CASH POSITION, INVESTING, AND FINANCING At December 31, 2014, CMS Energy had $244 million of consolidated cash and cash equivalents, which included $37 million of restricted cash and cash equivalents.
At December 31, 2014, Consumers had $108 million of consolidated cash and cash equivalents, which included $37 million of restricted cash and cash equivalents.
OPERATING ACTIVITIES Presented in the following table are specific components of net cash provided by operating activities for 2014, 2013, and 2012:
## Table 0 ##
Non-cash transactions comprise depreciation and amortization, changes in deferred income taxes, postretirement benefits expense, and other non-cash items.2 Core working capital comprises accounts receivable and accrued revenues (including accrued gas revenue), inventories, accounts payable, and accrued rate refunds.
For 2014, net cash provided by operating activities at CMS Energy increased $26 million compared with 2013, and net cash provided by operating activities at Consumers decreased $13 million compared with 2013.
At CMS Energy and Consumers, increases in net cash provided by operating activities were due primarily to lower postretirement benefits contributions and higher cash collections of accounts receivable from customers, offset partially by an increase in GCR underrecoveries, higher gas volumes purchased due to lower initial gas inventory levels, and the absence, in 2014, of the receipt of a $69 million renewable energy grant for Lake Winds?
Energy Park.
At Consumers, these increases were also offset by higher income tax payments to CMS Energy.
Impact of New Accounting Guidance Beginning January 1, 2010, we deconsolidated certain entities as a result of the Company’s adoption of new accounting guidance issued by the FASB.
These entities are primarily bottling operations, and the Company accounted for them under the equity method of accounting upon deconsolidation.
The entities that were deconsolidated as a result of this change in accounting guidance accounted for 3 percent of the Company’s consolidated net operating revenues and less than 1 percent of net income attributable to shareowners of The Coca-Cola Company in 2009.
Refer to the heading ‘‘Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates — Principles of Consolidation’’ above.
These entities accounted for 4 percent of the Company’s equity income in 2010.
Refer to the heading ‘‘Equity Income (Loss) — Net’’ below.
The impact that the deconsolidation of these entities had on net operating revenues was included as a structural change.
Refer to the heading ‘‘Net Operating Revenues’’ below.
Beverage Volume We measure the volume of Company beverage products sold in two ways: (1) unit cases of finished products and (2) concentrate sales.
As used in this report, ‘‘unit case’’ means a unit of measurement equal to 192 U. S.  fluid ounces of finished beverage (24 eight-ounce servings); and ‘‘unit case volume’’ means the number of unit cases (or unit case equivalents) of Company beverage products directly or indirectly sold by the Company and its bottling partners to customers.
Unit case volume primarily consists of beverage products bearing Company trademarks.
Also included in unit case volume are certain products licensed to, or distributed by, our Company, and brands owned by Coca-Cola system bottlers for which our Company provides marketing support and from the sale of which we derive economic benefit.
In addition, unit case volume includes sales by joint ventures in which the Company has an equity interest.
We believe unit case volume is one of the measures of the underlying strength of the Coca-Cola system because it measures trends at the consumer level.
The unit case volume numbers used in this report are derived based on estimates received by the Company from its bottling partners and distributors.
Concentrate sales volume represents the amount of concentrates and syrups (in all cases expressed in equivalent unit cases) sold by, or used in finished beverages sold by, the Company to its bottling partners or other customers.
Unit case volume and concentrate sales volume growth rates are not necessarily equal during any given period.
Factors such as seasonality, bottlers’ inventory practices, supply point changes, timing of price increases, new product introductions and changes in product mix can impact unit case volume and concentrate sales volume and can create differences between unit case volume and concentrate sales volume growth rates.
In addition to the items mentioned above, the impact of unit case volume from certain joint ventures, in which the Company has an equity interest, but to which the Company does not sell concentrates or syrups, may give rise to differences between unit case volume and concentrate sales volume growth rates.
Information about our volume growth by operating segment is as follows:
## Table 1 ##
1 Bottling Investments operating segment data reflects unit case volume growth for consolidated bottlers only.2 Geographic segment data reflects unit case volume growth for all bottlers in the applicable geographic areas, both consolidated and unconsolidated.
TELEFLEX INCORPORATED NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued) F-40 The following table provides the weighted average assumptions for United States and foreign plans used in determining benefit obligations:
## Table 2 ##
The discount rate represents the interest rate used to determine the present value of future cash flows currently expected to be required to settle the Company’s pension and other benefit obligations.
The weighted average discount rates for United States pension plans and other benefit plans of 4.63% and 4.31%, respectively, were established by comparing the projection of expected benefit payments to the AAAbove Median yield curve as of December 31, 2015.
The expected benefit payments are discounted by each corresponding discount rate on the yield curve.
For payments beyond 30 years, the Company extends the curve assuming that the discount rate derived in year 30 is extended to the end of the plan’s payment expectations.
Once the present value of the string of benefit payments is established, the Company determines the single rate on the yield curve that, when applied to all obligations of the plan, will exactly match the previously determined present value.
Effective December 31, 2015, the Company changed the method it uses to estimate the service and interest cost components of net periodic benefit cost for its pension and other postretirement benefits.
