(The Center Square) – Ten days after Hurricane Beryl hit the Texas coast, CenterPoint Energy and its crews have restored power to more than 98% of impacted customers. It remains on track to restore electricity to all customers who can receive power by Friday, it said in a statement.
In response to demands issued by Gov. Greg Abbott, the company said, “We have work underway to address the Governor’s requests and are committed to collaborating with the State, local government, regulators, and community leaders to increase the resiliency of the electric grid. This work is integral to ensuring that we are creating and sustaining an environment in Texas where people want to live and build their businesses.”
At a conference with Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate, said the Senate would be holding a hearing in August to address preparation and response to Hurricane Beryl, a Category 1 hurricane that hit Texas on July 8. On Wednesday, he announced he created a Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity.
“Texans are rightfully upset with the overwhelming failure of electric utility companies to restore power in a timely fashion following Hurricane Beryl,” Patrick said. “The electric utility companies’ failure cannot be tolerated, especially when it was so obvious a storm was headed toward Texas. I am appointing this committee to review what happened and establish why certain electric utility companies appear to have been woefully unprepared for Hurricane Beryl. The Texas Senate will work to ensure electric utility companies respond more effectively to future storms.”
Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, will chair the committee, and Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, will serve as vice chair. Other members include four senators from Houston: Carol Alvarado and Borris Miles, both Democrats, and Paul Bettencourt and Joan Huffman, both Republicans.
They also include Sens. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, Morgan LaMantia, D-Palm Valley, Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo.
Abbott also directed the head of the Public Utility Commission to investigate what he said were multiple failures related to hurricane preparation and response. He issued a series of demands CenterPoint must implement to “take immediate action to improve their hurricane preparation and response efforts following their repeated and ongoing power failures in the Greater Houston area.”
Abbott gave CenterPoint until July 31 to comply or said he will take further action through executive order, The Center Square reported.
CenterPoint “totally failed in preparation and in response and they have lost respect from the city of Houston and the surrounding areas that they service,” Patrick said on Sunday.
He also said the legislature would be looking at increasing the penalties for crimes committed against energy workers who were being attacked by residents. Some linemen who came “from states all over the country, they turned around and went home. Who’s going to come to Texas and help you if you are shooting at them? That must stop,” he said. Perpetrators “are going to face a long time in in jail if you ever do that.”
CenterPoint also asked for the public’s help to keep linemen safe after ongoing violent attacks, The Center Square reported. Attacks included a drive by shooting, throwing rocks, crews having guns pulled on them and being attacked with a pipe. The company received help from government officials and law enforcement, it said, but also asked “all our communities and their leaders to help keep safe the men and women who are away from their own families so they can turn the lights and A/C on for everyone else’s families.”
On Wednesday, CenterPoint’s SVP Lynnae Wilson thanked first responders and local law enforcement “for all of their support and partnership as our crews work around-the-clock to restore power for every last customer in the wake of Hurricane Beryl. More than 98% of impacted customers are now restored and we are directing our crews to get remaining customers who are without power back online as safely and quickly as possible.”
Hurricane Beryl made landfall with life-threatening storm surges and flooding on July 8. It also caused the greatest number of tornado warnings issued in a single day in recorded history, including in the east Texas region, The Center Square reported. This included an EF-2 tornado tearing through Jasper, Texas, destroying homes in its wake.
Seven people are reported to have died from the storm. The state’s disaster declaration includes 121 counties.
