Our robust emergency preparedness and response procedures are intended to make us well-prepared for all types of emergencies.
Emergency Operations
CenterPoint Energy’s internal Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) guides the company’s preparation, mitigation, response and recovery from an emergency.
Training, conducting drills, testing equipment and coordination are all important functions to ensure a successful EOP response. The use of an Incident Command structure establishes a common set of incident objectives and strategies to follow.
Actions taken during EOP incidents and drills are evaluated to determine lessons learned, providing a valuable opportunity to learn from our experiences, identify potential areas for improvement and prevent reoccurrence of potential issues. Emergency plans and procedures are reviewed annually and updated as needed.
Storm Response
If severe weather is predicted, CenterPoint Energy communicates important safety information to customers and the public, such as how to report downed power lines, outages, and natural gas emergencies and to stay safe around electric and natural gas facilities.
When restoring power, we begin with facilities vital to safety, health and welfare, such as hospitals, water treatment plants and public service facilities. While addressing key facilities, we follow our priority restoration process by making repairs to electrical facilities that will return power to the largest number of customers first. We then continue the restoration process by prioritizing repairs to benefit the greatest number of customers, until power is returned to everyone.
Throughout the restoration process, we maintain contact with local emergency management agencies, news media and public officials.
Mutual Assistance
CenterPoint Energy is part of electric utility mutual assistance programs that provide access to thousands of linemen and tree trimmers from around the country to lend a hand during widespread power outage emergencies. Coming to the aid of other utilities is nothing new to our employees. Over the years, crews have responded and restored power to hundreds of thousands of customers throughout the country who have been left in the dark following hurricanes, ice storms, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.
In response to Hurricane Nicholas’ impact on our electric and natural gas systems in Greater Houston and surrounding communities, more than 3,200 Electric Operations employees and contractors focused on the restoration work. About 1,800 linemen and tree trimmers from the mutual assistance network were assigned to staging sites across the impacted areas.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Nicholas and the activation of our EOP, we worked quickly to donate surplus EOP food items to first responders and nonprofit organizations throughout greater Houston and surrounding communities. To support community needs, particularly in hard-hit areas along the coast, we made donations to Galveston County, the Galveston Police Department and Christus Our Daily Bread.
Following Hurricane Ida’s extensive damage, CenterPoint Energy deployed more than 200 Electric Operations employees and contractors from Houston and Evansville, Ind., to assist Entergy Louisiana and Cleco Corporate Holdings with power restoration efforts in Louisiana. The CenterPoint Energy Foundation contributed $50,000 to nonprofit organizations in Louisiana and Mississippi that focused on Hurricane Ida relief and recovery efforts.
Photo of Hurricane Dolly
“We are ready to lend a helping hand to our neighbor utilities and are fully committed to restoring power to affected customers safely and reliably. Our linemen are skilled to perform in any weather conditions, just like they do for our customers at home.”
– Scott Doyle, CenterPoint Energy’s Executive Vice President, Utility Operations