HOUSTON — CenterPoint Energy Thursday reported on the results of its efforts following last week’s sudden and destructive severe weather, which included Category 2 Hurricane-like winds and tornadoes that quickly struck its service territory.
As of Thursday, noon CT, the company has restored nearly 900,000 customers impacted by the May 16 severe storm. At this time, 99% of CenterPoint’s customers have power.
Any remaining outages are predominantly isolated instances in certain locations where there is substantial damage or where customers are unable to receive power. CenterPoint has and will continue to have the workers and resources needed to address these remaining outages as safely and quickly as possible. In some cases, new outages may be attributable to service issues that periodically occur on CenterPoint’s system and are unrelated to the weather event, such as a vehicle accident resulting in a downed pole and wires.
“While we are very proud of the progress we have made over the course of our response to this storm event, we recognize that there are still Houstonians waiting to get their electricity back on,” said Lynnae Wilson, Senior Vice President, Electric Business. “We want our customers to know we will continue our around-the-clock efforts until every last customer can be restored.”
Wilson added, “Because we have been in the communities devastated by the storm, we have seen first-hand the damage goes well beyond the electric system. We know restoring our communities does not end with getting the lights and air conditioning back on. It also means giving our time, energy and financial support to help our neighbors in need.”
To further support the communities it serves, the CenterPoint Energy Foundation has made financial contributions totaling nearly $700,000 to the following nonprofit organizations and causes:
- $500,000 to Greater Houston Disaster Alliance – Severe Weather and Derecho Recovery Fund
- $50,000 to Salvation Army Houston Area Command
- One of CenterPoint’s contract powerline construction companies, Collective Strategic Resources (CSR), a division of PowerGrid Services, generously matched the company’s grant for a total grant of $100,000.
- $25,000 to Cypress Assistance Ministries
- $25,000 to Memorial Assistance Ministries
- $25,000 to M.D. Anderson Family YMCA
- $25,000 to Hester House
- $25,000 to Mercy Chefs
In addition to these contributions, CenterPoint’s employee volunteers helped serve meals at various community centers, senior living centers and schools, while also donating approximately 20 tons of ice and 20,000 bottles of water. The company’s outreach to neighbors in need will continue over the coming days.
“CenterPoint’s efforts would not have been possible without the incredible support and collaboration from peer mutual assistance utilities, contractors, regulators, elected officials, nonprofit organizations, and Houston companies and organizations that helped us restore power to our customers,” said Wilson. “We are also grateful for the outstanding assistance we received from local first responders, emergency personnel and many others across Greater Houston, including residents who greeted our crews with water and ice.”
Immediately following the May 16 storm, CenterPoint activated a comprehensive response plan to assess and safely repair the widespread damage to its electric system from wind, trees and debris. Despite the extent of the damage, the more than 7,000 CenterPoint employees, contractors and mutual assistance resources have completed the following:
- Replaced more than 800 miles of electrical wires, which is farther than the distance from Houston to El Paso, Texas;
- Replaced more than 700 transformers and approximately 2,000 poles;
- Cleared more than 190 miles of vegetation, resulting in removal of thousands of trees;
- Deployed 13 mobile generation units to provide temporary power restoration to certain critical facilities, cooling centers, healthcare facilities, first responder locations, senior centers, and schools;
- Established and operated nine multi-citywide staging sites for crews, equipment and materials to effectively mobilize and support restorations across the Greater Houston area;
- Restored approximately 340,000 impacted customers in the first 24 hours; approximately 550,000 in the first 48 hours; and approximately 750,000 in the first 72 hours; and
- Restored nearly 900,000 impacted customers as of noon today.
If a customer has been notified by CenterPoint’s Power Alert Service that their service has been restored and is still without power, contact CenterPoint at 713-207-2222.
Source: CenterPoint
