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CenterPoint Energy is monitoring Gulf of Mexico weather and preparing for potential tropical system

2024-09-07T05:00:00Z

Houston – Sept. 7, 2024 – CenterPoint Energy has been closely monitoring weather forecasts and preparing for potential impacts from a Gulf of Mexico tropical system (Invest 91L), which has the potential to make landfall on the Texas coast in the coming days. Greater clarity on the weather situation is expected from the National Hurricane Center tomorrow.

CenterPoint has been monitoring tropical developments and preparing this weekend
Company is in the process of securing work sites, preparing crews and equipment, and securing additional frontline resources from mutual assistance companies
Company's new and improved outage tracker is live with greater functionality
Customers in the Greater Houston area, including those who depend on electricity for life-sustaining equipment, are encouraged to begin their planning and preparations as soon as possible

In preparation for potential severe weather across the Texas coast and Greater Houston area, CenterPoint is in the process of securing work sites, preparing crews and equipment, and securing additional frontline resources from mutual assistance companies. The company is also reminding customers to develop an emergency plan and assemble a storm preparedness kit that includes essential items such as nonperishable food, water, flashlights, batteries, a first aid kit, any necessary medications, a battery-powered radio, and a portable charger for mobile devices.

“We have a plan to address this potential storm, and we are executing our plan," said Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President, Electric Business. “Although the exact path and intensity of this potential storm are still unclear, we want to assure our customers that we are preparing for impact. We encourage everyone across the Greater Houston area and the larger Gulf Coast region to get their plans in place now for their families, loved ones, homes and businesses."

Carroll added, “Following Hurricane Beryl's devastating impact on the Greater Houston area, we heard the calls for change and to do better, and we have taken the feedback seriously. We are determined to re-earn the trust of the customers and communities we are privileged to serve. While no two storms and their impact are ever alike, we believe our actions since Beryl will help improve our response should this tropical disturbance impact our service territory."

Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative

Across Greater Houston, CenterPoint is taking action now to improve resiliency and help reduce the risk of outages this hurricane season.

As part of the first phase of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative, throughout August CenterPoint crews and contractors installed more than 1,100 stronger and more resilient fiberglass poles, trimmed vegetation along more than 2,000 miles of power lines, and installed more than 300 automation devices in neighborhoods all over Houston. The company's next step is taking the boldest series of resiliency actions in its nearly 160-year history, including additional system hardening, strategic undergrounding, self-healing grid technology, and further enhancements to its outage tracker.

Call to Action: Power Alert Service

Customers should remember that a storm is a powerful force of nature that can cause significant damage and widespread, lengthy electricity outages. Conditions can also change unexpectedly and for the worse.

Customers are encouraged to enroll in Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times, as available or determined, and customer-specific restoration updates in the event of severe weather. With the option to receive updates via phone call, text or email, Power Alert Service® helps keep customers informed of restoration progress during an outage event. Customers can also find additional resources at CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter.

New and Improved Outage Tracker with Greater Web Resiliency

Within 24 hours of a tropical storm or hurricane exiting our service area, CenterPoint will communicate an estimated time for restoration for the entire system and will update the estimated times of restoration at least daily thereafter. The new and improved Outage Tracker will be used to update individual customers on their expected restoration date as soon as possible after restoration expectations are determined.

To learn more about Outage Tracker's new features and functionality, watch the demonstration video.

For an in-depth, step-by-step guide to using the Outage Tracker, click here.

Customers with Critical Needs

Because CenterPoint Energy cannot guarantee an uninterrupted, regular or continuous power supply during a severe weather event, customers who depend on electricity for life-sustaining equipment are encouraged to make alternate arrangements for on-site backup capabilities or other alternatives in the event of loss of electric service.

During pre-storm preparations and post-storm recovery efforts, CenterPoint urges customers to stay informed of weather conditions and warnings or advisories issued by local authorities by paying close attention to announcements from local news outlets for important information regarding ongoing conditions and recovery efforts. The company also recommends that customers follow these important natural gas and electric safety tips:

Important Safety Reminders

Electric

If you experience an electric outage, do not open freezers and refrigerators any more than necessary, as opening these appliances will allow food to thaw more quickly.
Only use a portable generator in a well-ventilated outdoor area and never run it inside your residence 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 back feed into the power lines and potentially endanger utility workers, emergency responders or members of the public.
Have your weatherhead, which connects the overhead power line to your home

or business, checked for damage. Any weatherhead problems will need to be repaired by a licensed electrician prior to service being restored.
Stay away from low-hanging, downed power lines or lines that could be submerged in standing water. Treat downed power lines and damaged electric utility equipment as if they are energized. Report any low-hanging or downed power lines and damaged electric utility equipment to CenterPoint Energy by calling 713-207-2222.
Water poses a potential electric safety threat because it's a good conductor. Always be careful not to touch water, or anything in contact with it, near a downed power line.
Any amount of water, including a puddle, can become energized. If you see a downed power line near water, retreat to a safe distance, then call CenterPoint Energy immediately at 713-207-2222 to report it.
Flood water can be hazardous. Always use extreme care when stepping into flooded areas. Submerged outlets or electrical cords can energize water, even from a distance.
Boats or other vehicles being used in high water can expose you to danger from power lines at their normal height. Be aware and stay away.
If water has risen above the electrical outlets, contact a licensed electrician before turning on the main circuit breaker.

Natural Gas

If you smell natural gas — which has a distinctive, strong odor, often compared to rotten eggs or sulfur — leave the area immediately on foot, and tell others to leave, too. Do not turn the lights on or off, smoke, strike a match, use a phone or operate anything that might cause a spark, including a flashlight or a generator. Once safely away from the area, call 911 and CenterPoint Energy, and we will send a trained service technician immediately.
Do not turn off your natural gas at the meter; your natural gas meter should be left on to maintain proper pressure in the natural gas piping within the house and to prevent water from entering the lines should flooding occur.
Natural gas can be turned off at each appliance. Later, to restore natural gas service to an appliance, you may follow the written instructions located on the appliance for re-lighting. If you are unable to locate the instructions or don't feel comfortable re-lighting, call a qualified plumber or technician.
While conducting exterior clean-up and/or repairs, call 811 to locate utility lines prior to digging on your property.
If your home is flooded, call a licensed plumber or a natural gas appliance technician to inspect your appliances prior to requesting a service reconnection.
Be cautious around line workers and give them plenty of room to safely assess damage and make repairs.

As this storm moves toward CenterPoint Energy's electric and natural gas service territories, additional updates will be provided as needed.

For additional information on hurricane preparedness, visit

CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter and follow @CenterPoint for updates during inclement weather events. The following resources are also available on CenterPoint Energy's dedicated storm page:

How you can prepare for a storm
How CenterPoint prepares for a storm
How CenterPoint restores service following a storm

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, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas. With approximately 9,000 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit CenterPointEnergy.com.

Recent News

CenterPoint Energy Announces “Hurricane Readiness Week” to Highlight Resiliency and Readiness Actions with Official Start of Hurricane Season

With National Weather Service forecasting 8 - 14 named storms this year, CenterPoint highlights Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI) improvements, enhanced weather monitoring and opening a new Emergency Operations Center to better prepare and ready its response for customers this hurricane season

CenterPoint encourages customers to sign up for its Power Alert Service^® to receive real-time updates about their service throughout hurricane season

HOUSTON – June 2, 2026 – Today, with the start of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, CenterPoint is kicking off its “Hurricane Readiness Week," building on Governor Greg Abbott's proclamation last week recognizing May 25 - 30 as Hurricane Preparedness Week in Texas, and sharing a series of critical actions completed to date and underway to strengthen the energy system and keep customers informed.

This season, the National Weather Service predicts 8 to 14 named storms for the Atlantic basin, with 3 - 6 forecast to become hurricanes. To prepare, CenterPoint has prioritized critical resiliency and storm preparedness actions, and throughout the summer will continue to coordinate with local emergency officials and local stakeholders and help customers better prepare for potential severe weather by hosting community events across Greater Houston.

“Preparing for emergencies, like hurricanes, is a year-round priority for our 8,800-strong CenterPoint team. From leveraging state-of-the art weather models and our own network of weather stations, to enhancing how we stage personnel and resources, our teams are prepared with the advanced tools and technology needed to perform at our best for our customers. We're also making critical investments in Houston's energy grid to improve storm resiliency and prepare our crews to respond safely and efficiently when storms strike. Together with local emergency leaders, we stand ready to support our communities before, during and after any severe weather event," said Don Daigler, CenterPoint's Senior Vice President, Emergency Preparedness and Response.
Preparing for the 2026 Hurricane Season: Critical Actions
CenterPoint has taken a series of actions to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season, including:

Completing critical resiliency upgrades, including installing storm-resilient poles, clearing higher-risk vegetation and undergrounding power lines across the system to improve system reliability and preventing 150 million customer outage minutes by the end of 2026.
Introducing a new way for customers to track GHRI upgrades and enhancements through a new online Community Progress Tracker.
Opening a new Emergency Operations Center to support CenterPoint's year-round situational awareness and emergency response readiness and coordinate closely with emergency response partners, local and state officials, media and other key stakeholders.
Enhancing real-time weather monitoring with 150 new advanced weather stations and state-of-the art models to enhance storm prediction and preparedness.
Executing a full-scale emergency exercise to practice a cross-functional response to a simulated category 3 hurricane with more than 400 CenterPoint team members participating and approximately 100 state and local officials in attendance.
Leveraging advanced technology including improved weather tracking, improved damage models and crew resource management to restore power for customers more efficiently following a storm.
Completing more than 25,000 hours of FEMA trainings across more than 800 employees.
Improving the damage assessment and restoration process to support faster damage identification and power restoration.
Leveraging mutual assistance and vendor partnerships to expand our frontline workforce, when necessary, by up to 20 times to support our future storm or emergency response.

Keeping Customers Informed
During its Hurricane Readiness Week and throughout the 2026 hurricane season, CenterPoint will share updates and resources to help customers stay informed and prepare via social media, advertisements, direct-to-customer emails and through a series of community hurricane preparedness events. Important preparedness and safety information will also be shared before, during and after any major storm or hurricane.

As part of its hurricane preparedness campaign, CenterPoint encourages its customers to enroll in Power Alert Service^® (PAS) to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates via free texts, phone calls or emails. For example, during the storm period from May 21 to May 27, CenterPoint sent more than 1,383,987 PAS alerts to customers with restoration information to keep them informed in real-time. PAS is critical to provide updates to customers, as well as family and friends. 90% of CenterPoint's customers are enrolled in PAS, and utilizing a variety of communication tools, CenterPoint will be encouraging all unsubscribed customers to sign up to ensure they receive timely updates. Customers can visit CenterPointEnergy.com/PowerAlertService to sign up and learn more.

During emergencies, CenterPoint's Outage Tracker provides customers with outage information and the estimated time of restoration by address, via an interactive map. Customers can also report an outage or hazard with a few simple clicks and is available at CenterPointEnergy.com/OutageTracker.

To help its Critical Care customers prepare, regardless of the weather, CenterPoint performs regular outreach, including phone calls, texts, emails and direct mail, throughout hurricane season. Customers can visit CenterPointEnergy.com/CriticalCare to register or learn more.

For more about CenterPoint's preparedness actions and critical resiliency improvements across Greater Houston, visit: CenterPointEnergy.com/TakingAction.

For b-roll of CenterPoint's full-scale emergency exercise in preparation for the 2026 hurricane season, undergrounding efforts, pole replacements and other resiliency work, click HERE.

CenterPoint Energy Advances Extreme Weather Preparedness and Response Efforts with Integrated, AI‑Driven Planning Platform from Technosylva

HOUSTON – June 1, 2026 – As extreme weather events grow more frequent and complex, CenterPoint Energy is continuing to strengthen how it plans, prepares for and responds to severe weather across its electric and gas service territory in Texas, Indiana, Ohio, and Minnesota, where the company serves approximately 7 million metered customers.

To support faster service restoration for customers following storms, CenterPoint is leveraging a new, integrated planning and operations platform developed in collaboration with Technosylva to deliver better outcomes for its customers and communities. Technosylva is a leading provider of wildfire, flooding, and extreme weather modeling and decision‑support software used by utilities, insurers, and public agencies to better anticipate risk and support operational response.

The platform brings together outage forecasting, high‑wind and winter storm modeling, flood risk insights, and wildfire intelligence into a single, system‑wide view. This integrated approach allows CenterPoint teams to monitor evolving conditions days in advance, align the right crews and resources ahead of impact, and improve restoration planning and response - while keeping customer safety at the forefront and helping reduce outage duration and restoration costs.

“Preparing for extreme weather today requires earlier insight and better coordination than ever before," said Jason Wells, Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer of CenterPoint Energy. “Our goal is to build the most resilient coastal grid in the nation to benefit our customers and communities. Technosylva's product gives us much clearer visibility into where impacts are most likely and allows us to mobilize crews more efficiently, support neighboring utilities when possible, and restore service faster for our customers."

CenterPoint's electric and natural gas systems are exposed to a wide range of weather‑related threats, including hurricanes, flooding, high winds, extreme heat and cold, and winter storms. The platform supports the company's long‑term strategy to strengthen grid resilience, improve operational readiness, and better prepare for increasingly complex weather events, all while reinforcing CenterPoint's continued commitment to its customers who depend on safe, reliable electric and natural gas service.

During recent weather events, CenterPoint teams used the platform's multi‑day outage forecasts and storm impact modeling to assess potential system impacts ahead of time, set appropriate emergency response levels, and pre‑position crews. In high‑wind events, outage forecasts closely aligned with actual system impacts, helping teams translate weather data into actionable response plans with greater confidence.