Previously, the Company used a single equivalent discount rate to estimate the interest and service cost components of net periodic benefit cost.
The single discount rate represented the constant annual rate that would be required to discount all future benefit payments related to past service from the date of expected future payment to the measurement date.
Under the new method, these components are estimated by applying specific spot rates along the yield curve used by the Company in determining the benefit obligation to their underlying projected cash flow.
This change in method provides a more precise estimate of service and interest costs by improving the correlation between projected cash flows and their corresponding spot rates and will not affect the measurement of the Company’s pension and postretirement benefit obligations.
The Company accounted for this change as a change in accounting estimate, which is applied prospectively.
Therefore, adoption of this change had no impact on the results for the year ended December 31, 2015.
As part of the evaluation of pension and other postretirement assumptions, the Company applied assumptions for mortality and healthcare cost trends that incorporate generational white and blue collar mortality trends.
In determining its benefit obligations, the Company used generational tables that take into consideration increases in plan participant longevity.
The Company’s assumption for the Expected Return on Plan Assets is primarily based on the determination of an expected return for its current portfolio.
This determination is made using assumptions for return and volatility of the portfolio.
Asset class assumptions are set using a combination of empirical and forward-looking analysis.
To the extent historical results have been affected by unsustainable trends or events, the effects of those trends are quantified and removed.
The Company applies a variety of models for filtering historical data and isolating the fundamental characteristics of asset classes.
These models provide empirical return estimates for each asset class, which are then reviewed and combined with a qualitative assessment of long term relationships between asset classes before a return estimate is finalized.
The qualitative analysis is intended to provide an additional means for addressing the effect of unrealistic or unsustainable short-term valuations or trends, resulting in return levels and behavior the Company believes are more likely to prevail over long periods.
Effective in 2015, the Company changed its Expected Return on Plan Assets of the United States pension plans from 8.50% to 8.25% to reflect modifications to assumptions resulting from the analysis described above.
An increase in the assumed healthcare trend rate of 1% would increase the benefit obligation at December 31, 2015 by $3.8 million and would increase the 2015 benefit expense by $0.2 million.
Decreasing this assumed rate by 1% would decrease the benefit obligation at December 31, 2015 by $3.3 million and would decrease the 2015 benefit expense by $0.2 million.
headcount decreased from 10,462 FTE employees to 10,200 as of December 31, 2015.
During 2015, we incurred severance costs of approximately $11 million compared to approximately $9 million in 2014.
Salaries and employee benefits increased by 4.8% in 2014 compared to 2013 for similar reasons to those in 2015.
Schedule 6 SALARIES AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
## Table 3 ##
Furniture, equipment and software expense increased by $7.9 million in 2015, compared to 2014.
The increase was primarily due to an increase in amortization of purchased software and an increase in our maintenance agreements as a result of our continued investment in the business.
Furniture, equipment and software expense increased by $8.7 million in 2014, compared to 2013.
The increase was due to an increase in our maintenance agreements, added licenses, and contract renewals for a variety of vendors.
Professional and legal services decreased in 2015 by $15.6 million, or 23.6%, from 2014.
The decrease was due to a decline in consulting fees primarily related to our CCAR submission.
In 2014, fees related to professional and legal services declined by $2.0 million, or 2.9%, due a decline in legal fees, partially offset by an increase in consulting fees.
FDIC premiums increased by $2.2 million, or 6.8%, in 2015 compared to 2014.
FDIC premiums decreased in 2014 by $5.8 million, or 15.3%, from 2013.
Most of the decrease in 2014 was due to reduced assessment rates resulting from improved credit quality of our loan portfolio and improved capital adequacy.
The FDIC has proposed a change in deposit insurance assessments that implements a Dodd-Frank Act provision requiring banks with over $10 billion in assets to be responsible for recapitalizing the FDIC insurance fund to 1.35% of insured deposits by the end of 2018, after it reaches a 1.15% reserve ratio.
If the rule is finalized, it may go into effect in the first half of 2016, and is expected to increase our FDIC assessment by approximately $5-$10 million per year.
In both 2015 and 2014, we reduced long-term debt through tender offers, early calls, and maturities.
The tender offers in 2014 resulted in debt extinguishment cost of $44.4 million, compared to $2.5 million in 2015.
In 2013, we incurred $120.2 million of debt extinguishment cost due the extinguishment of several long-term debt instruments.
For more information, see Note 12 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Other noninterest expense decreased by $39.5 million in 2015, compared to 2014, and by $19.2 million in 2014, compared to 2013.
The decline is primarily the result of decreased write-downs of the FDIC indemnification asset and an increased amount of insurance recoveries.
The balance of FDIC-supported loans declined significantly in 2014.
In 2015, we held adjusted noninterest expense below $1.6 billion and plan to do the same in 2016, with a slight increase to noninterest expense in 2017.
