Texas senators grill utility executives about massive power failure after Hurricane Beryl

AUSTIN (AP) — Texas Senate lawmakers grilled a utility executive Monday about the events that led up to prolonged power outages in Houston after Hurricane Beryl hit the city earlier this month.

Jason Ryan, CenterPoint Energy executive vice president. was called to testify before a special legislative committee examining the company’s failure to provide a timely outage tracker and an overall lack of preparedness for the hurricane.

“Our constituents deserve answers,” Sen. Brandon Creighton said, naming some of his constituents who died in the storm.

Nearly 3 million people lost power in the Houston area after Beryl, a Category 1 hurricane, made landfall on July 8. At least 36 people have died due to heat complications after losing power, according to officials.

Gov. Greg Abbott and the Public Utility Commission have demanded answers from CenterPoint Energy, the city’s largest utility provider, about why the outages lasted for so long. Apart from the inquiry by lawmakers, the utilities commission has begun its own investigation.

The storm damaged power lines and uprooted trees that left millions of people without electricity for days. CenterPoint has defended its storm preparedness and has said that it deployed about 12,000 additional workers to help restore power.

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Last Thursday, CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells apologized to customers during a meeting with the Public Utility Commission of Texas in Austin.

“We will do better. While we cannot erase the frustrations and difficulties so many of our customers endured, I and my entire leadership team will not make excuses. We will improve and act with a sense of urgency,” Wells said.

Hurricane Beryl is the latest natural disaster to hit Houston after a powerful storm ripped through the area in May and left nearly 1 million people without power. In 2021, Texas’ power grid went out amid a deadly winter storm that left millions across the state freezing in their homes.

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Nadia Lathan is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.