CenterPoint Energy nearing completion of customer restorations
2024-05-22T05:00:00Z

​​Houston – May 22, 2024 – CenterPoint Energy today reported that it continues to make steady progress on its restoration efforts, with more than 850,000 customers impacted by last week's devastating storm restored as of noon CT.  

  • Company remains on track to be substantially complete with storm-related outages this evening  
  • More than 7,000 workers continue dedicated restoration efforts with concentration on hardest-hit areas and neighborhoods 
  • Company will be laser-focused on addressing remaining outages  ​​

The company said that it is nearing completion of restoration of customers impacted from the severe weather event and any remaining outages after Wednesday evening will be predominantly isolated instances in certain locations where there is substantial damage or where customers are unable to receive power due to severe home damage or damage to customer-owned equipment, such as weatherheads. CenterPoint expects some isolated outages to extend into the weekend. 

"We thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding during a very challenging time," said Lynnae Wilson, Senior Vice President, Electric Business. “Our crews will be laser-focused and work around-the-clock to restore power to every last customer." 

In some cases, outages may be attributable to routine service issues that periodically occur on CenterPoint's system, and our crews are also addressing those outages as safely and quickly as possible. 

 CenterPoint Energy reminds customers to remain safe and: 

  • Stay at least 35 feet away from downed power lines and damaged utility equipment. Be especially mindful of downed lines that could be hidden and treat all downed lines as if they are energized. 
  • Be cautious around work crews and give them plenty of room to safely assess damages and make repairs. 
  • Only use a portable generator in a well-ventilated area and never run it inside or in a garage to avoid carbon monoxide fumes, which can be deadly. 
  • Never connect a portable electric generator directly to your building's electrical system during a power outage; electricity could backfeed into the power lines, potentially endangering CenterPoint Energy workers, mutual assistance workers or members of the public. 

For the latest information on power outages:  


 Recent News

 

 
CenterPoint Energy Winter Storm Enzo Update: More than 99.9 percent of customers continue to have power across Greater Houston area; Crews continuing to respond to scattered customer outages and prepare for coldest overnight temperatures of the year

As of 9 p.m. on Tuesday, CenterPoint crews have restored approximately 28,500 customers since midnight and continue safely responding to scattered customer outages

To ensure public safety, CenterPoint continues to urge everyone to stay off roads to help prevent potential accidents and outages

To support other states and communities, CenterPoint has released mutual aid workers to their home states 

HOUSTON, Jan. 21, 2025 - With Winter Storm Enzo's exit from CenterPoint Energy's Texas service area, its sub-freezing temperatures will persist tonight across the Greater Houston area. CenterPoint shared that more than 99.9 percent of its customers continue to have power and receive normal electric service as of 9 p.m. on Tuesday. Over the last 21 hours, CenterPoint crews and contractors have been responding to scattered outages as they occur and will continue working to address potential impacts from the deep freeze expected overnight and into Wednesday morning. 

Since Winter Storm Enzo began impacting the Greater Houston area last night, approximately 28,500 customers across CenterPoint's 12-county service area have been restored since 12:01 a.m. As part of its preparation plan, CenterPoint mobilized approximately 3,000 local frontline workers, contractors, and mutual aid personnel to respond to the historic storm. Tonight, CenterPoint has released those mutual aid workers to return to their home states. 

"While we're encouraged that the actions that we've taken to prepare for this winter storm season mitigated the number of overall outages so far, our team remains vigilant and will continue safely responding to any potential overnight impacts. We want to thank those customers who were impacted by Winter Storm Enzo for their patience as we worked to restore them. We also want to thank those mutual aid workers who traveled from as far away as Virginia, North Carolina and Florida to help us prepare for this storm," said Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President of CenterPoint's Electric Business.

CenterPoint Preparation and Response to Winter Storm Enzo
As of 9 p.m. on Tuesday, CenterPoint's preparation and response actions include:

  • Deploying frontline electric workers: CenterPoint workers and local contractors will continue responding to impacts of the winter storm and restoring power to customers. On Tuesday, CenterPoint released mutual aid workers to their home states.

