While over a million Texans have been left without power for days after Hurricane Beryl, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is highlighting questions for electricity distributor CenterPoint, which he and the Senate will seek answers to.
Patrick posted on X, “For various reasons, the storm had a heavier impact than most CAT 1 storms. Trees were knocked down everywhere, often taking power lines with them. Texans understand that.”
However, Patrick stated that with continued power outages following Hurricane Beryl, there are around a million homes and businesses, nine fire stations, and seniors in assisted living and nursing homes without power.
Patrick pointed out that CenterPoint public communications have failed to instill confidence, and that their customer phone lines are ineffective and should be prepared for any storm. Before his list of ten questions, Patrick concluded that the people have the right to be upset with CenterPoint.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the following ten questions are fair and legitimate, and he and the Senate are committed to getting answers:
- Is this a new and different CenterPoint than in the past?
- Did they cut corners before the storm?
- Are they cutting corners now?
- Were they prepared for the storm hitting Houston?
- Did they take the storm seriously?
- What is their mission statement?
- Are they too focused on their other businesses?
- Do they need more full-time staff?
- Will their response to the next storm be better?
- Most importantly, are Houston and surrounding areas still IMPORTANT to CenterPoint? Are their customers their number one priority in their mission statement and future planning?
This follows Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s demands that CenterPoint do better after a city council meeting highlighting the issues CenterPoint has been having concerning maintaining reliable power, working call lines, and vegetation management near electric lines and poles.
A CenterPoint spokesperson told Texas Scorecard when asked about Patrick’s questions, “Right now, our focus is on restoring power to our customers. Our crews continued to work last night into the morning, and the company has now restored more than 1.4 million customers — ahead of its restoration expectations for today. We would be happy to continue the conversation once we have completed restoration efforts.”
