As of 2 p.m., approximately 180 CenterPoint customers are without power from overnight storms
CenterPoint's Emergency Operations Center will remain in an elevated state of readiness given forecasted severe weather through the Memorial Day holiday weekend
HOUSTON – May 20, 2026 – As thunderstorms traveled across CenterPoint Energy's electric service territory overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, more than 95% of its 2.9 million customers across the Greater Houston area experienced no impacts to their electric service. Essentially all CenterPoint customers who were impacted by the storms and can safely receive power have now been restored. Approximately 133,000 customers have been impacted since a line of storms began moving through the area around 9 p.m. on Tuesday. As of 2 p.m. today, approximately 180 customers are without power from the overnight storms. Crews continue actively working to restore those remaining impacted customers safely and as quickly as possible.
Scattered thunderstorms moved through parts of the Greater Houston area, with the strongest activity taking place between 9 p.m. last night and 11 a.m. this morning. The average restoration time per outage was approximately 170 minutes.
The company's Emergency Operations Center will maintain an elevated state of readiness through Memorial Day holiday weekend as we closely monitor evolving weather conditions.
“We appreciate the dedication of our outstanding frontline crews and contractors, as well as our customers' patience and understanding as we worked to restore power," said Jason Fabre, CenterPoint's Vice President of Special Response and Incident Commander. “Our customers expect and deserve reliable power, and our teams worked around the clock through significant rainfall and wind to safely restore service to customers who were impacted by significant weather as quickly as possible."
CenterPoint took the following actions ahead of Monday's significant weather:
- Activated Emergency Operations Center: To coordinate storm response efforts, the company proactively activated its Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday and remained ready to respond.
- Monitored weather 24/7: The Meteorology team continued to track forecast developments, and the company updated response plans as conditions evolved.
- Pre-positioned resources: Response teams were pre-positioned in areas where storms were forecasted to impact and remained ready to respond to any electric or natural gas service interruptions safely and as quickly as possible.
- Coordinated with local officials: The company provided updates to local officials and emergency management partners.
Commitment to Keeping Customers Informed
CenterPoint will continue to provide proactive updates about the actions it's taking to prepare for and respond to the impacts of the severe weather in the Greater Houston area. Electric customers are encouraged to enroll in Power Alert Service® to receive outage details and customer-specific restoration updates by phone, text or email.
Customers can also stay up to date on local outages with CenterPoint's Outage Tracker (available in English & Spanish and mobile-friendly), which allows customers to see outages and restoration times by county, city and zip code.
Public Safety Message
CenterPoint urges the public to put their safety first. Customers should stay away from low-hanging or downed power lines. To report downed lines or another electrical emergency that requires immediate attention, please call 911 if necessary, then immediately contact CenterPoint at 713-207-2222.
Be alert for the smell of natural gas. If you smell natural gas, leave the area immediately on foot. Do not attempt to turn gas valves on or off; instead, call 1-888-876-5786 and CenterPoint will send a technician.
For additional information and safety tips, follow CenterPoint on social media and visit CenterPointEnergy.com/ActionCenter.
About CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
As the only investor owned electric and gas utility based in Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) is an energy delivery company with electric transmission and distribution, power generation and natural gas distribution operations that serve more than 7 million metered customers in Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas. As of March 31, 2026, the company owned approximately $47.8 billion in assets. With approximately 8,800 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit CenterPointEnergy.com.
