TOMBALL, Texas – With the holiday shopping season in full swing, Downtown Tomball’s small business owners say they’re entering their most important stretch of the year. But an upcoming planned power outage, scheduled for Wednesday, December 17, has many worried it could have a major financial impact.
CenterPoint Energy says the eight-hour outage is necessary for system upgrades that must be completed before year’s end. But business owners, already frustrated after another disruption just last week, say the timing couldn’t be worse.
Holiday Sales Could “Make or Break” the Year
Along Main Street, shops are buzzing with customers searching for gifts and browsing local boutiques. For many owners, including Jaime Groff of Covey Apparel and Outdoors, this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas determines whether they end the year in the black.
“We really draw a lot of people to our downtown,” Groff said, noting Tomball’s popular farmers market attracts visitors from Cypress, Houston, and West University. “Summers are typically slow out here, so we really concentrate on this last month of the year to bring in as much money as we can.”
A notice taped to Groff’s shop door earlier this week confirmed what many feared: power will be cut for eight hours on December 17, effectively shutting down business for the day.
Business Owners Say They’ve Already Faced Weeks of On-and-Off Outages
Some shop owners, who preferred not to go on camera, said they’ve been dealing with intermittent power loss for weeks. They worry that shutting off electricity again — particularly during peak shopping days — could drive customers away for good.
“Shutting our power off versus shutting Academy’s power off. It’s a big difference,” Goff said. “The best option would be to wait until after the season — do it in the new year.”
Calls for Better Communication
The outage was originally scheduled for December 8 but was postponed after pushback from downtown merchants. CenterPoint says the work still must be finished before December 31 and that it will double the number of crews on Monday to minimize the downtime.
Still, business owners say they’ve been left without clear answers.
“Let’s sit down as businesses, the city, everybody involved, and have some clear communication,” one owner urged. “Right now it’s texts and emails. You don’t get calls back from the city or CenterPoint, and you’re left hanging. Is this a one-day operation, or will it spill into the next day?”
City Response Still Pending
CenterPoint maintains that the upgrades are essential for improving reliability long-term. Meanwhile, the City of Tomball has not yet responded to requests for comment.
For now, shop owners can only hope the lights, and their holiday revenue, won’t take another hit.
CenterPoint Energy statement:
We understand that any outage can be challenging, especially during a busy holiday season, and we acknowledge the concerns raised by local businesses. Our team has worked closely with the city of Tomball, the Mayor, Tomball ISD, and impacted businesses and residents since this work was first scheduled to accommodate their needs wherever possible.
This project is critical to maintaining a safe and reliable electric system for Tomball residents. We are upgrading the system from 12 kilovolts (kV) to 35 kV, which will significantly improve reliability, resilience and capacity to support future growth in the area. While ongoing discussions with impacted customers required us to move the date from December 8 to December 17, completing this work before year-end is essential.
To minimize the impact, we are doubling the number of crews assigned to this work, selecting the least disruptive hours for residents and businesses, and ensuring all preparations are completed in advance to reduce the duration of the outage.
Based on ongoing conversations, the city of Tomball, residents, and most businesses are aligned on moving forward now, and we appreciate the community’s cooperation as we complete this important work to strengthen reliability for the future.