HOUSTON — It's been three weeks since strong derecho winds hit Houston, damaging homes and businesses and leaving many without power for days.
Since then it’s been a busy few weeks for CenterPoint crews who have been working to recover after strong back-to-back storms knocked out power across the Houston area.
"I think this storm that hit on May 16 shows that we can be ready, even on no notice, for a hurricane-type event and restore service to customers as quickly as possible," said CenterPoint Executive VP of Regulatory Services and Government Affairs Jason Ryan.
Ryan said crews are still working on repairs.
"Things like temporary transmission structures that were put up where there was transmission structure damage, we need to go back in and replace them with permanent structures. Also, you may have distribution poles that are leaning - power may be on, but that leaning pole needs to be replaced," he said.
All that work could take months and comes with a high cost - and customers will ultimately help pay that bill.
"We don't have a final estimate right now of a range costs," Ryan said. "It will be at least $100 million of costs."
Consumer experts say it's not the first time these types of costs have been passed on to customers.
“There are multiple choices the company can make in terms of trying to get reimbursement. One is reimbursement as a line item on the bill. some years ago, that was done as a surcharge," said Sandra Haverlah, the president of the Texas Consumer Association. "It's a fee added onto the bill."
How much will that be?
"I think what customers can plan for, though, is around a dollar a month cost impact," Ryan said.
Haverlah said passing that buck could be something that changes in the future.
“Damage with a big price tag attached to it. I think the legislature should take this up as an issue to develop new ways in which storm damage can be paid for in the future,’ she said.
CenterPoint told KHOU 11 they don't have an exact final cost yet because they're still waiting for the bill for all the out of town and out of state crews who were brought in to help restore power.
As for an added fee, the company said you won't see it right away. Instead, it will be phased in over the course of the next year.