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CenterPoint Energy ramps up preparations for winter weather across the eight-state service territory.
Houston – February 14, 2021 – CenterPoint Energy continues to monitor weather conditions and prepare for winter weather’s impact across its eight-state service territory. The company has completed systems readiness assessments for inclement weather operations. Hundreds of electric and natural gas crews are ready to respond to the potential impact of frigid temperatures.
“The safety of our customers and employees is our top priority, and we have plans in place to respond to extreme weather events,” said Kenny Mercado, CenterPoint Energy’s Executive Vice President, Electric Utility. “Icy conditions and high winds might impact electric equipment and cause outages, so we encourage our customers to prepare to be without power and have an emergency plan in place. We have the personnel, resources, and equipment ready to restore electricity to our customers as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Electric crews, including distribution, transmission, substation, underground, tree trimmers, and damage assessors, will be working 16-hour shifts to restore power as safely and quickly as possible. Mercado added, “Our crews may be facing some hazardous road conditions, so we ask for our customers’ patience while we work to restore their service.”
Also, CenterPoint Energy is a part of electric utility mutual assistance programs that provide access to thousands of linemen and tree trimmers from around the country to support restoration efforts during widespread power outage emergencies. The company is in close contact with mutual assistance partners in the event additional crews are needed.
CenterPoint Energy is prepared to meet customers’ natural gas demands across its eight-state service territory. Operations personnel are regularly checking and adjusting natural gas pressures at delivery points and remotely monitoring pressures at hundreds of locations across the company’s system. The company also continues to respond to customer emergency calls.
“We expect to deliver record amounts of natural gas during this extreme weather event. Our teams are in ongoing communications with our upstream natural gas suppliers to coordinate and maintain reliability,” said Scott Doyle, CenterPoint Energy’s Executive Vice President, Natural Gas. “Our peak shaving facilities are on standby to provide supplemental supply, and we can deploy additional staff to respond to any system or customer needs.”
The company is also fully utilizing its competitive business, Mobile Energy Solutions (MES), to prevent natural gas service interruption. For more than two decades, MES has provided portable compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquified natural gas (LNG) to America’s businesses. MES currently has 19 temporary gas installations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, and additional equipment.
As the only investor-owned electric and gas utility based in Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) is an energy delivery company with electric transmission and distribution, power generation, and natural gas distribution operations that serve more than 7 million metered customers in Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas.
As of September 30, 2020, the company owned approximately $33 billion in assets and owned 53.7 percent of the common units representing limited partner interests in Enable Midstream Partners, LP. A publicly-traded master limited partnership that owns, operates, and develops strategically located natural gas and crude oil infrastructure assets. With approximately 9,600 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit CenterPointEnergy.com.