"CenterPoint Energy's leadership is visionary, investing to get ahead of extreme weather risk, not just to respond to it," said Bryan Spear, CEO of Technosylva. "Serving customers and communities who face the full spectrum of extreme weather, this enhanced risk intelligence platform helps CenterPoint to anticipate and prepare for events, including hurricanes, flooding, severe winds, and wildfire. We are grateful to them for their collaboration in developing our AI-powered platform, which delivers outage forecasting, restoration planning, flood insights, and wildfire intelligence, to help keep the lights on and restore power faster when it matters most."

Beyond immediate storm response, the platform also supports longer‑term planning by improving how flood and extreme weather risk are incorporated into infrastructure and capital investment decisions. As weather patterns evolve and infrastructure ages, asset‑level risk visibility is increasingly important for investments to deliver resilience benefits for customers over time.

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.

About Technosylva

Technosylva is the leading provider of wildfire and extreme weather modeling, risk mitigation, and operational response software. Technosylva's market-leading solutions, enhanced by AI and machine learning capabilities, provide real-time and predictive insights into developing wildfire and extreme weather risks to support electric utility, insurance, and government agency customers. Founded in 1997, Technosylva has offices in La Jolla, CA, León, Spain, and Calgary, Canada. Learn more at www.Technosylva.com.

CenterPoint Energy restores power to 122,000 customers impacted by overnight and early morning storms across the Greater Houston area

CenterPoint restores customers impacted by severe overnight thunderstorms, on average, in less than 100 minutes

CenterPoint has returned to normal operations and the Emergency Operations Center has been demobilized

HOUSTON – May 27, 2026 – CenterPoint has taken action to restore power to 122,000 customers impacted by the overnight and early morning thunderstorms across the Greater Houston area with an average restoration time of approximately 100 minutes. While crews are continuing to work to restore power safely and as quickly as possible, CenterPoint's Emergency Operations Center has been demobilized and electric business has returned to normal operations.

“Our customers expect and deserve reliable power, and our teams worked around the clock through significant rainfall to safely and quickly restore service to customers who were impacted by the severe storms. We will continue to prioritize restoring power to the remaining impacted customers, many of whom live in areas that experienced significant weather-related damage, until service has been returned to all of our customers in the Greater Houston area," said Jason Fabre, CenterPoint's Vice President of Special Response and Incident Commander.

Restoration & Response Actions (as of 5 p.m.)

CenterPoint's response today followed thunderstorms moving through parts of the Greater Houston area in the early morning hours, with the strongest activity taking place between 2 and 3 a.m. The scope of CenterPoint's storm response and restoration includes the following actions:

Approximately 2,000 CenterPoint frontline workers and contractors have restored approximately 122,000 customers since storms arrived around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning.
More than 99% of all CenterPoint electric customers currently have power.
Since 1 a.m. Wednesday, more than 162,000 Power Alert Service^® messages have been shared directly with customers.

Across our network of 150 weather stations, we recorded the following with Wednesday's severe thunderstorms:

Isolated strong wind gusts of up to 48 mph

Widespread winds up to 38 mph

Isolated rainfall totals of up to 2.65 inches
Approximately 6,000 lightning strikes between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. across Houston were recorded via a third-party (Vaisala)

Important ways to stay connected to CenterPoint: Power Alert Service

Customers can enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates via phone call, email or text. Customers can also stay up to date with CenterPoint's Outage Tracker, which allows customers to see outages by county, city and ZIP code.

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.

CenterPoint Energy prioritizes affordability and reliability actions at Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s Summer Reliability Forum

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – May 26, 2026 – Local CenterPoint Energy Indiana leaders met last week with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC), as part of the state's Summer Reliability Forum, to detail the suite of actions it's taking to strengthen day-to-day reliability this summer, while continuing to prioritize affordability and opportunities for southwestern Indiana customers to save energy.

“We remain focused on what matters most to our customers – delivering reliable power every day. As we head into summer cooling season, higher temperatures may drive increased energy demand, and seasonal bills can be challenging for Hoosier families and businesses. In response, we've taken a series of actions to strengthen the electric grid, and to make our customers more aware of ways they can save energy," said Mike Roeder, President, CenterPoint Energy Indiana.

