HOUSTON – When CenterPoint announced it was withdrawing its rate case last week, most customers assumed it was a good thing that the utility company wasn’t asking to raise rates again. But several cities, including Houston, say Centerpoint should be lowering rates.
In a filing to the Public Utility Commission on August 8, The Gulf Coast Coalition of Cities, the Texas Coast Utilities Coalition, the Houston Coalition of Cities, and the Texas Consumer Association asked the PUC not to allow CenterPoint to drop the case.
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They say doing so deprives them of the chance to explain why they say CenterPoint is overcharging ratepayers by as much as $100 million every year.
In a rate case, the PUC can raise rates, lower rates, or not change them at all.
Part of the filing reads:
“In this case, dismissal would prevent ratepayers from receiving the benefit of a significant rate decrease and would enable CenterPoint to avoid a required filing only to impose substantial costs on ratepayers in a future proceeding.”
Why are cities challenging CenterPoint?
By law CenterPoint Energy must go before the Public Utility Commission for a full rate review every four years. Its last review was 2019. Since that time CenterPoint has raised rates in small amounts more than 25 times.
The review allows the PUC and ratepayers to do a deep dive on how much CenterPoint is charging us and if they actually need all of that money. Attorney Thomas Brocato represents The Gulf Coast Coalition of Cities (these are the 42 cities in Greater Houston like Sugar Land, Missouri City and Dickinson).
Brocato says there is no mechanism for customers to get refunds for money we are overpaying CenterPoint. It’s why they have also asked the PUC to set a lower interim rate now.
“Let CenterPoint go and focus on, again, improving resiliency, keeping the lights on, restoring public trust... but at the same time, let rates be lowered to an appropriate level so that customers get the full benefit once they come back and finalize the case,” said Brocato.
A judge has given CenterPoint until August 14, 2024, to respond. CenterPoint told KPRC 2 News it will provide more information on that day. We will stay on top of this and let you know what happens.
Thursday evening, CenterPoint sent the following statement to KPRC 2:
Our collective focus is taking action to be better prepared this hurricane season. That is our singular focus and why we launched the Greater Houston Resilience Initiative this week. Withdrawing our base rate case with the PUCT will support our commitments to strengthen our resiliency, improve our communications and enhance our emergency coordination. We look forward to providing more information on August 14th as part of our overall commitment to become the most resilient coastal utility in the country.