HOUSTON – CenterPoint Energy says it has restored power to more than 1 million of the 2.26 million customers impacted by Hurricane Beryl.
The company expects to have an additional 400,000 customers restored by the end of the day on Friday, July 12 and an additional 350,000 customers restored by the end of the day on Sunday, July 14.
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CenterPoint says crews are nearing completion on damage assessment, with more than 8,500 miles of its circuits walked and thousands of miles flown across the Greater Houston area. Crews have also identified extensive tree damage across the company’s system.
“Trees across the Greater Houston area were particularly vulnerable due to three unusual years of weather, including significant freezes, drought and heavy rain this past spring. Downed trees and a significant amount of tree debris had a major impact on CenterPoint’s distribution system of poles and wires. As crews see tree damage blocking circuits and causing outages, they have been removing it to quickly restore impacted customers,” the company says.
“Our restoration progress so far reflects our continued commitment to deliver on our promises to our customers,” said Lynnae Wilson, Senior Vice President, Electric Business. “We are fully focused on achieving our next restoration goals, while continuing to address the issues in the hardest-hit areas where there is major damage to our equipment and infrastructure.”
The company says Hurricane Beryl caused significant structural damage in some areas, including along the coast where parts of the electric system will need to be rebuilt.
“We understand how difficult it is for our customers to be without power, particularly in this summer heat,” Wilson added. “Having substantially completed our damage assessment and restoration of customers impacted by circuit-related outages, our crews are now focusing on repairing more localized damage, including in the hardest-hit areas. We know that our customers are counting on us, and we are committed to working as safely and quickly as we can until every last customer is back on.”
There was also major damage away from the coast related to the density of Houston and the electric infrastructure that serves it. Parts of these areas are also expected to experience prolonged outages.