Texas governor demands action from CenterPoint over power outages

(Reuters) – Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Sunday he would require CenterPoint Energy to take immediate action to improve its hurricane preparations and respond to power outages in the greater Houston area caused by Hurricane Beryl.

Abbott said he also asked the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) to launch an investigation into the company for failing to promptly restore power after the hurricane.

“To help Texans in the greater Houston area and avoid a repeat of unacceptable power outages, I am giving CenterPoint until the end of the month to share concrete actions with my office to resolve power outages and reduce the likelihood of power outages during severe weather,” Abbott said during a press conference in Houston.

Abbott said he would impose measures on CenterPoint through executive order aimed at maintaining power if the company fails to meet its obligations.

CenterPoint, Texas’ largest power utility, said it had restored power to more than 85 percent, or 1.9 million, of its affected customers by Sunday.

According to data from PowerOutage.us, about 267,797 CenterPoint customers are still without power.

Beryl, the earliest Category 5 storm on record, made landfall near the coastal town of Matagorda last Monday, knocking out power to about 2.7 million homes and businesses in Texas.

CenterPoint expects to restore power to 90 percent of all affected customers by Monday and is committed to thoroughly reviewing its response to power outages, it said in a statement following Abbott’s press conference.

(Reporting by Daksh Grover and Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)