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CenterPoint Energy reports substation fire cause of downtown outages
Power expected to be restored by later this morning

For more information contact:
Emily Mir Thompson
Phone: 713.207.3085
Cell: 713.458.8446

HOUSTON – October 5, 2006 – CenterPoint Energy reports a fire on a breaker at its Gable Street substation caused the outage carrying electricity to about 400 commercial and residential customers in downtown Houston. A number of buildings in northeast section of downtown remain either completely without power or with partial power. Those buildings include:

  • Courthouse District
  • U.S. Post Office
  • Rice Garage
  • Sam Houston Hotel
  • Houston Chronicle
  • Lancaster Hotel
  • Civic Center Garage
  • Inn at the Ballpark
  • Wel-Tec Building
  • Texas State Hotel
  • Hogg Building
  • Fidelity Building
  • Byrd Loft
  • Harris County Central Plant 

The company has response crews onsite to repair the damage and power is expected to be restored later this morning.

The fire occurred this morning shortly before 3 am at the substation, located on the north end of downtown Houston at the cross streets of McKee Street and Elysian Street. A substation serves as a junction point along the electrical network that connect power plants, high voltage transmission lines, and lower distribution lines. Substations serve two main functions: to switch transmission circuits and to step down voltage to appropriate levels for distribution.

CenterPoint Energy’s substations have protective devices in place that detects faults and isolates equipment to prevent further damage to the system. All protective devices worked as designed.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission & distribution, natural gas distribution and sales, and interstate pipeline and gathering operations. The company serves nearly five million metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. Assets total approximately $16 billion.  With more than 9,000 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 130 years.  For more information, visit the Web site at www.CenterPointEnergy.com.