DALLAS — The fury over CenterPoint’s failed response to Hurricane Beryl shows no sign of easing up anytime soon.
A special panel of 13 Senators, formed after the storm and subsequent power outages, recently convened and didn’t mince words, saying the trust with consumers is broken.
“They’ve got a lot of stupidity to come out of the grave on here before they get the public’s trust back,” Senator Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, told us on Inside Texas Politics. “And really what happened down here is a hurricane one category storm turned into a crisis, a really major crisis down here. And it was preventable. That’s what really galls me more than anything else.”
Senator Bettencourt and the other lawmakers on the panel took particular aim at several massive generators CenterPoint purchased after Winter Storm Uri.
Those generators, strong enough to power entire neighborhoods, sat unused in the aftermath of Beryl, while more than two million customers suffered with no power, often for days.
Adding to the anger, those generators cost $800 Million and the Public Utility Commission (PUC), which regulates utilities in the state, allowed CenterPoint to raise rates to not only cover the cost of the generators but to make a profit as well, which lawmakers said amounted to as much as $30 Million.
Senator Bettencourt even suggested to us that the generator contract could amount to fraud.
And if the PUC doesn’t revoke its decision and force CenterPoint to pay for the generators out of its profit, Bettencourt says lawmakers are ready to file legislation to claw that money back.
The Houston Republican, who lost power himself, says he hopes CenterPoint willingly discusses returning the money to ratepayers.
“That’s what I hope happens because all you can do is point out the stupidity, like this was, and say hey, we should have never done this. We can’t use these things. They’re boat anchors around the ratepayers. And so, cough up some of the money,” the Senator said.
Senator Bettencourt also says the situation has gotten so bad down there, and the trust eroded so much, that parts of The Woodlands testified that they want the ability to leave CenterPoint and turn to another provider. And the Republican says legislation could be considered allowing just that.
“People have had it down here,” he said.
The Senator says several concrete action items could result from the hearing held by the Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity.
And he says many of the solutions would mirror the steps Florida has taken in recent years to harden its coastline against hurricanes and power outages.
That could include top-down legislation mandating vegetation removal and composite poles that can withstand winds of up to 150 mph, as well as burying lines whenever possible.
Senator Bettencourt says he’s heard from plenty of constituents who question Houston’s future role as the “energy capital of the world” when it can’t even keep the lights on following a category one storm.
“We’re going to keep the pressure on CenterPoint at full broil on the heater until we get answers across the board,” he stated bluntly.