The House State Affairs Committee meeting in Austin followed weeks of widespread criticism over CenterPoint’s handling of Hurricane Beryl, including a July 29 Senate hearing. Millions of Houston-area residents were left without power for days after the storm and at least 18 people died.
“We keep hearing the same thing: we'll do better, we'll do better,” Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, told Wells. “It's an excuse. That's not enough. People want to know that this will not happen again and that we will make changes.”
The committee will not immediately take action on any topics discussed July 31, but can make recommendations for next year’s legislative session.
What happened
“Hurricane Beryl left widespread and devastating damage across the Greater Houston region, where our customers were left waiting and wondering when power would be restored,” Wells said. “I take personal accountability for the areas where we fell short of customers’ expectations.”
Several Houston-area lawmakers and community leaders shared stories about the impact of Hurricane Beryl during the 7-hour hearing.
Rep. Sam Harless, R-Spring, said his community was “almost in a neglected or forgotten zone” when it comes to power restoration. Harless did not see any repair crews in the area for over two days after the hurricane made landfall July 8, he said.
“[It was] probably the most heartbreaking thing I've seen in a long time,” Harless said of his visits to residents’ homes after the storm. “Families were sitting in the garage, soaking their feet in tubs, because they didn't have power and they didn't know when they were gonna get it back. It's a double whammy — they can't go to work because work doesn't have power, and yet they had to throw away everything in the refrigerator.”
Scott Harper, president of the Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce, said Hurricane Beryl stalled local hospital operations; downed security infrastructure at local schools; and led to shortages of gasoline and groceries.
“We had people from Kingwood coming to the Conroe-Montgomery area, then traveling all the way over to Navasota [for gas],” Harper said.
Zooming in
CenterPoint plans to have customers foot the nearly $1.8 billion bill for recovery costs associated with the May derecho and Hurricane Beryl, company executives said July 30. If the Public Utility Commission of Texas approves CenterPoint’s proposal, the utility’s nearly 2.8 million customers could see a 2% increase in their electricity bills for the next 15 years.
“I don't see how you overcome the public perception that you have prioritized your profits over people,” Hernandez said July 31. “The consequence is that our constituents... have paid the ultimate price with their life because of the decisions that the company made.”
Lawmakers vowed to look into policies to better protect ratepayers and ensure CenterPoint is held accountable for its mistakes.
“I can't change yesterday, you can't change yesterday. We need to talk about, explain and understand it. But if we don't fix tomorrow, that's on us,” Rep. Mano DeAyala, R-Houston, said.
Rep. Jay Dean, R-Longview, said ratepayers have been “held hostage” by utility companies.
“Our people, especially with what they live in today with inflation and everything else going on, they cannot be the scapegoat,” Dean continued. “They cannot continue to be the pack mule for bad judgment and people at the corporate level of providers not making good decisions. And now they're having to pay for it — that's absolutely absurd.”
Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough urged Wells to immediately resign from his role as CenterPoint’s CEO.
“Do we really believe that the CEO... who so blatantly failed to lead and accommodate [customers’] needs is going to take the company to the next level, when he can't even manage the people and assets he has now?” Keough asked.
CenterPoint did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Community Impact.
Keough said CenterPoint leadership “failed to have situational awareness. They provided misleading and sometimes known false information to the public and elected officials.”
Next steps
The PUC is currently investigating CenterPoint and “all the events around Hurricane Beryl — the preparation, activity during the storms and activities post-storm for restoration,” PUC chair Thomas Gleeson said July 31.
Gleeson said this would not be “a typical investigation... where the outcome is some administrative penalty.”
“My focus and what I committed to the governor was the purpose of this should be to shed light on everything that happened,” Gleeson said. “So all of our [requests for information from] companies, all of their responses will be done publicly so everyone can see really what happened during this [storm].”
The commission is expected to release a report with findings and policy recommendations by Dec. 1.
Committee chair Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, directed CenterPoint and all other utility companies affected by Hurricane Beryl to submit solutions to the issues exposed during the storm. Utilities have two weeks to do so, Hunter said. The House State Affairs committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 16.
“I remember almost a rerun of this hearing [after Winter Storm Uri] in 2021, and I don't see much improvement,” Hunter said.
