CenterPoint says power has been restored to more than 85% of Beryl customers

HOUSTON – CenterPoint Energy says its crews have restored power to more than 85% of customers who were without service since Hurricane Beryl. That’s about 1.9 million customers.

The company says it remains on track to restore 90% of its customers by Monday.

CenterPoint also released a statement in response to Governor Greg Abbott’s request for answers at a press conference Sunday afternoon:

“Our top priority is restoring power to the remaining impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible. Dedicated restoration crews continued to work around the clock over the weekend, restoring power at the fastest pace in the company’s history. By Monday, July 15, we expect to have restored power to 90 percent of all impacted customers. Our restoration crews are now converging on the remaining areas with significant structural damage as well as localized outages to restore power to those customers who are without power.

We have heard and understood the frustrations of our customers, and we are committed to working with state, local government, regulators, and community leaders to help the Greater Houston area recover from Hurricane Beryl and improve for the future. We are committed to conducting a thorough review of our response to support our customers and communities, especially when they need us most. We know they are counting on us, and we are committed to being there for them.

In its written statement, CenterPoint also shared plans the company said it has made in anticipation of Hurricane Beryl.

• Despite predictions that the hurricane would not impact the company’s service area, CenterPoint secured and prepared 3,000 crew members and safely prepositioned them out of the storm’s expected path. CenterPoint coordinated with state utilities to ensure resource availability throughout the Texas Gulf Coast region.

• As the planned trajectory changed, the company quickly called on additional mutual aid resources to significantly increase crews.

• CenterPoint continues to replenish its equipment throughout the year. Prior to this event, the company had 15,000 poles and used just over 2,100 during restoration. The company has over 17,000 transformers, but this storm did not require any major transformer replacements.

“The company has invested for years to strengthen the Greater Houston region’s resilience to hurricanes and other extreme weather events. Over the past five years, CenterPoint has doubled its investments in its electric system, including grid hardening, modernization and resiliency. From 2022 to 2023, the company has also increased its spending on vegetation management efforts by 32%.” said the company. “Thanks to investments to improve the resiliency of the transmission system, which is the backbone of CenterPoint’s power grid, power continued to flow throughout the Greater Houston area during the storm. This helped restore power more quickly as crews repaired utility poles and removed more than 18,600 trees impacting overhead lines in neighborhoods.“

CenterPoint also discussed the company’s operations following Beryl’s arrival in the Houston area.

“The Greater Houston area has not been so directly impacted by the “dirty side” of a hurricane since Hurricane Alicia in 1983. The powerful combination of extreme winds and weakened trees and other vegetation caused significant damage to utility poles, lines and other electrical equipment, and more than 2.2 million CenterPoint Energy customers were impacted before the storm left the company’s service area. As Beryl moved out of the Houston area, CenterPoint crews sprang into action, working 16-hour shifts to:

• Establish 21 preparedness sites, the largest number we have ever established to support response efforts;

• Assess system damage by traversing more than 8,500 miles of power lines;

• Remove more than 18,600 weakened trees impacting the lines, representing more than 75% of the distribution circuits;

• Repair or replace more than 2,100 of the more than 1.17 million utility poles; and

• Position mobile production units in cooling centers, hospitals, senior living facilities, drug storage facilities and water treatment plants.

In 48 hours, CenterPoint crews restored power to nearly one million customers. The steady pace of restoration is a testament to the company’s preparedness, investments in the system, and most importantly, the efforts of the 14,000 dedicated CenterPoint and Mutual Assistance Team members who worked long days in challenging conditions to restore power.

CenterPoint also said it was reviewing its response to Beryl.

“CenterPoint has already identified immediate areas of focus following this event, including improving customer communications, launching a new cloud-based outage tracking system that customers can rely on as a better source of information, and engaging communities to obtain feedback to improve future restoration efforts,” the company said. “In addition to improving customer communications, CenterPoint intends to continue investing in the resiliency of its electric system. In April, CenterPoint filed a $2.7 billion plan to invest in resiliency focused on system hardening, grid modernization, flood mitigation and vegetation management.“

The company also addressed what it considers misinformation in the media and on social media regarding the payment of mutual assistance crews.

“Consistent with industry standards that allow for rapid sharing of resources, CenterPoint’s mutual assistance contracts are pre-negotiated, including payment terms. Crews have not been and are not held back by wage negotiations. The company reimburses all costs incurred in providing assistance, including wages,” the company said.