Special to the News-Times
AUSTIN — The Public Utility Commission of Texas encourages consumers in the Greater Houston area to share their experiences with power outages and utility performance during the May 2024 derecho and Hurricane Beryl.
To share their experiences, Texans can use a questionnaire linked on the PUCT’s homepage. The questionnaire is available in English and Spanish and only takes about five minutes to complete.
“The most important people in our investigation into the preparedness and response to these devastating storms are the Texans who experienced these storms firsthand,” said PUCT Executive Director Connie Corona. “We want to hear from you, whether you lost power during these storms or not. The information you provide will guide us in making changes to prevent a disaster of this scope in the future.”
Nearly 1 million Texans lost power in May 2024 following the derecho. Hurricane Beryl stormed through the Greater Houston area as a Category 1 storm on July 8, leaving more than 2.6 million Texans without power.
At the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott, the PUCT is investigating the preparedness and response by utilities in the Greater Houston area to these extreme weather events. The PUCT must submit its findings with recommendations by Dec. 1.
The public can view Gov. Abbott’s directive and public documents related to the investigation through the PUCT’s Interchange website under Project No. 56822.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sent a letter to the PUC urging them to claw back $800 million of ratepayer money from CenterPoint.
Upon sending the letter, Patrick said in a statement: “As promised, here is the letter I sent to the PUC urging them to claw back $800 million of ratepayer money from CenterPoint. I remain committed to fighting on behalf ratepayers to ensure they do not pay for CenterPoint’s mismanagement.”
In the letter, Patrick urged the Public Utility Commission of Texas to conduct an immediate review of CenterPoint Energy’s Temporary Emergency Electric Energy Facilities Rider.
Patrick’s letter states that utility companies can lease mobile generation units for use during emergencies causing large-scale power outages, such as severe storms or hurricanes to quickly get power to critical facilities following a major emergency.
It states that while several firms, including AEP and Oncor, leased small mobile generators, CenterPoint deviated from this approach, instead appearing to choose to prioritize profits over effectiveness. Rather than leasing small mobile generators as intended by the legislation, CenterPoint squandered $800 million of ratepayer funds on massive non-mobile generators while spending only .000625% of that amount on what the legislation called for and would have actually helped their customers in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
As a result, CenterPoint was forced to borrow small mobile units from other firms while the large non-mobile generators sat idle.
During the recent Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity hearing, it was revealed that CenterPoint’s strategy of leasing these large generators will result in at least $30 million in profits, despite providing limited to no benefit during over 99 percent of emergencies, the letter states.