  • Supporting local communities with temporary generation to temporary warming centers: Deploying four small temporary generation units to provide power to local warming centers amid freezing temperatures.

  • Keeping customers informed: Sharing safety and preparedness information and resources with CenterPoint customers through direct outreach, social media and other platforms.

  • Conducting outreach to critical care customers: Reaching out to identified Critical Care Residential and Chronic Condition Residential electric customers by email, phone and/or text.

  • Coordinating with government officials: Providing regular updates to government officials on preparation and response activities to coordinate customer support.

Important information for electric customers 
CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates via phone call, text or email. Customers can also stay up to date with CenterPoint's new and improved, cloud-based Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish, which allows customers to see outages by county, city and zip code. 

In addition, customers can get the latest information on CenterPoint's preparedness and response efforts, view important safety tips and access the company's 2025 Winter Energy Guide by visiting CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter. Customers can also follow @CenterPoint_TX to receive the most up-to-date information on the company's operations in the Greater Houston area and across Texas. 

For the latest weather information for the Greater Houston area, see updates from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Houston/Galveston at weather.gov/hgx.  

For more information, contact
Communications
Media.Relations@CenterPointEnergy.com

 

SOURCE CenterPoint Energy

Final Winter Storm Enzo Update: More than 99 percent of CenterPoint Energy customers maintained power through extreme winter weather; Company deactivates emergency operations center
​Houston – Jan. 22, 2025 – Following the historic Winter Storm Enzo and an overnight hard freeze, CenterPoint Energy shared Wednesday that approximately 99 percent of its Greater Houston area customers had maintained normal electric service throughout the duration of the extreme winter weather event. As part of its storm response, CenterPoint crews responded safely and quickly to scattered outages that occurred across its 12-county service area, restoring power to those small number of impacted customers. Last night, the company released the 1,200 mutual aid workers it had brought in to prepare for Winter Storm Enzo. 

Given the status of both the electric and natural gas systems across its Texas service areas, CenterPoint has returned to normal operations and deactivated its Emergency Operations Center as of noon today.

“With Winter Storm Enzo now behind us, we want to again thank all our customers for staying off the roads and allowing our dedicated crews to respond safely and effectively when scattered outages occurred. We're also grateful to those crew members who worked in extreme conditions to provide our customers the service they expect and deserve. We would also like to thank the 1,200 mutual assistance personnel that traveled from other states to help us prepare. The actions we took to get ready for this winter storm season helped mitigate the impacts of Enzo on our customers, and our entire CenterPoint team remains committed to further strengthening the resiliency of our system," said Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President of CenterPoint's Electric Business.

Key Actions: CenterPoint Response to Winter Storm Enzo
As part of its planning and response to Winter Storm Enzo, CenterPoint took the following actions to prepare for possible storm-related outages, including:

  • Marshaled approximately 3,000 frontline electric workers: CenterPoint workers and local contractors were positioned at three staging areas across the Greater Houston area and responded quickly and safely to impacts of the winter storm. On Tuesday, CenterPoint released 1,200 mutual aid workers to their home states.
  • Provided temporary generation to warming centers: Deployed four small temporary generation units to provide power to local warming centers amid sub-freezing temperatures.
  • Kept customers informed: Shared safety and preparedness information and resources with CenterPoint customers through direct outreach, press briefings, social media and other platforms.​
  • Conducted outreach to critical care customers: Reached out to identified Critical Care Residential and Chronic Condition Residential electric customers by email, phone and/or text.

 
Important Ways for Electric Customers to Stay Connected to CenterPoint  
CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates via phone call, text or email. Customers can also stay up to date with CenterPoint's new and improved, cloud-based Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish, which allows customers to see outages by county, city and zip code. 

In addition, customers can get the latest information on CenterPoint's preparedness and response efforts, view important safety tips and access the company's 2025 Winter Energy Guide by visiting CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter. Customers can also follow @CenterPoint_TX to receive the most up-to-date information on the company's operations in the Greater Houston area and across Texas. 

