require the Company to perform such activities.

Period: Year ended December 31, 2020 (the “Period”).

Management’s interpretation of Applicable Servicing Criteria: The Company’s management has determined that servicing criterion 1122(d)(1)(iii) is applicable only with respect to its continuing obligation to act as, or locate a, successor servicer under the circumstances referred to in certain transaction agreements. It is management’s interpretation that the Company has no other active back-up servicing responsibilities in regards to servicing criterion 1122(d)(1)(iii) as of and for the Period. The Company’s management has determined that servicing criterion 1122(d)(1)(v) is applicable only to the activities the Company performs related to the mathematically accurate aggregation of information received from servicers and the accurate conveyance of such information within reports to investors. The Company’s management has determined that servicing criterion 1122(d)(4)(iii) is applicable to the activities the Company performs with respect to the Platform only as it relates to the Company’s obligation to report additions, removals or substitutions on reports to investors in accordance with the transaction agreements.

With respect to the Platform as of and for the Period, the Company’s management provides the following assertion of compliance with respect to the Applicable Servicing Criteria:

Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, has issued an attestation report with respect to management’s assertion of compliance with the Applicable Servicing Criteria as of and for the Period.

Dated: February 26, 2021

Appendix A

Asset-Backed Transactions and Securities Constituting the Platform - MBS Deals

Asset-Backed Transactions and Securities Constituting the Platform - Document Custody Only Deals