As electricity supply is still too low to restore service to all customers, CenterPoint Energy has adopted a new strategy, a CEO said on Tuesday afternoon: spreading outages around.
The change is aimed at restoring power to some customers who have been without it for nearly 48 hours by shifting continuous interruptions to those who have served so far, said Jason Ryan, the senior vice president of regulatory affairs.
“We focus on the customers who have borne the burden of this event from the beginning of 1:30 (Monday), and work through the list to convey the disruptions that have not yet occurred,” Ryan told a news conference .
These new shutdowns, Ryan warns, are not the ongoing power outages the utility has hoped to provide. Instead of a short eclipse of 15 minutes to an hour, the utility said customers who suddenly lose power should not expect the lights to burn again 24 hours.
About 1.2 million CenterPoint customers are in the dark Tuesday night, about the same as a day before. Less than 5 percent of the outages were caused by the winter storm that swept through the region early Monday.
Ryan brought the balance through the decline in power generation. The Electric Reliability Board of Texas, the state’s energy grid operator, said it’s due to icy temperatures that reduce the capacity of Texas power plants.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has urged ERCOT not to make too rosy predictions about when the power could recover to more than 4 million customers across the state.
She said residents in Houston in the area need to prepare to get by without electricity for a few more days, even after the temperature warms up, as power stations may need more time to come back.
“Whether you have power or not, there is a possibility of power outages lasting longer than the weather,” Hidalgo said.
CenterPoint has promised to provide an update to the public every morning until full service is restored, Ryan said.
zHarris County Reporter