CenterPoint Energy’s public safety program and public safety awareness campaign provide our customers and other stakeholders with information about potential hazards and how to avoid, report, and respond to them.
Regular safety communication with customers and the public include education about staying away from power lines, how trees and vegetation affect electric safety, calling 811 before any work requiring digging, severe weather preparedness and natural gas safety. We use multiple channels, including social media, stakeholder outreach, training, television, radio, websites and community engagement programs.
2023 Community Safety Grants:
$232,394 in Funds Awarded
105 Grants Awarded

Community Safety Grants
CenterPoint Energy’s Community Safety Grant program provides support to organizations within our communities with a shared commitment to safety. The grants fund critical safety projects that benefit communities, such as purchasing upgraded equipment for emergency responders to respond to incidents, medical equipment for public spaces like AEDs (automated external defibrillators) and utility line locate machines.
Matching grants up to $2,500 are available for eligible safety and emergency response equipment aiding local fire departments, police departments, ambulance services and other first responders. This support maintains our connections with emergency officials and helps them keep our neighbors and communities safe. More than $3 million in grants have been awarded since the Community Safety Grants program launched in 2003.
Fire Prevention Safety
Each year during National Fire Prevention Week, CenterPoint Energy participates in community safety fairs and fire department open house events throughout our Minnesota service territory. Employees staff booths and share important natural gas safety messages, activity booklets and promotional materials highlighting our Safe and Smart education program for students.

811 and Safe Digging
Third-party damage is a significant cause of pipeline incidents for CenterPoint Energy and is one of the reasons we partner with the Common Ground Alliance to raise awareness of 811, the national “Call Before You Dig” number. We routinely include reminders about 811 in safety-related messaging throughout the year. Each year on August 11, CenterPoint Energy conducts an outreach campaign promoting 811 as the resource for marking utility lines before digging.
As part of our public safety outreach, CenterPoint Energy’s Damage Prevention team sponsored a booth at the annual Houston Astros FanFest event. Attendees were informed about safe digging practices and calling 811 to have their utilities located prior to any digging projects at home.
We support safety education like the National Energy Foundation’s Energy Safe Skills initiative. Geared towards students about to enter the construction, engineering or maintenance industries, the program’s curriculum covers natural gas safety including the importance of contacting 811 and safe digging.

Asset Safety
Our investments in smart residential natural gas meters are another example of our efforts to provide our customers with an added layer of safety protection. We expect to install 4 million Intelis natural gas ultrasonic smart meters by 2032 for our natural gas distribution system. These innovative meters contain a safety valve that is designed to shut off automatically if the meter detects an abnormally high flow of natural gas or high temperature conditions. The shut off feature is also intended to help protect the environment by reducing fugitive methane and carbon dioxide emissions.