PUC calls for legislative, regulatory fixes for CenterPoint’s failures during Beryl

Andrew Schneider | Source: Houston Public Media | Posted 11/21/2024

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The report’s recommendations include making sure utility customers will be able to speak with a live person to get estimates and updates on power restoration during an outage.

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The Public Utility Commission of Texas has released a report critiquing CenterPoint Energy's response to Hurricane Beryl, urging the Texas Legislature to enhance communication protocols between utilities and customers during crises. Specifically, the report highlights CenterPoint's deficiencies in promptly informing customers about outages and repair timelines, emphasizing the need for legislative intervention to address these communication failures.

Notably, the report proposes measures such as providing consumers with access to call centers staffed with knowledgeable personnel for outage updates, suggesting amendments to the Public Utility Regulatory Act to safeguard customer rights. Additionally, the report advises utilities to anticipate outage tracking disruptions and spikes in user demand in their disaster preparedness plans, addressing issues that arose when CenterPoint's outage tracker malfunctioned during Hurricane Beryl, causing prolonged outages and customer dissatisfaction.

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Source Link: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/energy-environment/2024/11/21/506768/hurricane-beryl-texas-puc-investigation-centerpoint-legislative-regulatory-fixes/

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PUC calls for legislative, regulatory fixes for CenterPoint’s failures during Beryl

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