CenterPoint Energy officials apologize after lengthy Houston power outages from Hurricane Beryl

By Ed Lavandera and Ashley Killough, CNN

(CNN) — CenterPoint Energy executives apologized and promised to do better Thursday after power outages from Hurricane Beryl wreaked havoc for millions across the Houston area earlier this month.

Appearing before the Public Utility Commission of Texas in Austin, the company’s chief executive was apologetic and outlined a series of steps that CenterPoint would take to improve its preparation strategies and response to storms.

“I want to apologize to our customers for the frustration we caused. We will do better. While we cannot erase the frustrations and difficulties so many of our customers endured, I and my entire leadership team will not make excuses,” said Jason Wells, the president and CEO at CenterPoint. “We will improve and act with a sense of urgency.”

Roughly 2.2 million customers lost power after the Category 1 hurricane struck the Houston area on July 8. CenterPoint restored power to 1 million in the first 48 hours and finished restoring power to all remaining customers who are able to receive power on July 20.

At least 14 Houston-area deaths were confirmed to be hurricane-related, including seven people – ranging in age from 50 to 110 – who died from “heat exposure due to power loss,” according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. Overall, more than 20 deaths in Harris and nearby counties were attributed to the storm, according to the Houston Chronicle and other local media outlets.

The lengthy outages and lack of accurate information amid the scorching summer heat triggered anger and frustration across the city.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asked the Public Utility Commission to launch an investigation into CenterPoint and present its findings by Dec. 1. The Texas State Senate is also holding a hearing on Monday on the outages.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blasted the company in a press conference on July 14. “A freight train’s coming. You just heard it. You better be prepared. Whether you’re at the top or any part of management who oversaw this response or preparation, everybody’s job should be on the line,” he said. “We will not and cannot tolerate this.”

Wells, the CEO, and other executives summarized some of the initiatives on Thursday that they will launch to help enhance their communications with the public and efforts to improve from within the company.

The company plans to hire a new senior leader on its executive team to focus on improvements to its emergency and storm response; seek independent analysis from experts; launch a new cloud-based outage tracker after their original one failed for customers; provide daily press briefings after storms; expedite estimated times for restoration to its customers; and improve its alert notifications directly to customers through text, email or phone.

The company only has direct contact information for 42% of its customers, executives said Thursday, citing policies that limit the company’s ability to reach out for more information to reach its customers.

CenterPoint officials said they would also increase their call center staffing by 165% to help reduce wait times for customers calling about their power situations.

“While the thousands on the ground worked incredibly hard to restore power and achieve significant impact in the first 48 hours, it is clear we must continue to enhance the resiliency of our system to support faster restoration times,” said Randy Pryor, a vice president at CenterPoint who served as the incident commander during the storm.

Frustration with lengthy outages

Thursday’s meeting opened with public comment. Savant Moore, a Houston resident and elected trustee for the Houston Independent School District, highlighted some of the struggles faced by the city’s most vulnerable during the power outages – such as seniors depending on oxygen and insulin.

“Electricity was created in the late 1800s, yet we still haven’t figured out power outage solutions,” he said. “What will this board and the government do to protect Texans’ lives from such mismanagement?”

Commissioners on the Public Utility Commission expressed frustration as well. Commissioner Lori Cobos complimented CenterPoint for outlining some of its plans to improve but said “a lot of what I heard seems like things that y’all should have already been doing.”

Cobos, who toured the area after the storm, called the Houston aftermath “devastating.”

“Your performance will be judged by your actions and the results from those actions,” she added. “Accountability is very important.”

Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty criticized the company’s admitted statistic that it only has contact information for 42% of its customers.

“You all have equipment on their premises. So they are your customers. And if you don’t have the information to your customers, then that’s your fault,” he said. “And I know you want to change that, and I know, as we’ve restructured this industry, most of the contact has gone to the retail electric provider, you all are still the bread and butter of Houston, Texas, distributing electricity. So I hope you all find a way to become critical to your customers.”

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