How Centerpoint Is Preparing For Mass Outages During Storm Francine

Texas-based utility provider CenterPoint Energy has said it will have nearly 3,500 distribution line workers on standby around Houston to deal with any power outages caused by Tropical Storm Francine which is due to lash southeastern parts of the state from Tuesday evening.
An additional 5,000 workers could reportedly be brought in if the storm, which the National Hurricane Center says is “likely to become a hurricane” later on Tuesday, changes its path.
CenterPoint came under sharp criticism over its response to Hurricane Beryl which struck Texas in July, killing 26 people in the Greater Houston area. During this time, 2.26 million CenterPoint customers lost access to power, according to figures from The Houston Chronicle. The following month, CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells apologized for the company’s performance during an appearance before a special Texas Senate committee created to investigate the blackouts.
On Monday, Darin Carroll, a CenterPoint senior vice president, set out what the company was doing ahead of Tropical Storm Francine’s arrival at a press conference.
According to The Houston Chronicle, he said: “We’re still preparing as if it’s going to hit Houston.
“We experienced some things with Beryl that we didn’t expect, where the storm maybe adjusted course just a little bit and a lot of people have discussed that. We don’t want that to happen again.”
Carroll said that out of the 3,500 workers on standby, 1,850 will come either from CenterPoint itself or Houston-area contractors, whilst another 1,625 were “on the way” from other utilities across Texas as part of “mutual aid” programs.
He said CenterPoint planned to create four “staging sites” to put its employees in a position to work on restoring power as and when needed and had the ability to create more if needed.
Carroll added: “The service that we provide, both gas and electric, is life-sustaining in many ways and is core to survival for folks, and we take that incredibly seriously. Our performance during Beryl may not have reflected that completely. In fact, we know it didn’t. We’re ready to show everybody that we have improved.”
Speaking to Newsweek, a CenterPoint Energy spokesperson said: “While our weather experts work to determine the path, intensity and timing of Tropical Storm Francine, we remain vigilant and are fully focused on executing on our storm preparation plan.
We are in the process of mobilizing all of our available resources and mutual assistance resources from other utility companies so we will be prepared to safely and quickly restore power to our customers and communities should Francine impact our area.”
As of 7 a.m. ET on Tuesday a National Hurricane Center hurricane warning was in place for “the Louisiana coast east of Morgan City to Grand Isle,” which is expected to be worst hit by Tropical Storm Francine.
In addition: “A Tropical Storm Warning is now in effect for the Louisiana coast east of Grand Isle to the mouth of the Pearl River, including metropolitan New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain, and Lake Maurepas.” A storm surge warning also took effect from “high islands Texas to the mouth of the Mississippi River Louisiana.”
In August, CenterPoint reportedly offered to forgo an estimated $110 million in profit, half the figure derived from a number of large generators hired for $800 million. They were controversial for being largely unused during Hurricane Beryl. The company also said it would “build the most resilient coastal grid in the country.”