Approximately 99% of customers experienced no outages during fire weather conditions

HOUSTON, March 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy is returning to normal operations as the National Weather Service's Red Flag Warning and risks of fire weather and strong wind end for the Greater Houston area. The company's system performed well, with less than one percent of customers experiencing an outage throughout today's high wind gusts.

Red Flag Warning in effect for large portions of Texas and the Greater Houston area from noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday; high wind gusts, low humidity and fire risk anticipated

CenterPoint has taken a series of actions to prepare equipment and approximately 1,000 workers ready to respond today 

Company continues to communicate with customers about the potential for temporary outages in some areas due to wildfire conditions 

HOUSTON, March 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy is taking a series of precautionary actions to help protect customers and communities and address elevated wildfire risk in parts of the Greater Houston area, as the National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning from noon until 9 p.m. today. CenterPoint has actively prepared for potentially dangerous weather conditions, including high wind gusts, dry fuels and low humidity, by conducting pre-inspections of electric and natural gas equipment, adjusting power line safety settings in higher-risk areas, communicating with customers and working closely with local emergency agencies. Today, CenterPoint has approximately 1,000 line and vegetation workers prepared to respond to the evolving weather conditions.

National Weather Service has issued a "Fire Weather Watch" for large portions of Texas with the risk of strong winds and fire danger in the Greater Houston area from noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday

CenterPoint working closely with local emergency partners and will communicate with customers about the risk of potential outages due to wildfire conditions

HOUSTON, March 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy continues to closely monitor evolving weather conditions and is taking precautionary measures to mitigate wildfire risk as the National Weather Service issued a Fire Weather Watch for large portions of Texas including in the Greater Houston area on Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. Due to the potentially dangerous weather conditions, including high wind gusts, dry fuels and low humidity, CenterPoint is actively preparing its response, including conducting pre-inspections, adjusting power line safety settings, communicating with customers, and working closely with local emergency agencies. As part of its customer outreach, CenterPoint will be notifying customers via its Power Alert Service in the Cypress, Fort Bend and Katy areas of the possibility that extreme weather and wind conditions could result in some temporary safety outages during part of the day on Saturday.  

More than 14,200 stronger, storm-resilient poles installed; 2,200+ miles of high-risk vegetation cleared; 2,170+ automated reliability devices installed; and 280+ miles of power lines undergrounded

When completed by June 1, GHRI Phase Two actions will improve reliability and reduce outages by more than 125 million minutes annually

HOUSTON, March 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, as part of Phase Two of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI), CenterPoint Energy shared its latest monthly progress update, which showed the company is on track to strengthen the resiliency of the grid in key areas ahead of the 2025 hurricane season. To date, CenterPoint announced that it has completed more than 50 percent of several of its planned near-term critical resiliency actions and grid improvements since Fall 2024. Those actions include: installing stronger poles, adding more automation devices, undergrounding power lines, and trimming hazardous vegetation. This pace reflects the company's plan to complete these resiliency actions before the start of hurricane season on June 1, 2025.

CenterPoint's 15 large emergency generation units will help ERCOT meet current and future energy needs for the San Antonio region for up to two years starting in Summer 2025

Greater Houston-area customers will see bill relief related to this transaction of approximately $2 less per month by 2027

Subject to final approvals, CenterPoint will make no revenue or profit off the proposal to help ERCOT and the State of Texas

HOUSTON, Feb. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a commitment to help meet the State of Texas' immediate energy needs, CenterPoint Energy welcomed today's approval by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Board to move ahead with finalizing CenterPoint's proposal to utilize 15 large emergency generation units to help address the state's generation shortfall concerns. Under its proposal, CenterPoint will make no revenue or profit from these 15 units while helping ERCOT and the State of Texas. CenterPoint's 2.8 million Greater Houston-area electric customers will also benefit from the arraignment by seeing lower monthly bills related to this transaction by 2027.

ERCOT Weather Watch issued for February 19-21 due to forecasted extreme cold weather across its region, meaning higher electrical demand and the potential for lower reserves   

CenterPoint continues to monitor forecasts and perform readiness checks for its electric and natural gas systems ahead of potential freezing temperatures impacting the company's Texas service territory

Company urges customers to have a plan and make winter weather preparations to stay safe and warm

HOUSTON, Feb. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With extreme cold temperatures forecasted to again impact CenterPoint Energy's service territory in Texas this week, the company's Emergency Response and Preparedness and Meteorology teams are actively monitoring weather models and preparing to support safe and reliable energy delivery through cold conditions. Both electric and natural gas teams across CenterPoint's Texas footprint are engaged in coordinated efforts to maintain readiness and prepare to address potential service impacts.

Company has installed more than 11,000 stronger, more storm-resilient poles across the region in five months, in addition to clearance of more vegetation miles and undergrounding of more power lines   

When complete, GHRI Phase Two actions will improve reliability by saving customers more than 125 million fewer outage minutes annually

HOUSTON, Feb. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, as part of the second phase of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI), CenterPoint Energy shared its latest monthly progress update with new action milestones including the installation of more than 750 automated reliability devices, which will reduce both sustained interruptions and restoration times in storm events.

CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric's enhanced Systemwide Resiliency Plan (SRP) expected to reduce outage impacts due to extreme weather and storms by 1.3 billion minutes into 2029

100% of lines serving the most customers will have automation devices capable of self-healing; 99% of substations will be raised above the 500-year flood plain, more than 50% of CenterPoint's electric system will be undergrounded; and replace or install 130,000 stronger, more storm-resilient poles and braces 

The 2026-2028 SRP will be the largest single resiliency investment in CenterPoint history and will help address the impact of a wide range of extreme weather and other threats

Settlement expected to result in approximately $50 million less revenue annually and a reduction in electric customer bills by about $1 a month for most customers while also continuing to deliver support for significant local economic growth and upgrades across Greater Houston area

Combination of rate case revenue reduction and other financial commitments, including some 2024 foregone storm recovery costs, would roughly equal the same amount that has been billed to CenterPoint customers for the temporary generation costs since 2021

CenterPoint crews and contractors continue working to restore the remaining customers out

As of noon today, CenterPoint Energy deactivated its Emergency Operations Center and returned to normal business operations

Company urges customers to heed local officials' warnings to stay off roads when possible, to help prevent potential accidents and outages

HOUSTON, Jan. 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the historic Winter Storm Enzo and an overnight hard freeze, CenterPoint Energy shared Wednesday that approximately 99 percent of its Greater Houston area customers had maintained normal electric service throughout the duration of the extreme winter weather event. As part of its storm response, CenterPoint crews responded safely and quickly to scattered outages that occurred across its 12-county service area, restoring power to those small number of impacted customers. Last night, the company released the 1,200 mutual aid workers it had brought in to prepare for Winter Storm Enzo.