CenterPoint releases outage map; 1.2 million still without power after Beryl –

On Jul 11, 2024

CenterPoint

More than 1.2 million CenterPoint Energy customers were still out of power as of Wednesday, two days after Hurricane Beryl knocked out power for more than 2.2 million.

The company has so far restored power to 1 million customers, but progress was slow-moving during the day. About 6 a.m. Wednesday, CenterPoint had 1.37 million without power in the Houston region according to its tracker. As of 5:30 p.m., that number was 1.24 million, meaning only about 130,000 gained power back during the day.

CenterPoint published a map late Tuesday that provides a status of energy restoration efforts in Houston. The map indicates areas that currently have energy, areas where assessment is in progress and areas where circuits are assigned for repair. Wednesday, the map display indicated streets in downtown Houston, West University Place and other central Houston neighborhoods that have been restored.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire says he expects the utility to follow through on its promise to restore electricity to frustrated customers.

“We are all sharing the frustration of Houstonians in our region for lack of power,” Whitmire said.

However, the veracity of the map has been questioned by customers on social media. The map also does not have any timeline on when outages would be restored. Company officials say they’re still completing a damage assessment and cannot provide details about a timeline.

The company has come under intense criticism for its handling of the outages and communication with customers. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, when asked if the company was ready, said he’s asked for details about CenterPoint’s preps.

“CenterPoint will have to answer for themselves if they were prepared and positioned. The state was positioned and prepared. I’ll tell you whether I’m satisfied or not when I have a full report,” Patrick said on Tuesday.

Outages addressed so far were related to the company’s distribution system, designed to lock out in order to prevent further damage, according to CenterPoint.

Citing technical challenges and an increase in webpage traffic, CenterPoint removed its original outage tracker map from the company’s website in May, after a deadly derecho left nearly 1 million customers without power. Some Houstonians decided to get crafty this week after a social media user noted the Whataburger app could serve as a de facto power outage map, since it shows which fast-food locations are open and which are closed in the wake of Hurricane Beryl.

In a press release, CenterPoint said the company’s overall system largely operated as intended despite Beryl “directly impacting a majority of the company’s 5,000-square-mile system, resulting in downed trees, branches and other debris affecting its distribution poles and wires.”

CenterPoint is assessing damage in southeast and northwest Houston, according to the outage map.

“We have made solid progress and exceeded the number of customer restorations following Hurricane Ike, but we have a lot of important work ahead, especially in the hardest-hit areas where the work will be more complex and time-consuming,” Lynnae Wilson, Senior Vice President of Electric Business said in a statement.

“We know we have a lot of customers counting on us to do our jobs as safely and quickly as possible, and that will continue to be our highest priority,” Wilson said.

Before the storm, CenterPoint had fewer than 5,000 workers on standby. Critics say the company didn’t pre-position enough out-of-town crews before the storm made landfall early Monday. After the storm passed, company spokesperson Alyssia Oshodi said, CenterPoint more than doubled its field crews to nearly 12,000 workers.

“Based on the projections that we were getting, we believe that we were staffing appropriately … and requested additional resources to join us in those efforts. What then happened as often does with weather – it’s unpredictable – is that we had a more significant impact than what was projected for our area,” Oshodi said.

Customers sweat it out

With temperatures projected to climb into the low 90s, many Fort Bend residents entered their third day without power.

At the BlendIn Coffee Club in Sugar Land, customers packed the building for a chance at WiFi and air conditioning. Many worked from laptops or scrolled on their phones in an area where cell service flickered in and out.

Katrina Bolman came to the coffee shop with her fiance, after scrolling Instagram and seeing that the store was open.

“(We’re) just trying to find a place to get some work done and get out of the heat,” she said.

Aaron Atkinson is the shop’s general manager and said it’s their first day open since the hurricane. Atkinson has worked for the company since 2017 and he’s been through other storms.

“This is actually the longest we’ve been without power,” he said. “Previous to this, we’ve been able to keep power kind of during the other storms.”

Thousands across the county still don’t have power.

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