ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Corporate Structure

DTE Energy owns the following businesses:


•	DTE Electric is an electric utility engaged in the generation, purchase, distribution and sale of electricity to approximately 2.1 million customers in southeastern Michigan;


•	DTE Gas is a natural gas utility engaged in the purchase, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas to approximately 1.2 million customers throughout Michigan and the sale of storage and transportation capacity; and


•	Other businesses involved in 1) natural gas pipelines, gathering and storage; 2) power and industrial projects; and 3) energy marketing and trading operations.

DTE Electric and DTE Gas are regulated by the MPSC. Certain activities of DTE Electric and DTE Gas, as well as various other aspects of businesses under DTE Energy are regulated by the FERC. In addition, the Company is regulated by other federal and state regulatory agencies including the NRC, the EPA, the MDEQ and the CFTC.

References in this Report to “we”, “us”, “our”, “Company” or “DTE” are to DTE Energy and its subsidiaries, collectively.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements are prepared using accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. These accounting principles require management to use estimates and assumptions that impact reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Actual results may differ from the Company’s estimates.

Principles of Consolidation

The Company consolidates all majority-owned subsidiaries and investments in entities in which it has controlling influence. Non-majority owned investments are accounted for using the equity method when the Company is able to influence the operating policies of the investee. When the Company does not influence the operating policies of an investee, the cost method is used. These Consolidated Financial Statements also reflect the Company's proportionate interests in certain jointly owned utility plants. The Company eliminates all intercompany balances and transactions.

The Company evaluates whether an entity is a VIE whenever reconsideration events occur. The Company consolidates VIEs for which it is the primary beneficiary. If the Company is not the primary beneficiary and an ownership interest is held, the VIE is accounted for under the equity method of accounting. When assessing the determination of the primary beneficiary, the Company considers all relevant facts and circumstances, including: the power, through voting or similar rights, to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the VIE's economic performance and the obligation to absorb the expected losses and/or the right to receive the expected returns of the VIE. The Company performs ongoing reassessments of all VIEs to determine if the primary beneficiary status has changed.

Legal entities within the Company's Power and Industrial Projects segment enter into long-term contractual arrangements with customers to supply energy-related products or services. The entities are generally designed to pass-through the commodity risk associated with these contracts to the customers, with the Company retaining operational and customer default risk. These entities generally are VIEs and consolidated when the Company is the primary beneficiary. In addition, we have interests in certain VIEs through which we share control of all significant activities for those entities with our partners, and therefore are accounted for under the equity method.

The Company has variable interests in VIEs through certain of its long-term purchase and sale contracts. As of December 31, 2014, the carrying amount of assets and liabilities in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position that relate to its variable interests under long-term purchase and sale contracts are predominately related to working capital accounts and generally represent the amounts owed by or to the Company for the deliveries associated with the current billing cycle under the contracts. The Company has not provided any significant form of financial support associated with these long-term contracts. There is no significant potential exposure to loss as a result of its variable interests through these long-term purchase and sale contracts.

In 2001, DTE Electric financed a regulatory asset related to Fermi 2 and certain other regulatory assets through the sale of rate reduction bonds by a wholly-owned special purpose entity, Securitization. DTE Electric performs servicing activities including billing and collecting surcharge revenue for Securitization. This entity is a VIE and is consolidated by the Company.

The maximum risk exposure for consolidated VIEs is reflected on the Company's Consolidated Statements of Financial Position. For non-consolidated VIEs, the maximum risk exposure is generally limited to its investment and amounts which it has guaranteed.

The following table summarizes the major balance sheet items for consolidated VIEs as of December 31, 2014 and 2013. All assets and liabilities of a consolidated VIE are presented where it has been determined that a consolidated VIE has either (1) assets that can be used only to settle obligations of the VIE or (2) liabilities for which creditors do not have recourse to the general credit of the primary beneficiary. VIEs, in which the Company holds a majority voting interest and is the primary beneficiary, that meet the definition of a business and whose assets can be used for purposes other than the settlement of the VIE's obligations have been excluded from the table below.



	December 31, 2014						December 31, 2013
	Securitization		Other		Total		Securitization		Other		Total
	(In millions)
ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents	$	—	$	7	$	7	$	—	$	12	$	12
Restricted cash	96		8		104		100		8		108
Accounts receivable	26		15		41		34		16		50
Inventories	—		67		67		—		118		118
Property, plant and equipment, net	—		81		81		—		99		99
Securitized regulatory assets	34		—		34		231		—		231
Other current and long-term assets	1		6		7		4		9		13
	$	157	$	184	$	341	$	369	$	262	$	631
LIABILITIES
Accounts payable and accrued current liabilities	$	3	$	8	$	11	$	7	$	23	$	30
Current portion long-term debt, including capital leases	105		10		115		196		9		205
Current regulatory liabilities	32		—		32		43		—		43
Mortgage bonds, notes and other	—		15		15		—		21		21
Securitization bonds	—		—		—		105		—		105
Capital lease obligations	—		3		3		—		7		7
Other current and long-term liabilities	9		6		15		8		6		14
	$	149	$	42	$	191	$	359	$	66	$	425

Amounts for non-consolidated VIEs as of December 31, 2014 and 2013 are as follows:



	December 31, 2014		December 31, 2013
	(In millions)
Other investments	$	134	$	141
Notes receivable	$	15	$	8