For the latest weather information for the Greater Houston area, see updates from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Houston/Galveston at weather.gov/hgx.  

​

CenterPoint Energy activates Emergency Operations Center as it prepares to respond to Winter Storm Enzo across the Greater Houston area

Company activated its Emergency Operations Center to coordinate response and restoration efforts

Winter precipitation and freezing temperatures expected to begin overnight; snow/ice accumulation on Tuesday and Wednesday could impact road accessibility and outage restoration in some places

Approximately 3,000 CenterPoint and mutual aid personnel pre-positioned and ready to respond to weather impacts across Greater Houston area

CenterPoint deploys four small generators to support warming centers across the region

CenterPoint urges customers to avoid unnecessary travel, stay away from downed powerlines and have a plan to ensure their safety 

HOUSTON, Jan. 20, 2025 - CenterPoint Energy activated its Emergency Operations Center this afternoon in advance of Winter Storm Enzo's arrival to be prepared to manage its response and restoration efforts. The company is coordinating with state and local emergency partners as it prepares to respond to the potential winter impacts on the Greater Houston area. 

To aid in restoration efforts, CenterPoint Energy is mobilizing an expanded workforce of approximately 3,000 personnel, including 1,200 mutual aid resources, to help address potential outages across its service area. CenterPoint is also sharing proactive safety and preparedness information with customers via direct email, text and auto-dial voice messages as all as social media, and it will continue to provide regular updates on response and restoration efforts. 

"Winter Storm Enzo is poised to hit the Greater Houston area this evening and our teams and mutual aid partners are ready to respond. Our CenterPoint teams have been working for more than a week to prepare and are coordinating with government and industry partners to be ready to respond. We've mobilized 1,200 mutual aid workers, in addition to our own approximately 1,800 plus workers, set up three staging sites across our service area to quickly deploy crews and equipment, and prepared for freezing temperatures and precipitation. Even with this preparation, we know that storms like these can be unpredictable. Extreme weather, road inaccessibility and icy conditions may impact our ability to respond quickly. Our top priority is to ensure the safety of our customers, our workers and partners throughout this impactful winter storm," said Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President of CenterPoint's Electric Business.

Preparedness actions ahead of Winter Storm Enzo
As of 5 p.m. Monday, CenterPoint is taking the following actions to respond to the impacts of Winter Storm Enzo including: 

  • Deployed its winter weather readiness plan last week: The company has been tracking the storm since early last week and started completing critical cold weather actions for both electric and gas systems.
  • Deploying additional mutual aid frontline electric workers: Mobilizing 1,200 mutual aid personnel and our local frontline workers to three staging sites across Greater Houston to support winter storm response and address potential equipment damage and outages.
  • Providing temporary generation to heating centers: Working closely with local government and community partners to identify locations to deploy four small temporary generation units to provide power to local warming centers amid freezing temperatures. More units are staged and ready to deploy if needs arise.
  • Keeping customers informed: Sharing safety and preparedness information and resources with CenterPoint customers through direct outreach, social media and other platforms.
  • Conducting outreach to critical care customers: Reaching out to identified Critical Care Residential and Chronic Condition Residential electric customers by email, phone and/or text.
  • Coordinating with government officials: Providing regular updates to government officials on preparation and response activities and to coordinate on customer support.
  • Holding public briefings on operational updates: Conducting a press briefing on Monday afternoon to provide important updates related to CenterPoint's pre-storm activities; additional briefings may be held to provide operational updates on response and restoration efforts following the storm.
  • Keeping up to date with ERCOT forecasts: An Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Weather Watch is in effect through Wednesday due to extreme cold weather across the ERCOT region, higher electrical demands and the potential for lower reserves. At this time, according to ERCOT, grid conditions are expected to be normal, but CenterPoint teams remain ready to respond if that should change.

