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The Public Utilities Commission of Texas has opened an investigation into CenterPoint’s handling of Hurricane Beryl, commission Chair Thomas Gleeson announced Monday, amid spiking frustration over the utility’s response to last week’s storm.
The investigation by Texas' utilities regulator, which began Monday at the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott, will focus on CenterPoint’s preparations for Hurricane Beryl and its response following the July 8 storm. Commission staff will submit a report with findings and recommendations for improvement to the governor by Dec. 1.
CenterPoint Energy has restored power to nearly 2.1 million customers as of Monday afternoon, leaving about 207,000 customers without electricity for an eighth day.
“It’s clear from the events of the last week that the quality of (CenterPoint’s) infrastructure, their ability to maintain that infrastructure and their communication with their customers has been called into question,” said Gleeson, an Abbott appointee.
The commission will also issue recommendations and mandates directly to CenterPoint when those mandates do not require legal changes. If the investigation identifies changes that can be made immediately, the commission will issue those recommendations to CenterPoint as the investigation progresses, Gleeson added.
“CenterPoint has to do better,” Gleeson said.
related to hurricane beryl
Gov. Abbott threatens CenterPoint: Rectify Beryl ‘failure' or face service area reduction
by Miranda Dunlap / Staff Writer
CenterPoint leaders have acknowledged issues with public communication, though they've defended their preparations and on-the-ground response to the storm.
CenterPoint responded Sunday night to Abbott's criticism of the company's handling of Beryl, saying that the Houston area had not been hit by the “dirty side” of a hurricane since 1983. Company officials also said workers have been restoring power at a faster rate than during Hurricane Ike in 2008.
“We are committed to working together with state and local government, regulators, and community leaders both to help the Greater Houston area recover from Hurricane Beryl and to improve for the future,” the company said in a statement Monday.
“We are also committed to doing a thorough review of our response, supporting any external inquiries, and continuing to serve our customers and our communities, especially when they need us most.”
It is not immediately clear whether the investigation will include scrutiny of other electricity providers in Greater Houston, including Entergy and Texas-New Mexico Power. A publicly available memorandum authored by PUC Executive Director Connie Corona says the regulator will investigate “the underlying causes of repeated and ongoing power outages in Houston and the surrounding communities.” The document doesn't name any utilities subject to investigation.
About 175,000 Houston-area Entergy customers and 75,000 Texas-New Mexico customers lost power in the storm. Roughly 10,000 Entergy customers still in the dark Monday afternoon, as were 6,000 Texas-New Mexico Power customers.
Corona wrote the investigation will involve a review of utilities':
- Emergency operations plans
- Vegetation management plans, which involve cutting down trees and branches that could topple power lines
- Infrastructure and storm hardening plans, such as replacing old power poles and transmission structures
- Use of mobile generation resources, such as large-scale generators
- Other activities related to preparing for and responding to severe weather
Corona's memorandum doesn't outline the legal authority under which the PUC will investigate Houston-area utilities or the process of investigating them.
PUC commissioners urged CenterPoint leaders Thursday to improve communication with the public during a hearing attended by company officials. However, the five-member body didn't directly criticize CenterPoint's handling of the storm. One commissioner, Jimmy Glotfelty, said he empathized with the company given the challenges of responding to storms that can change quickly.
The utility company has come under tougher fire from local and state officials, who have criticized the company for a lack of preparation and poor response to Hurricane Beryl. Most recently, Abbott threatened to reduce CenterPoint’s service area if the company didn't improve its operations in the coming months.
The utility company released a statement Monday that repairs were ahead of its previously announced schedule, with power on track to return to 98 percent of the 2.2 million affected customers by the end of Wednesday.
CenterPoint officials also have started providing customer outage totals for 12 “service areas.” As of 11 a.m. Monday, about 65,000 Humble-area customers without power, along with about 59,000 customers in the Bellaire service area. Other areas dealing with the most outages include Greenspoint, southeastern Houston and Baytown.
“Our restoration crews are now converging on remaining areas with significant structural damage as well as localized outages to get the lights back on for those customers who are without power,” CenterPoint said in its Sunday night statement.
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