The expense items that we exclude from the targeted noninterest expense of

<table><tr><td><i></i></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td rowspan="2">In Millions Change</td></tr><tr><td>Years Ended December 31</td><td>2014</td><td>2013</td><td>Change</td><td>2013</td><td>2012</td></tr><tr><td> CMS Energy, including Consumers</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Net income</td><td>$479</td><td>$454</td><td>$25</td><td>$454</td><td>$384</td><td>$70</td></tr><tr><td>Non-cash transactions1</td><td>1,032</td><td>1,129</td><td>-97</td><td>1,129</td><td>1,085</td><td>44</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>1,511</td><td>1,583</td><td>-72</td><td>1,583</td><td>1,469</td><td>114</td></tr><tr><td>Postretirement benefits contributions</td><td>-32</td><td>-229</td><td>197</td><td>-229</td><td>-72</td><td>-157</td></tr><tr><td>Proceeds from government grant</td><td>-</td><td>69</td><td>-69</td><td>69</td><td>-</td><td>69</td></tr><tr><td>Changes in core working capital2</td><td>-17</td><td>86</td><td>-103</td><td>86</td><td>-78</td><td>164</td></tr><tr><td>Changes in other assets and liabilities, net</td><td>-15</td><td>-88</td><td>73</td><td>-88</td><td>-78</td><td>-10</td></tr><tr><td>Net cash provided by operating activities</td><td>$1,447</td><td>$1,421</td><td>$26</td><td>$1,421</td><td>$1,241</td><td>$180</td></tr><tr><td> Consumers</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Net income</td><td>$567</td><td>$534</td><td>$33</td><td>$534</td><td>$439</td><td>$95</td></tr><tr><td>Non-cash transactions1</td><td>1,047</td><td>1,003</td><td>44</td><td>1,003</td><td>993</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>1,614</td><td>1,537</td><td>77</td><td>1,537</td><td>1,432</td><td>105</td></tr><tr><td>Postretirement benefits contributions</td><td>-29</td><td>-222</td><td>193</td><td>-222</td><td>-68</td><td>-154</td></tr><tr><td>Proceeds from government grant</td><td>-</td><td>69</td><td>-69</td><td>69</td><td>-</td><td>69</td></tr><tr><td>Changes in core working capital2</td><td>-5</td><td>101</td><td>-106</td><td>101</td><td>-61</td><td>162</td></tr><tr><td>Changes in other assets and liabilities, net</td><td>-242</td><td>-134</td><td>-108</td><td>-134</td><td>50</td><td>-184</td></tr><tr><td>Net cash provided by operating activities</td><td>$1,338</td><td>$1,351</td><td>$-13</td><td>$1,351</td><td>$1,353</td><td>$-2</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="4">Percent Change</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">2011 vs. 2010</td><td colspan="2">2010 vs. 2009</td></tr><tr><td>Year Ended December 31,</td><td>Unit Cases 1,2</td><td>Concentrate Sales</td><td>Unit Cases 1,2</td><td>ConcentrateSales</td></tr><tr><td>Worldwide</td><td>5%</td><td>5%</td><td>5%</td><td>5%</td></tr><tr><td>Eurasia & Africa</td><td>6%</td><td>5%</td><td>12%</td><td>12%</td></tr><tr><td>Europe</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>—</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Latin America</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>5</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>North America</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Pacific</td><td>5</td><td>6</td><td>6</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>Bottling Investments</td><td>—</td><td>N/A</td><td>-1</td><td>N/A</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">Pension</td><td colspan="2">Other Benefits</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>2015</td><td>2014</td><td>2015</td><td>2014</td></tr><tr><td>Discount rate</td><td>4.5%</td><td>4.1%</td><td>4.3%</td><td>4.0%</td></tr><tr><td>Rate of compensation increase</td><td>2.8%</td><td>3.0%</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Initial healthcare trend rate</td><td></td><td></td><td>8.4%</td><td>7.3%</td></tr><tr><td>Ultimate healthcare trend rate</td><td></td><td></td><td>5.0%</td><td>5.0%</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td>(Dollar amounts in millions)</td><td>2015</td><td>Percent change</td><td>2014</td><td>Percent change</td><td>2013</td></tr><tr><td>Salaries and bonuses</td><td>$828.5</td><td>1.8%</td><td>$814.2</td><td>5.3%</td><td>$773.4</td></tr><tr><td>Employee benefits:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Employee health and insurance</td><td>58.1</td><td>7.8</td><td>53.9</td><td>10.2</td><td>48.9</td></tr><tr><td>Retirement</td><td>33.4</td><td>-4.6</td><td>35.0</td><td>-10.3</td><td>39.0</td></tr><tr><td>Payroll taxes and other</td><td>52.7</td><td>-1.1</td><td>53.3</td><td>3.3</td><td>51.6</td></tr><tr><td>Total benefits</td><td>144.2</td><td>1.4</td><td>142.2</td><td>1.9</td><td>139.5</td></tr><tr><td>Total salaries and employee benefits</td><td>$972.7</td><td>1.7</td><td>$956.4</td><td>4.8</td><td>$912.9</td></tr><tr><td>Full-time equivalent employees at December 31</td><td>10,200</td><td>-2.5</td><td>10,462</td><td>0.1</td><td>10,452</td></tr></table>

Question: What's the 2014 growth rate of Non-cash transactions of Consumers?
Answer: 0.04387