Abbott, Patrick criticize CenterPoint Energy for Houston power outages

Flooding in Buffalo Bayou in Houston on July 9, 2024, a day after Hurricane Beryl hit the Texas coast. (KXAN Photo/Todd Bailey)

HOUSTON (Nexstar) — CenterPoint Energy could face executive action, legislative investigations and financial and regulatory penalties for widespread and prolonged power outages in Houston following Hurricane Beryl, state leaders warned Sunday.

In Gov. Greg Abbott’s first news conference since Beryl rocked the Texas coast a week ago, he and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued harsh condemnations of the city’s largest electricity provider for the widespread and prolonged power outages.

“There have been allegations that while Texans were baking in deadly heat without power, CenterPoint was cutting corners and cutting corners, slowing the recovery process. These allegations need to be investigated,” Abbott said Sunday. “We need to know whether CenterPoint was protecting Texans or protecting its own pocketbook?”

Abbott asked the Public Utilities Commission to investigate CenterPoint to find out “what caused the outage” and “what needs to be done to fix it.” He said the Legislature would also investigate and work with lawmakers to develop legislation to improve power reliability.

Abbott said he was giving CenterPoint a July 31 deadline to provide his office with “specific steps they will take” to address those areas: clearing vegetation that threatens power lines, taking steps to reduce future power outages, pre-positioning enough workers for the remainder of the hurricane season, repairing poles before the end of the season and conserving power for senior living communities.

Abbott has threatened to issue an executive order to impose requirements on CenterPoint if the company does not comply with his request by July 31. He will also order the PUC to deny the company’s request to recoup a profit, promising a heavy financial hit.

“Also, if CenterPoint is not able to solve its current problems, at some point the PUC or the State of Texas will have to reconsider the territorial region that CenterPoint manages, or rather, mismanages,” Abbott said. “Maybe they have too big an area to manage properly.”

The remarks were Abbott’s first in Texas since returning from an economic mission to Asia that coincided with Beryl’s arrival. Patrick served as acting governor all last week and echoed her calls for accountability at CenterPoint.

“I know that everyone who works in an air-conditioned office at CenterPoint is looking at us: A freight train is coming,” Patrick said. “You better be prepared. Whether you’re at the top or in a leadership position that has overseen this response or this preparation, everyone’s job has to be on the line. We will not and cannot tolerate that.”

At the time of publication, CenterPoint’s power outage tracker showed 379,088 people were without power. The company has restored power to about 1.9 million people in the past seven days. The company says it is better prepared than ever and has restored power faster than previous storms.

“The steady pace of restoration is a testament to our preparedness, the investments we have made in the system, and most importantly, the efforts of the 14,000 dedicated CenterPoint and Mutual Assistance crews who worked long days in difficult conditions to restore power,” wrote Jason Wells, CenterPoint CEO. “I am very proud to see the trucks rolling throughout the day and that so many people answered our calls for help. This response and the tireless efforts of our entire restoration workforce prove that we are stronger working together.”

According to the company’s data, 90% of customers will be restored by Sunday. At the same time, after Hurricane Ike in 2008, only 53% of customers had been restored. While Beryl was a Category 1 storm, Ike was a Category 2.