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Organization and Operations | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2019
Organization and Operations [Abstract] |
Organization and Operations | Organization and Operations We are a power generation company engaged in the ownership and operation of primarily natural gas-fired and geothermal power plants in North America. We have a significant presence in major competitive wholesale and retail power markets in California, Texas and the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. We sell power, steam, capacity, renewable energy credits and ancillary services to our customers, which include utilities, independent electric system operators and industrial companies, retail power providers, municipalities, CCAs and other governmental entities, power marketers as well as retail commercial, industrial, governmental and residential customers. We continue to focus on providing products and services that are beneficial to our wholesale and retail customers. We purchase primarily natural gas and some fuel oil as fuel for our power plants and engage in related natural gas transportation and storage transactions. We also purchase power and related products for sale to our customers and purchase electric transmission rights to deliver power to our customers. Additionally, consistent with our Risk Management Policy, we enter into natural gas, power, environmental product, fuel oil and other physical and financial commodity contracts to hedge certain business risks and optimize our portfolio of power plants. Merger On August 17, 2017, we entered into the Merger Agreement with Volt Parent, LP (“Volt Parent”) and Volt Merger Sub, Inc. (“Merger Sub”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volt Parent, pursuant to which Merger Sub merged with and into Calpine, with Calpine surviving the Merger as a subsidiary of Volt Parent. On March 8, 2018, we completed the Merger contemplated in the Merger Agreement. At the effective time of the Merger, each share of Calpine common stock outstanding as of immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger (excluding certain shares as described in the Merger Agreement) ceased to be outstanding and was converted into the right to receive $15.25 per share in cash or approximately $5.6 billion in total. See Note 13 for a discussion of the treatment of the outstanding share-based awards to employees at the effective time of the Merger. For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, we recorded approximately nil, $33 million and $15 million, respectively, in Merger-related costs which was recorded in other operating expenses on our Consolidated Statements of Operations and primarily related to legal, investment banking and other professional fees associated with the Merger. We elected not to apply pushdown accounting in connection with the consummation of the Merger. As a result, our assets and liabilities are recorded at historical cost and do not reflect the fair value ascribed in the Merger.

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