An investigation into the emergency response by utilities to Beryl, which knocked out power to millions in Houston and surrounding communities after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, is underway following a push by Gov. Greg Abbott.
The probe by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) follows a directive by the Republican governor issued on Sunday (No. 56822).
“It is unacceptable that millions of Texans in the Greater Houston area have been (or were) left without electricity for multiple days,” Abbott said in a letter to PUCT Chairman Thomas Gleeson. “It is imperative we investigate how and why some Texas utilities were unable to restore power for days following a Category 1 hurricane. Texas utilities bear the responsibility of ensuring system resiliency in their respective service territories.”
Weather-related disasters “are outside of human control,” Abbott wrote. However, “their impact to our daily lives can be mitigated or alleviated if proper system planning and pre-storm preparations are made.”
CenterPoint Energy Inc. is Houston’s primary utility, serving nearly three million customers. As of 8:30 a.m. CT Tuesday, nearly 128,000 CenterPoint customers remained powerless, according to the utility’s tracker. The Houston-based utility said since July 8, when Beryl stormed ashore, it had restored power to more than 2.13 million customers.
Among those customers impacted by the storm was Freeport LNG Development LP in Brazoria County, which is served by CenterPoint. The liquefied natural gas export plant has been offline since before the storm.
[In the Eye of the Storm: North American LNG project developers continue to grapple with the Biden administration's pause on non-FTA permits. Has the pause given impetus to other projects? How are Mexico LNG projects advancing? Tune in to hear from LNG industry analyst Sergio Chapa in the latest episode of NGI's Hub & Flow.]
A spokesperson for Freeport told NGI on Monday that the company was “completing initial repairs on the damage sustained to our fin fan air coolers in the hurricane and anticipate restarting the first train this week.”
Beryl was considered to be a relatively weak storm, compared with the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which made landfall as a Category 4. Hurricane Ike, which wreaked havoc in the Galveston area in 2008, was a Category 2 storm at landfall.
Abbott directed regulators “to take a comprehensive look at the state of preparation of and immediate response by electric utilities in the Greater Houston area to severe weather events,” according to PUCT executive director Connie Corona.
The results are to be delivered to the Texas Legislature by year’s end. PUCT last week asked utility executives to discuss their companies’ initial response to Beryl. Along with CenterPoint, executives with American Electric Power Co.’s AEP Texas, Texas-New Mexico Power Co. and Entergy Texas Inc. discussed their responses.
“The governor expressed serious concern about how and why the utilities have been unable to restore electric service to residents in the aftermath of a Category 1 hurricane,” Corona said.
She spoke with Gleeson about the commission's “responsibilities to the public and the importance of a swift response to the governor’s directive.”
To that end, the utilities serving the region are to be probed regarding their:
- Emergency operations plans;
- Vegetation management plans;
- Infrastructure and storm hardening plans;
- Use of mobile generation resources; and
- Activities regarding preparations and responses to severe weather.
PUCT has to determine whether “the cause of the magnitude and duration of customer outages” resulted from a “physical infrastructure or personnel issue,” Abbott said.
The governor also said questions have to be answered regarding utilities’ pre-event planning processes.
“We must identify why Hurricane Beryl impacted millions of Texans when there have been many similar events in Texas' recent past that did not, and we must work to prevent any such future impacts.”