Strengthening Summer Reliability & Preparedness
CenterPoint's annual IURC presentation detailed the scope of actions that have already been taken ahead of the summer season to support day-to-day reliability and meet expected spikes in energy demand, including:

Secure Fuel: Securing the necessary fuel supply to meet increases in energy demand during peak summer demand;
Diversified Generation Mix: Maintaining a diversified generation and power supply portfolio to meet forecasted customer demand;
Targeted Maintenance: Completing planned system maintenance of critical equipment, including substations, ahead of the cooling season;
Improving Grid Resiliency: Continuing infrastructure investments and grid modernization that have reduced equipment-related outage minutes by 57% since 2018; and
Improving Emergency Response: Enhancing operational emergency response plans to support effective public and customer communications, and better coordination with emergency partners and local officials during emergency events.

Supporting Customers during Summer Cooling Season
As part of its ongoing commitment to customer affordability, CenterPoint also shared with the IURC the resources and programs available to customers to help save energy and reduce energy costs this summer, including:

No-Cost Home Energy Assessments: In-home evaluation and a customized energy report at no cost to customers, which could include the installation of energy-saving products.
Levelized Billing Option: Allowing customers to spread energy costs more evenly across the year to reduce seasonal bill swings.
TimeWise Pilot: A voluntary program that allows customers to save costs by shifting energy use to off-peak hours.
Online Energy Efficiency Store: Rebates and tools to help customers improve home efficiency.
Payment Assistance Programs: Offering flexible payment arrangements and extensions for customers who need more time to manage energy costs.

More information about the programs and resources available to help customers save energy and costs this summer can be found at CenterPointEnergy.com/ResourceHub.

Community Actions: Key Updates
Since 2025, CenterPoint has announced a series of affordability and community actions, including a commitment to keeping electric base rates stable through 2027, coupled with a $5 million contribution to the Community Energy Improvement Fund to help make customer homes more energy efficient. Most recent efforts to help its Southwestern Indiana customers also include:

Pursuing bill-lowering opportunities, by attracting a large load customer to southwestern Indiana, which could lower existing customer bills by more than $250 million over 15 years;
Expanding in-person support, by opening new walk-in customer support and payment services at CenterPoint Energy Plaza in Downtown Evansville; and
Expanding in-person Community Connect events to share important cost and energy saving programs, resources and information with customers.

CenterPoint Energy continues taking action and is ready to respond to the next wave of severe weather forecasted to impact the Greater Houston area

HOUSTON – May 26, 2026 – CenterPoint Energy continues to actively monitor weather conditions and prepare for potentially severe thunderstorms forecasted to impact the Greater Houston area overnight Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The actions CenterPoint is taking to prepare include pre-positioning crews and resources to safely restore power to customers impacted by the storms as quickly as possible. CenterPoint's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) remains activated to monitor the evolving weather conditions and plan and coordinate its storm response efforts.

“Our crews worked day and night over the Memorial Day holiday weekend to safely and quickly restore customers impacted by severe weather and we will continue to monitor forecasts and take action to prepare for, and respond to, the next wave of potentially severe thunderstorms forecasted to impact the region this week. We encourage all our customers across the Greater Houston area to prepare and stay safe in anticipation of quickly changing weather conditions," said Jason Fabre, CenterPoint's Vice President of Special Response and Incident Commander.

Preparing for Severe Weather: Key Actions
As part of its continuing preparedness efforts ahead of the next wave of forecasted storms later this week, CenterPoint is taking the following actions:

Maintaining an enhanced readiness posture: CenterPoint's Emergency Operations Center remains activated and the company continues to monitor the forecasted severe weather and coordinate its storm response efforts.
Pre-positioning the company's workforce and resources: Preparing its enhanced workforce to support storm restoration efforts.
Monitoring severe weather 24/7: The Meteorology team continues to track severe weather, including forecasts for significant rain, storm winds and thunderstorms, and will update response efforts as conditions evolve.
Coordinating with local officials: CenterPoint continues to coordinate with local officials and emergency management partners on preparedness efforts.
Communicating proactively with customers: As part of its storm response, CenterPoint will continue to provide safety and preparedness information directly with customers via email, phone and text, across social media platforms and other channels.

Emergency Communications: Sign Up for Power Alert Service®

To help prepare for the impact of the severe weather, CenterPoint is encouraging its customers to enroll in Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates via phone call, text or email. As part of CenterPoint's overall emergency communications efforts, customers can stay up to date on local outages with CenterPoint's cloud-based Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish, which allows customers to see outages and restoration times by county, city and zip code.

Emergency Preparations: What Customers Can Do to Stay Safe

CenterPoint urges the public to put their safety first and prepare in advance for extreme weather by having a safety plan ready, especially for those who rely on electricity for life-sustaining equipment or medical needs. Customers can find safety tips to help them prepare at CenterPointEnergy.com/ActionCenter.

For the latest updates, follow CenterPoint on social media and visit CenterPointEnergy.com/ActionCenter.