CenterPoint to have nearly 3,500 line workers near Houston

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports CenterPoint Energy said it would have almost 3,500 distribution line workers positioned near Houston and ready to restore power should outages occur following Tropical Storm Francine, which could bring damaging winds and heavy rainfall to Southeast Texas Tuesday night and Wednesday. The Houston-area electric utility has identified 5,000 additional workers who could come to assist if the storm’s path or strength changes, Darin Carroll, CenterPoint’s senior vice president of electric business, said at a late Monday press briefing. Francine’s projected track had shifted east late Monday and was forecast to affect Louisiana more than Southeast Texas. Still, the storm’s path could change as it approaches, National Weather Service meteorologists said.

“We’re still preparing as if it’s going to hit Houston,” Carroll said. “We experienced some things with Beryl that we didn’t expect, where the storm maybe adjusted course just a little bit, and a lot of people have discussed that. We don’t want that to happen again” Of those 3,500 line workers, 1,850 are Houston-area contractors and CenterPoint employees. The other 1,625 workers are “on the way” from other utilities across the state and country, Carroll said. CenterPoint said it would also have 1,300 vegetation workers standing by this week, 600 from the Houston area and 700 from other utilities. Most of those released by other utilities to assist CenterPoint, referred to as “mutual aid” workers, will be on CenterPoint’s property by the end of Monday, Carroll said. Francine will be CenterPoint’s first big test since Hurricane Beryl, which left a record 2.26 million of the utility’s customers without power after it made landfall in Southeast Texas in July. Following an intense public outcry, CenterPoint became the target of two state investigations as lawmakers and regulators weigh various options – including one proposed by the company itself – to potentially reduce the utility’s anticipated profits.