Texas utilities working to restore power following Hurricane Beryl’s onslaught

Electric companies in Texas are diligently working to restore power to customers impacted Monday by Hurricane Beryl, saying it may take several days to fully get electricity up and running across various impacted regions across the state.

“While we tracked the projected path, intensity, and timing for Hurricane Beryl closely for many days, this storm proved the unpredictability of hurricanes as it delivered a powerful blow across our service territory and impacted a lot of lives,” said Lynnae Wilson, senior vice president at CenterPoint Energy. “We know we have important work ahead for our customers who depend on us, especially during the hot summer months.”

CenterPoint said earlier Tuesday that based on current progress with its damage assessment and initial restoration, it expects to have one million impacted customers restored by the end of the day on Wednesday, July 10.

As of this morning, CenterPoint reported that of the more than 1.75 million customers impacted, it had restored power to over 790,000 customers. The company also has mobilized nearly 12,000 field resources to support its restoration efforts.

Entergy Texas Inc., which provides electricity to approximately 512,000 customers in 27 counties, said today that restoration efforts have begun and scouts are assessing the storm’s damage as crews start needed repairs at the source and work outward.

A subsidiary of Entergy Corp., a Fortune 500 electric company, Entergy Texas said that as of midnight, roughly 201,000 of its customers were without power, with the majority of the power outages located in Montgomery, Jefferson, Walker and Liberty counties, and more than 6,100 are without power in Galveston County, which includes the entire Bolivar Peninsula.

“Our lineworkers have dangerous jobs,” tweeted Entergy Texas Tuesday morning. “As we continue our work to restore power, please help us all stay safe by keeping your distance from our work zones.”

Texas-New Mexico Power Co. (TNMP), an electricity transmission and distribution service provider to more than 270,000 homes and businesses, tweeted last night that the hurricane impacted its service territory with severe flooding and high winds, and that a little over 112,000 customers were without power.

TNMP, a subsidiary of PNM Resources Inc., also said it has 500 distribution linemen and 250 vegetation management personnel working around the clock to restore power after the hurricane struck its service territory.

“Our crews have been able to restore power to nearly 20,000 customers since noon” on Monday, the company said on X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile, AEP Texas, a unit of American Electric Power that delivers electricity to over one million sites in south and west Texas, said it has activated more than 4,500 resources to respond to Hurricane Beryl.

“At noon Monday, approximately 25,000 customers are without power after Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Matagorda,” AEP Texas said in a July 8 statement. “Damage assessment has already started and will take place over the next 24 hours. Crews have started restoring electric service.”

Resources staged in Corpus Christi, Texas, are moving to the affected areas near Port Lavaca, Victoria, and El Campo, Texas, as well, according to AEP Texas, which also said that some of these resources will be moved to other areas of the state to support mutual assistance needs.

ComEd, a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corp., also is among the many electric companies involved in mutual assistance efforts across Texas.

“ When duty calls, our crews answer!” ComEd tweeted last night. “More than 220 of our superheroes — also known as lineworkers & tree trimmers — are heading down to Houston, Texas, to help quickly & safely restore power to more than 2 million @CenterPoint customers that were impacted by #HurricaneBeryl.”

Meanwhile, Alabama Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company, also provided assistance. “When neighbors need help, we answer the call. We’re up before the sun sending 350 storm team-members and 300 resident contractors to Houston, TX to assist @Centerpoint with storm restoration,” Alabama Power tweeted on Tuesday.

CenterPoint also continues to prioritize its restoration efforts on essential facilities critical to health and public safety, according to Wilson, who said the company has already deployed mobile generation units, including to an emergency facility and an area hospital, and expects to deploy more in the coming days.

As damage assessment and restoration progresses, the company will provide additional service restoration expectations, he said, adding that customers in the hardest-hit areas could experience extended outages and should plan accordingly.

Across their service areas, utility assessments are still ongoing and initial reports show lightning, high winds, and downed vegetation from the hurricane caused significant damage to their transmission equipment.

Entergy Texas, for instance, reports that a total of 34 substations lost power, which is a significant increase from the 17 substations without power around noon yesterday.

Utilities say that while most of the weather from Hurricane Beryl has cleared their service areas, strong winds were expected to continue in many parts of the state.

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