HOUSTON, Texas – On Monday, a week after Hurricane Beryl struck the Texas Coast and left thousands powerless, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates CenterPoint, announced it’s launching an investigation into CenterPoint Energy’s response to the disaster.
In a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the PUC Chairman Thomas Gleeson made the announcement, which he said came as directed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
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@PUCTX Chairman Thomas Gleeson announces #PUCT investigation into utility response to #Beryl, as directed by Gov. Abbott. #txlege pic.twitter.com/KurT6FgE9K
— Public Utility Commission of Texas (@PUCTX) July 15, 2024
“I cannot urge this enough. I have tried to stress to their executives that CenterPoint has to have a sense of urgency. What I’ve guaranteed to the governor is, that I will bring back actions that we can do immediately and not wait to address. I expect those to be done during this hurricane season,” Gleeson said. “We’re still at the beginning of hurricane season. We have a number of things, including communication, that can be addressed right now. I’ve also committed that we will bring to the legislature and the governor more long-term fixes to address these issues that will probably need statutory change. I have every confidence that any recommendation the PUC brings regarding improving the quality of service at CenterPoint.”
When addressing Beryl victims in Houston, Gov. Greg Abbott, who was in Asia during the hurricane, gave CenterPoint until the end of July to submit plans to protect the power supply through the rest of what could be an active hurricane season, as well as trim trees and vegetation that threaten power lines.
“What CenterPoint is showing us by its repeated failure to provide power, is they seem to be just incapable of doing their job,” Abbott said Monday in Houston.
CenterPoint said it had restored power to 92% of the customers by Monday, and was working to restore power to at least 98% of customers by the end of Wednesday, July 17.
“We are grateful to our crews who have restored power to our customers at a stronger pace than we have been able to in any hurricane in our history, despite the difficult conditions,” Lynnae Wilson, Senior Vice President, Electric Business. “We continue to work around the clock to get our remaining customers back online.”
Gleeson said it doesn’t matter if the power outages are CenterPoint’s or not, but he said the company has to take responsibility.
“When they decided to get into the public utility business, they entered a contract with their customers that they would provide high-quality service because utility service electricity is important to every Texan and every Texas business. And as such, we will look comprehensively at all of their operations and bring a report back in December of this year prior to the legislative session, with recommendations for how to mitigate the impact of these types of storms going forward, and how we can ensure that this type of response will never happen again,” Gleeson said.
Since Beryl hit the area, Houston residents have faced several issues including the heat and humidity, standing in long lines for gas, food and water, and trekking to community centers to find air conditioning. Hospitals have seen a spike in patients with heat-related illnesses and carbon monoxide poisoning caused by improper use of home generators.
“This isn’t a failure of the entire system,” Abbott said. “This is an indictment of one company that’s failed to do its job.”
During an emergency city council meeting called by Mayor John Whitmire on Monday, an Oak Forest resident spoke briefly about how he remained without power and had not seen anyone from CenterPoint in his neighborhood until a week after the storm.
He said the city and the company should have known the potential for damage after storms in May knocked out power to more than 1 million.
“You all and CenterPoint had a preview of this debacle in May,” Boswell told council members.
Whitmire said the PUC is holding a meeting with CenterPoint on July 25 at 9:30 a.m. in Austin, Texas to discuss in-depth Hurricane Beryl and their response.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.