AUSTIN, Texas — On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to the president of CenterPoint outlining several things he wanted the power company to do in the coming months to make sure they're ready to respond to the next weather event in Southeast Texas.
In the letter, Abbott said, there were concerns that CenterPoint was prioritizing its bottom line over Texans by cutting corners that led to a delayed recovery process.
"In the wake of Hurricane Beryl’s landfall, CenterPoint Energy has lost the faith and trust of Texans," the letter said. "Indeed, nearly 2.2 million residential and commercial customers in Southeast Texas lost power during the peak of the storm, and many continue to suffer without electricity more than a week after the storm. Texans deserve better from their electrical companies, especially during hurricane season. The adequacy of your preparation will be analyzed in the coming months, but the time is now for CenterPoint Energy to improve its practices."
Abbott went on to say he ordered the Public Utility Commission to look into the causes of the "repeated and ongoing power failures in the Greater Houston area."
"Texans must be able to rely on their energy providers to keep the power flowing, even during hurricane season. It is your responsibility to properly prepare for these foreseen incidents and work tirelessly to restore power as quickly as possible when it is lost. Anything less is unacceptable," the letter said.
Here's what Abbott wanted to see from CenterPoint by July 31:
- Identify how CenterPoint Energy will complete the elimination of all vegetation issues by August 31, 2024.
- Specify all actions CenterPoint Energy will take in the future that it failed to do during the preparation for and response to Hurricane Beryl that will reduce or eliminate power outages for your customers.
- Ensure that CenterPoint Energy has a sufficient number of pre-staged workers to be able to immediately respond to any power outages that may occur for any tropical storm or hurricane that hits your service area.
- Describe how CenterPoint Energy will retain or quickly restore power for at-risk Texans in hospitals, nursing homes, and senior living facilities.
- Describe how CenterPoint Energy’s pole replacement process for Hurricane Beryl will be accelerated and will prioritize the deployment of new, highly resilient poles before the end of this hurricane season.
- Specify CenterPoint Energy’s plan to improve communication with its customers before, during and after a weather event. Additionally, how CenterPoint Energy will ensure the failure of its outage tracker during Hurricane Beryl will be reconciled.
If the power company doesn't give Abbott what he wants by the end of the month, the governor said he would issue an executive order to force CenterPoint to comply with "needed requirements." The order would be issued with the goal of "keeping the power on throughout hurricane season and until the next legislative session."
Also, Abbott said, that if CenterPoint doesn't comply, he will deny requests to raise utility rates on Texans and won't allow them to collect any profit or rate of return. Abbott said the state would also consider limiting CenterPoint's service area.
CenterPoint issued the following statement in response to Abbott's letter.
"We have work underway to address the Governor's requests and are committed to collaborating with the State, local government, regulators, and community leaders to increase the resiliency of the electric grid. This work is integral to ensuring that we are creating and sustaining an environment in Texas where people want to live and build their businesses. - See more at: https://www.centerpointenergy.com/en-us/corporate/about-us/news/1789#sthash.cEI7nWDb.dpuf'
Abbott held this news conference about the response and recovery to Hurricane Beryl on Monday, July 16, 2024: