Hurricane Beryl: Texas Governor Abbott gives deadline for plan to solve electricity problem

CNN
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to issue an executive order requiring power utility CenterPoint Energy to improve equipment reliability and storm preparedness if the company fails to address concerns over Hurricane Beryl.

If CenterPoint does not comply with his request or provide sufficient information by July 31, he “will impose my own demands on CenterPoint that are designed to maintain power through hurricane season into the next legislative session,” Abbott said at a news conference Sunday.

Power was knocked out in Houston and parts of the Texas Gulf Coast following Category 1 Hurricane Beryl on Monday, and thousands of people are still waiting for power to be restored nearly a week later. Residents in southeast Texas have endured days of heat without air conditioning, many searching for clean water, food and cool shelters, CNN reported.

The governor called the failure of power companies to provide electricity to their customers “totally unacceptable.”

The governor singled out CenterPoint for “repeatedly failing to provide electricity to customers for extended periods of time” and said he plans to send a letter to Public Utilities Commission Chairman Thomas Gleason asking the commission to investigate why CenterPoint failed and how to fix the problems.

“I will work with lawmakers to develop legislation to improve the reliability of the electric grid, but, importantly, we are still in the midst of hurricane season and solutions cannot wait until next session,” Abbott said. “They are needed now to minimize power outages as we respond to tropical weather conditions for the remainder of the summer and fall, to avoid further power outages during the remainder of hurricane season.”

“Furthermore, if CenterPoint fails to comply, I will require the Public Utilities Commission to deny CenterPoint’s request to recover profits and the pending request before the Public Utilities Commission,” the governor added.

Abbott also noted that the utility has admitted that many outages caused by the hurricane were related to trees falling on power lines.

“CenterPoint is responsible for clearing vegetation before a hurricane hits,” Abbott said. “Some reports show that CenterPoint spends much less per customer on clearing vegetation than some other electric providers.”

The governor demanded that the power company eliminate all vegetation problems by the end of August.

Abbott also noted that the company said it had mobilized thousands of additional linemen and other employees to speed up the recovery process. However, he said there were reports that many of those workers were slow to respond for various reasons.

“One solution was to train workers after the hurricane hit, rather than training them before it hit,” Abbott said. “Another solution was to put workers in place a few days after the hurricane hit, rather than immediately after it left.”

He said the commission could reconsider the size of CenterPoint’s territorial region if the company fails to address its current problems.

“Perhaps their territory is too large to manage properly. It’s time to re-evaluate whether or not CenterPoint should have such a large territory,” Abbott said.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also criticized the utility company at Sunday’s news conference, saying the jobs of any CenterPoint employee, “whether you’re at the top or at a management level who oversaw this response or this preparedness,” would be on the line.

“I know everyone who works in an air-conditioned office at CenterPoint is watching this scene: A freight train is coming. You just heard it. You better be prepared,” Patrick said. “We will not and cannot tolerate this.”

According to PowerOutage.us, the power company had more than 267,000 customers without power and more than 300,000 total were without power across Texas as of Sunday.

In a statement Sunday, CenterPoint Energy said it had restored power to more than 1.8 million customers affected by Beryl and expected to have power restored to 90% of affected customers by the end of the day Monday.

“Our top priority is restoring power to remaining impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible. Dedicated restoration teams continued to work around the clock over the weekend, restoring power at the fastest pace in the company’s history,” CenterPoint said in a statement.

The utility acknowledged growing customer frustration and pledged to review its response to customers 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,” the utility said.

Texas’ power grid was also in focus in February 2021, after a massive statewide outage during a deep freeze left more than 200 people dead and millions without heat or electricity for days.

The state government has been working with local authorities over the past week to provide ready-to-eat meals to people who have lost power in their homes, Abbott said.

Authorities are also working to ensure that the population has adequate water and ice supplies and address ongoing medical needs in hospitals and health facilities, according to the governor.

“Meals were lost because people didn’t have electricity in their homes or apartments, and as a result, their food spoiled … because of the lack of electricity,” he said. “The lack of electricity is because of CenterPoint.”

CNN’s Dalia Faheid and Taylor Galgano contributed to this report.