During a July 14 news conference—six days after Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas on July 8—Gov. Greg Abbott said energy provider CenterPoint has reached a “new low” for communication and demanded the company submit storm preparedness information to his office by July 31.

The gist

Hurricane Beryl left about 2.2 million people without power, as previously reported by Community Impact. Seven days later, as of July 15, power has been restored to 2 million impacted CenterPoint customers, according to a news release from the energy company.

During a July 14 news conference, Abbott said the lack of power has put lives at risk with the extreme heat.

“Issues we see in the ongoing response to Hurricane Beryl are life-based issues,” Abbott said. “Not because of the hurricane itself, but because of the lack of power supply.”

The information Abbott demanded from CenterPoint includes:

• Specifying how the company will prepare for future storms, including new preparations that weren’t made during Hurricane Beryl
• Outlining how the company will prestage the proper amount of linemen and personnel to respond to power outages
• Detailing how all vegetation threatening power lines will be removed

Abbott said if CenterPoint does not fix its “ongoing problems,” the state or the Public Utilities Commission will need to reconsider the company’s territory.

“Maybe they have too large of an area for them to be able to manage it adequately,” Abbott said. “It’s time to re-evaluate whether or not CenterPoint should have such a large territory.”

What CenterPoint is saying

About 98% of impacted customers are expected to have power by the end of the day on July 17, according to the July 15 news release from CenterPoint.

CenterPoint published a news release on July 14 with a statement in response to Abbott’s remarks.

“Our top priority is restoring power to the remaining impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible,” the release reads. “Dedicated restoration crews have continued working around the clock through the weekend, restoring power at the fastest rate in the company's history. ... We have heard and understand our customers' frustrations, and we are committed to working together with the state, local government, regulators and community leaders both to help the Greater Houston area recover from Hurricane Beryl and to improve for the future. We are committed to doing a thorough review of our response to support our customers and our communities, especially when they need us most.”

Going forward

Abbott said he and the PUC have met to discuss possible long-term solutions to avoid future storm-related power outages, such as burying power lines. He also said solutions will be discussed by Texas legislators in the upcoming 89th legislative session, which begins Jan. 14.

“We are still in hurricane season right now, and solutions cannot wait until the next session,” Abbott said.