HOUSTON — A new group of Houston businesses have joined a class action lawsuit against CenterPoint Energy, which claims the company’s “negligence” interrupted business and led to economic losses.
The lawsuit comes after other class actions and individual lawsuits have been filed against the utility company in recent weeks.
Rebeca Hernandez told KHOU 11 News that her makeup and hair styling services are represented in the latest lawsuit. Her East End beauty salon, Diva's Creations, lost power for eight days after Hurricane Beryl.
“This is my livelihood, this is what I live off of,” she said. “Our appointments were canceled, our business was affected, and we weren’t able to produce anything, we weren’t able to work or make money.”
In addition to lost revenue, Hernandez had to deal with water and tree damage, A/C repairs and even a break-in.
“Because there were no lights in the neighborhood, a few neighborhood businesses were hit and we were one of them,” she said. “I realize now that CenterPoint, unfortunately, we can’t rely on them.
Hernandez is one of several dozen plaintiffs represented in the class action lawsuit filed Monday. All of the plaintiffs are part of the beauty, health or medical industries, according to the filing from Houston attorney Erica Rose of the Rose Sanders Law Firm.
Speaking to KHOU 11 News, Rose said that some of her clients include businesses like med spas that lost products that had to be refrigerated. Additional clients include yoga studios, orthopedic surgeons and dentists, among others.
“With my dentist clients, some of their patients were in so much pain and suffering because they lost power for over a week, of course, they had to go to a different dentist," she said. "So my clients lost revenue."
Rose explained that all the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit lost power for at least 48 hours after Beryl and suffered damages of at least $11,000.
“CenterPoint has the resources to compensate these business owners. They need to make these businesses whole again," she said.
Beyond damages for her clients, Rose said she wants the class action to raise questions about Houston’s reliance on CenterPoint. Rose started a hashtag called #TakeBackThePowerYall to facilitate a conversation on social media.
“It’s not fair that we don’t have a choice in energy providers,” she said.
Other businesses that qualify can join the class action by contacting the Rose Sanders Law Firm.