CenterPoint Energy’s outage detection shows that more than half of its customers are still without power as of the evening of 16 February. (Screenshot courtesy of CenterPoint Energy)
CenterPoint Energy officials said in a Feb. 16 statement that its customers could be without power for several more days as the Texas Electric Reliability Council tries to stabilize the state’s power grid.
“Due to the ongoing problems with the generators’ ability to produce electricity, CenterPoint Energy’s customers must be prepared to be without power, possibly for the duration of the power generation which may take a few more days,” the release reads.
The state’s power supply did not come down to demand. As a result, the disruptions are taking longer than previously planned, the release said. In order to comply with ERCOT’s prescription, CenterPoint had to suspend service to a portion of its customers.
As of 16:28 on February 16, 1.23 million CenterPoint customers were without power – more than half of CenterPoint’s customers.
The release states that CenterPoint is an electric transmission and delivery company serving the Greater Houston area, and therefore depends on electricity supplied by third-party generators and received by ERCOT; CenterPoint does not control the power network.
‘We are ready to restore power as soon as it is available to be delivered; however, there is not enough electricity from third-party generators, ”said Dave Lesar, president and CEO of CenterPoint, in the release. “CenterPoint Energy is still communicating with the Texas Electric Reliability Council and other stakeholders about the power shortage, but we have no control over the generators’ ability to supply power, nor can we predict when they will resume their generation. So soon if power is delivered to us, we will be ready to start delivering the power to our customers. ”
According to the release, CenterPoint Energy resumed the rotating interruptions overnight on February 15, but was forced to stop the rotating interruptions due to ERCOT’s mandate to reduce the voltage on the network again. Seven third-party generators in the vicinity of CenterPoint are offline, causing the power outage.
If additional generators go offline, additional power outages will result.
“Given uncertain timing and the ongoing public safety risks due to the severe weather conditions in Houston and surrounding areas, CenterPoint Energy recommends all its electrical customers to be prepared to be without power, possibly for the duration of the shortage of generation, which “We have encouraged all our customers to take care of their personal safety,” said Kenny Mercado, executive vice president of electrical services.
Customers who still have power are asked to save it, and natural gas customers are asked to temporarily lower their thermostat to save natural gas.