Critical winter readiness actions completed
CenterPoint's emergency preparations for Winter Storm Enzo build upon the annual winter readiness activities that it conducted over the past several months, including annual weatherization requirements from ERCOT and the Railroad Commission of Texas to prepare for winter storms. These actions include: 

  • Inspecting and testing critical equipment, including all 270 substations, to prepare for high demand and cold temperatures;
  • Hardening electric and natural gas infrastructure across the Greater Houston area, including by installing heaters and devices to prevent ice damage or buildup;
  • Maintaining freeze protection equipment and enclosures for cold-weather critical components;
  • Repairing damaged or degraded thermal insulation and water-proofing materials; and
  • Conducting emergency training for hundreds of operational personnel and contractors to prepare for, mitigate and respond to the impacts of severe winter weather.

Important information for electric customers
CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates via phone call, text or email. Customers can also stay up to date with CenterPoint's new and improved, cloud-based Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish, which allows customers to see outages by county, city and zip code. 

In addition, customers can get the latest information on CenterPoint's preparedness and response efforts, view important safety tips and access the company's 2025 Winter Energy Guide by visiting CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter. Customers can also follow @CenterPoint_TX to receive the most up-to-date information on the company's operations in the Greater Houston area and across Texas. 

For the latest weather information for the Greater Houston area, see updates from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Houston/Galveston at weather.gov/hgx.  

For more information, contact Communications Media.Relations@CenterPointEnergy.com

SOURCE CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Storm Update: 99.9 percent of customers have power as historic Winter Storm Enzo continues to impact Greater Houston area

As of 11 a.m. on Tuesday, CenterPoint had restored approximately 18,700 customers since the winter storm impacts began; 2,800 customers currently out of power

3,000 CenterPoint personnel and mutual assistance workers are responding to scattered outages across the Greater Houston area

Company urges customers and the public to continue following warnings to stay off roads, ensure their own safety and help prevent power outages

HOUSTON, Jan. 21, 2025 - As of 11 a.m., CenterPoint Energy announced that more than 99.9 percent of its Greater Houston area customers are receiving normal electric service even as Winter Storm Enzo continues to bring significant precipitation and sub-freezing temperatures to the region. As part of its storm mobilization efforts, approximately 3,000 CenterPoint frontline workers, contractors, and mutual aid personnel continue to respond to scattered outages across the 12-county area and have restored power to approximately 18,700 customers since 12:01 a.m. 2,800 customers currently remain out of power.

To help coordinate its overall restoration and response efforts, CenterPoint's Emergency Operations Center remains activated, and the company continues to restore power safely and as quickly as possible. The company continues working with state and local emergency partners to address local issues and remains focused on sharing critical updates and safety information with its 2.8 million customers.

"CenterPoint marshalled thousands of critical resources to prepare for this historic winter weather event that's still impacting the Greater Houston area. While it is very positive that outages remain low at this time, our teams are responding quickly to scattered outages as they occur. We'd like to thank our customers for following the calls from local officials to stay off the roads, giving our frontline professionals the space to operate safely and efficiently and reducing the likelihood of cars hitting power poles. We understand that these conditions are difficult, and for as long as Enzo continues to impact our customers, our CenterPoint team remains fully focused and ready to respond to further impacts of this storm and the sub-freezing temperatures that are expected to continue through Wednesday," said Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President of CenterPoint's Electric Business.

CenterPoint Preparation and Response to Winter Storm Enzo
As of 11 a.m. on Tuesday, CenterPoint's preparation and response actions include:

  • Deploying frontline electric workers: Approximately 3,000 workers, including 1,200 mutual aid personnel, are responding to the winter storm, addressing equipment damage and restoring power to customers.

  • Using partnerships to provide temporary generation to temporary warming centers: Deploying four small temporary generation units to provide power to local warming centers amid freezing temperatures.

  • Keeping customers informed: Sharing safety and preparedness information and resources with CenterPoint customers through direct outreach, social media and other platforms.

  • Conducting outreach to critical care customers: Reaching out to identified Critical Care Residential and Chronic Condition Residential electric customers by email, phone and/or text.

  • Coordinating with government officials: Providing regular updates to government officials on preparation and response activities and to coordinate on customer support.

