CenterPoint’s rate case takes back seat to sharper focus on hurricane preparations

CenterPoint Energy Inc. has withdrawn its request to increase customer rates in Texas to intensify its focus on improving the utility’s overall resiliency, communications, and coordinated emergency response to severe weather following Hurricane Beryl.

With winds exceeding 80 miles per hour, Hurricane Beryl swept through southeast Texas on July 8, taking down thousands of trees and knocking out the electricity system for several days, impacting more than 2.6 million power customers.

CenterPoint President and CEO Jason Wells on Thursday said the base rate case delay is part of a company-wide commitment to act urgently and immediately to improve and strengthen the resilience of CenterPoint’s energy system in preparation for the upcoming hurricane season.

“Nothing is more important than being ready for the next hurricane and rebuilding the trust of the community we are privileged to serve,” said Wells.

CenterPoint, the only investor-owned electric and gas utility based in Texas, serves more than seven million metered customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas.

In March, the utility filed its application with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and municipal regulatory authorities to adjust its base rates to recover investments in electric infrastructure to support system safety, reliability, and resiliency. The utility had proposed increasing the fixed component to $4.93 per month from $4.39 per month.

Wells said that the 2024 base rate case, which was being reviewed by the PUCT, will be put on hold as CenterPoint delves into its Plan of Actions, which was unveiled on July 25 following Hurricane Beryl’s blast to Texas.

“We are acting urgently to strengthen our resiliency, improve our communications, and emergency response,” he said. “We believe any delay or distraction from this mission is unacceptable. Our company’s collective focus for the remainder of this hurricane season will be on being ready: that is our mission.”

The Plan of Actions includes more than 40 initial actions to address the resiliency of the electric system, improve customer communications, and strengthen emergency response coordination and partnerships, according to Wells, who outlined the plan during a July 31 meeting held by the Texas House State Affairs Committee.

Wells also apologized for the frustration customers from across the Greater Houston area experienced during Hurricane Beryl.

“I take accountability for those areas where we fell short of our customers’ expectations, and I want to apologize for the frustration our customers and their families experienced as a result,” he told committee members. “There are no excuses. We will do better. We will improve. And we will act with a greater sense of urgency.”

Wells discussed actions the company is taking to improve the utility’s storm preparedness and response, and said CenterPoint is also committed to working with policymakers and elected officials on solutions to address the risk of load shedding.

CenterPoint is also open to working with legislators, policymakers, and others to determine the best generation solutions that meet customers’ needs in the event of an emergency, he said.

“With respect to the issue of use of temporary generation, we are committed to working with you and others to determine the best generation solution for our customers,” said Wells.

Other actions to be taken by the company include resiliency investments to harden its distribution system and speed restoration by quickly adopting the latest construction standards, retrofitting existing assets on an accelerated basis, and using predictive modeling, AI, and other advanced technologies.

The company will also take action to protect its electrical assets by nearly doubling the size of its vegetation management crews and targeting higher risk vegetation.

Additionally, actions will be taken to ensure more customers have the information they need during a hurricane. CenterPoint on Aug. 1 launched a new and more customer-oriented outage tracker that will provide enhanced information to higher numbers of customers during storms.

And toward more effective emergency preparedness and response, Wells added that CenterPoint will hire a seasoned emergency response leader to help the company rapidly accelerate its planning capabilities and develop close community partnerships to ease the burden of storm events on more vulnerable communities.

“To be very clear, these actions are just the beginning,” he told the committee. “In total, we’ve outlined over 40 actions to strengthen our response.”

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