HOUSTON – While recovery efforts for Hurricane Beryl continue on the cusp of Houston residents going days without electricity, the Houston mayor’s message was clear and to the point: he would not let CenterPoint Energy off the hook.
“CenterPoint needs to do a better job,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said addressing the media at City Hall on Wednesday. “We’re going to hold them accountable,”
His comments came after Brad Tutunjian, CenterPoint Energy’s vice president of regulatory affairs addressed Houston City Council telling all in the room the energy company was prepared for this storm, but admitted they were still caught a little off guard by how much damage Beryl caused.
“We were fully prepared,” he said. “We called in what we thought was a good amount of resources. The storms are unpredictable, and you don’t know the extent of what that damage is going to be, so typically, we will ride out the storm, assess the damage, and then ask for crews.”
The mayor’s take? “They need to do a review of action that we just went through,” Whitmire added.
However, Mayor Whitmire also made it clear the problems the city is experiencing in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl are not solely on CenterPoint’s shoulders. On multiple occasions, he connected additional issues the city is having as a result of neglect by previous mayors, including his predecessor.
“You can’t fix something until you acknowledge you have a problem,” Whitmire said. “This city government has not acknowledged its city problems for years.”
At one point, the mayor raised his voice and did not pull any punches.
“Yeah, I’m angry, because people in responsible positions have neglected residents of Houston,” Whitmire said. “You know it and I know it.”
