HOUSTON, Texas – Some Houston residents are now on their fifth day without power after Hurricane Beryl swept through the Texas coast, leaving substantial damage, including the loss of power to millions of homes and businesses.
On Thursday, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates the state’s electric, telecommunication, and water and sewer utilities, spoke with the companies responsible for providing power to the state and questioned them about their preparation and response to Hurricane Beryl.
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One of the biggest takeaways came from CenterPoint Energy, the utility company that serves nearly three million homes and businesses, many of which faced power outages. The Executive Vice President of CenterPoint Energy, Jason Ryan, said Beryl’s quick-changing path, with a mix of strong winds, made the storm unique and harder to approach.
Ryan said although CenterPoint wasn’t sure of Beryl’s direct path until days prior, the team prepared by calling on 12,000 crews to help with the storm’s impact and opening 18 staging sites among other things.
On Monday, after the storm had passed, CenterPoint Energy said 2.6 million of its nearly three million customers were without power. As of Thursday, Ryan said more than 50% of those customers’ power had been restored. He added that there were still a little over 1 million homes and businesses that needed to be restored as of Thursday evening.
By the end of the day Friday, CenterPoint said it plans to have another 400,000 customers’ power restored, and by Sunday, it plans to have an additional 350,000 customers’ power restored.
“We know we still have a lot of work to do,” Ryan said while updating the PUC.
He added that about 500,000 customers, mostly located in Matagorda County, Brazoria County, and parts of Galveston County, will be without power going into next week, but they are hoping to bring in additional crews this weekend to help speed up the process.
“We also encourage customers to sign up for our power alert service so that they can personally get these estimated restoration times when we push them out by either phone call, text, or email. So they’re no longer relying on just press releases to understand their estimated restoration times. So again, we know that some of the hardest-hit areas are along the coast and the I-45 corridor up to The Woodlands. We will be communicating to customers so they have situational awareness as we go into next week,” Ryan said.
When asked by the PUC what is taking so long to restore the power, Ryan said the hardest-hit areas, like The Woodlands, require crews to rebuild the infrastructure and remove debris on the distribution system.
“That is the kind of restoration that we will accomplish by the end of this weekend, where we have to rebuild large spans of infrastructure, with poles that snapped in half lying on the ground. That is the kind of work that’s going to lead to those extended power outages. So, again, as we continue to assess our workforce needs and whether or not we need to bring more people in, we will accelerate those estimated restoration times. And we’re going to start communicating with customers today who are going to experience those extended outages,” Ryan said.
CenterPoint said linemen are working around the clock in 16-hour shifts to help restore power while Texas also braces for a hot weekend ahead.
“We will continue to assess whether or not we have the right number of crews and whether we should bring additional ones in, and we will not stop our work until the work is done,” Ryan said. “I know customers are frustrated at how long it may take, especially in these prolonged outage areas. Safety is our top priority. As you mentioned, these men and women are working 16-hour shifts. They must take the other eight to rest because these are dangerous conditions. It’s hot out there.”