(Texas Scorecard) — Gov. Greg Abbott told CenterPoint executives they must speed up their efforts to implement personnel and infrastructure improvements before the next severe weather event.
During the Thursday meeting, Abbott slammed the southeast Texas electricity provider’s response to his July 16 letter.
“Today, I met with CenterPoint Energy executives at the Texas Capitol to discuss their proposal to better respond to future severe weather events,” posted Abbott on X. “Their proposal was inadequate. More must be done, and it must be completed faster.”
Abbott’s initial letter directed CenterPoint to:
- Explain by August 31 how it plans to eliminate all damages to power lines caused by trees and other vegetation.
- Specify all actions it failed to do during Beryl to reduce power outages that it can implement in the future.
- Ensure the company has a sufficient number of pre-staged workers to quickly respond to future outages.
- Describe how CenterPoint will quickly restore power for hospitals, nursing homes, and senior living facilities.
- Explain how the process of replacing old electrical poles will be accelerated due to Beryl and how the company will now prioritize the deployment of new poles.
- Overview CenterPoint’s plan to improve communication with customers before, during, and after a weather event, including the outage map.
The governor’s letter also revealed that he would direct the Public Utilities Commission to investigate whether the company had cut corners in its preparedness for Beryl.
In response, CenterPoint executives authored a letter outlining its timeline to complete the six tasks in compliance with the governor’s demands.
In the meeting this week between the company and Abbott, they followed up on some of the progress, including already completed projects, but ultimately requested an August 31 date at the latest to complete many of the requested updates.
Among them is the effort to remove all vegetation issues. While CenterPoint has already doubled its vegetation workforce and utilized new technology to predict vegetation challenges ahead of time, the company has still not removed all of the existing problems.
CenterPoint has also developed an accelerated timeline to address actions it failed to take before Beryl that could have mitigated its effects and efforts to expedite the pole replacement process.
Initially scheduled for August 15, CenterPoint now has until August 9 to explain how it will better coordinate with local, state, and federal officials to dispatch necessary resources effectively.
Centerpoint will also have to strategically deploy 300 automated devices to reduce sustained interruptions in major storm events and replace all of the remaining poles, roughly 1,000, by August 31. Previously, the company had scheduled a completion date of December 31.
In addition, the governor demands that 100 percent of customers have their systems restored within 24 hours of a tropical storm. CenterPoint previously requested that the overall system be restored within 24 hours, sub-counties and neighborhoods within 48 hours, and individuals within 72-96 hours.
The meeting came three days after state senators grilled CenterPoint executives on the company’s lack of preparation for Hurricane Beryl. At the height of the storm, Beryl caused around 2.3 million people to lose power.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who ordered the State Senate’s special committee to investigate Centerpoint, issued a scathing statement on the Tuesday hearing following its completion.
He specifically pointed out that other energy providers in the region, like Oncor, followed Senate Bill 1075 and House Bill 1500 of the Texas Legislature’s 88th regular session closely, while CenterPoint did not.
The two bills permitted the PUC to approve an $800 million ratepayer lease for small, mobile generators that officials say have proven effective in emergency response.
“Instead, CenterPoint spent $800 million on massive, more expensive generators that could not be used for 99% of all emergencies but allowed them to make a huge profit,” explained Patrick.
“CenterPoint violated the spirit and purpose of the legislation by leasing generators that are not truly mobile and, as they testified, have never been deployed for an emergency,” he continued, adding that it was clear the company “purposely violated the ‘reasonable and necessary cost’ of leasing to make a profit.”
Patrick then penned a letter on August 2 urging that the PUC attempt to retrieve the $800 million.
“The Commission has a duty to ensure customers only pay just and reasonable rates for transmission and distribution services,” wrote Patrick.