Today marks a significant milestone for many Houstonians, as CenterPoint Energy estimates that nearly all customers will have their power restored by this evening.
Wednesday afternoon, 58,000 customers were without power for the 6th day.
That is what’s left of the 900,000+ customers who lost power last week, according to CenterPoint.
From CenterPoint’s noon update:
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Company remains on track to be substantially complete with storm-related outages this evening
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More than 7,000 workers continue dedicated restoration efforts with concentration on hardest-hit areas and neighborhoods
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Company will be laser-focused on addressing remaining outages
Customer service for those impacted by the severe weather is nearing completion, according to the company. After Wednesday evening, there may still be isolated outages in some areas when there is significant damage or when some customers are unable to receive power because of severe home damage or weatherhead damage. A few isolated outages are expected to continue into the weekend, according to CenterPoint.
“We thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding during a very challenging time,” said Lynnae Wilson, Senior Vice President, Electric Business in a press release. “Our crews will be laser-focused and work around-the-clock to restore power to every last customer.”
Number of customers still without power on Day 6 as of Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. — 71,594
CenterPoint’s latest update highlights the progress made and the remaining challenges:
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Company remains on track to be substantially complete with storm-related outages this evening
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More than 7,000 workers continue dedicated restoration efforts with concentration on hardest-hit areas and neighborhoods
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Company will be laser-focused on addressing remaining outages
In an interview with KPRC 2′s Bill Spencer, Logan Anderson, Texas Senior Communications Specialist with CenterPoint, explained some of the hurdles faced during the restoration process. The company’s Outage Tracker experienced downtime due to high traffic, with 700,000 users per hour. Anderson reassured that the majority of customers should have power by the end of the day Wednesday.
“Now, substantially complete does not mean that everyone’s power will be on, but also we can’t really guarantee that everyone’s power is on, on any given day,” she said. “Power is something that does go out. It is something that always requires maintenance and repair. But we do honestly anticipate that everyone or the majority of people who faced an outage caused by the storm will be substantially restored, by the end of the day tomorrow.”
Anderson also detailed the actions taken in bringing in 5,000 out-of-town crews to assist with repairs, ensuring they had accommodations, fuel, and city maps to work efficiently.
“Thursday night when the call goes out that we’re going to need help, the team immediately gets to work because we asked for 3,000 mutual assistance crews to come in. And once they’ve set the call, they need places to stay and to immediately rest,” Anderson said. “They need fuel, they need fuel for the cars, they need, work plans and maps of the city because they don’t know where to go. And so watching the logistical operation that has to take place so that these guys can come out here and not worry about anything, but doing their job and getting people restored has been remarkable.”
The remaining repairs are in the hardest-hit areas, which require more time and effort. The Houston Permitting Center is now offering a fast-track process for the restoration of customer-owned equipment.
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