The National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Warning for Southeast Texas that remains in effect through 6 p.m. today, as well as an Extreme Cold Watch from 6 p.m. this evening to Wednesday at 9 a.m. An Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Weather Watch is also in effect through Wednesday due to the extreme cold weather across the ERCOT region, higher electrical demands and the potential for lower reserves. At this time, according to ERCOT, grid conditions are expected to be normal, but CenterPoint teams remain ready to respond if that should change.

Important information for electric customers
CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates via phone call, text or email. Customers can also stay up to date with CenterPoint's new and improved, cloud-based Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish, which allows customers to see outages by county, city and zip code. 

In addition, customers can get the latest information on CenterPoint's preparedness and response efforts, view important safety tips and access the company's 2025 Winter Energy Guide by visiting CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter. Customers can also follow @CenterPoint_TX to receive the most up-to-date information on the company's operations in the Greater Houston area and across Texas. 

For the latest weather information for the Greater Houston area, see updates from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Houston/Galveston at weather.gov/hgx.  

For more information, contact
Communications
Media.Relations@CenterPointEnergy.com

SOURCE CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy Winter Storm Enzo Update: More than 99.9 percent of customers continue to have power across Greater Houston area; Crews continuing to respond to scattered customer outages and prepare for coldest overnight temperatures of the year

Houston – Jan. 21, 2025 – With Winter Storm Enzo’s exit from CenterPoint Energy’s Texas service area, its sub-freezing temperatures will persist tonight across the Greater Houston area. CenterPoint shared that more than 99.9 percent of its customers continue to have power and receive normal electric service as of 9 p.m. on Tuesday. Over the last 21 hours, CenterPoint crews and contactors have been responding to scattered outages as they occur and will continue working to address potential impacts from the deep freeze expected overnight and into Wednesday morning. 

Since Winter Storm Enzo began impacting the Greater Houston area last night, approximately 28,500 customers across CenterPoint’s 12-county service area have been restored since 12:01 a.m. As part of its preparation plan, CenterPoint mobilized approximately 3,000 local frontline workers, contractors, and mutual aid personnel to respond to the historic storm. Tonight, CenterPoint has released those mutual aid workers to return to their home states. 

“While we’re encouraged that the actions that we’ve taken to prepare for this winter storm season mitigated the number of overall outages so far, our team remains vigilant and will continue safely responding to any potential overnight impacts. We want to thank those customers who were impacted by Winter Storm Enzo for their patience as we worked to restore them. We also want to thank those mutual aid workers who traveled from as far away as Virginia, North Carolina and Florida to help us prepare for this storm,” said Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President of CenterPoint’s Electric Business.

CenterPoint Preparation and Response to Winter Storm Enzo
As of 9 p.m. on Tuesday, CenterPoint’s preparation and response actions include:

  • Deploying frontline electric workers: CenterPoint workers and local contractors will continue responding to impacts of the winter storm and restoring power to customers. On Tuesday, CenterPoint released mutual aid workers to their home states.
  • Supporting local communities with temporary generation to temporary warming centers: Deploying four small temporary generation units to provide power to local warming centers amid freezing temperatures.
  • Keeping customers informed: Sharing safety and preparedness information and resources with CenterPoint customers through direct outreach, social media and other platforms.
  • Conducting outreach to critical care customers: Reaching out to identified Critical Care Residential and Chronic Condition Residential electric customers by email, phone and/or text.  
  • Coordinating with government officials: Providing regular updates to government officials on preparation and response activities to coordinate customer support. 

Important information for electric customers 
CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company’s Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates via phone call, text or email. Customers can also stay up to date with CenterPoint’s new and improved, cloud-based Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish, which allows customers to see outages by county, city and zip code. 

In addition, customers can get the latest information on CenterPoint's preparedness and response efforts, view important safety tips and access the company's 2025 Winter Energy Guide by visiting CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter. Customers can also follow @CenterPoint_TX to receive the most up-to-date information on the company's operations in the Greater Houston area and across Texas. 

For the latest weather information for the Greater Houston area, see updates from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Houston/Galveston at weather.gov/hgx.