Advocates question CenterPoint's $2.3B resiliency plan
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Line workers toil to restore power in Greater Houston last week. Photo: Danielle Villasana/Getty Images
Texas consumer advocates are asking lawmakers and state regulators to delay approving CenterPoint Energy's $2.3 billion resiliency plan amid an ongoing probe into its response to Hurricane Beryl.
Why it matters: If the plan is approved and CenterPoint can't lock down enough state and federal grants to fund the work, the same customers who went days on end without power will wind up footing the bill.
- The average residential customer could wind up paying an extra $3 a month, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Catch up quick: In 2023, the Texas Legislature requested that power transmission and distribution companies create individual proposals to strengthen their portion of the state's power grid.
Driving the news: CenterPoint submitted its proposal to the Public Utility Commission of Texas on April 29, one month before the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
- The Texas Consumer Association is asking the commission to delay approving any resiliency plan and rate-hike hearing until the PUC finishes its investigation into whether CenterPoint properly prepared for Beryl.
What they're saying: "Customers deserve to know where their money goes and whether it was well-spent," Texas Consumer Association president Sandra Haverlah said. "We don't have that now."
- "Based on CenterPoint's current performance, there's no reason to believe that money customers paid for the past 25 years was spent in a way to improve reliability or storm response."
By the numbers: CenterPoint's plan calls for a $1.5 billion investment in "system hardening," $315 million for enhanced information technology operations, $215 million for grid modernization and millions more for flood mitigation, facility security and wildfire protection.
- The plan also includes $25 million over the next three years for vegetation management, including trimming trees around power lines.
By contrast, CenterPoint says it spent $1.5 billion to strengthen its network between 2019 and 2023.
- In a letter to customers on Monday, CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells said those investments helped crews restore power "faster than what we have been able to do in other hurricanes in the past, including Hurricane Ike in 2008."
Between the lines: Already this year, CenterPoint lost out on a $100 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to help bolster its transmission lines. The company has since applied for more federal funding and pledged to seek out state grants, too.
- While the company has experienced a fluctuating bottom line since 2017, it managed to net more than $1.3 billion in 2021, $1 billion in 2022 and $867 million in 2023.
Meanwhile, CenterPoint is grappling with deadlines from Gov. Greg Abbott amid its lackluster response to power outages from Beryl, the effects of which continue to cause deaths.
- Abbott is demanding that the company submit a plan by July 31 detailing how to avoid similar issues with future storms and mandating that it clear vegetation from power lines by the end of August.
Of note: A CenterPoint spokesperson did not respond Wednesday to Axios' request for comment.
- The company said Wednesday it had restored power to 98% of customers who'd been in the dark since Beryl made landfall July 8.
- More than 20,000 customers remained without power as of Thursday morning.