HOUSTON – CenterPoint Energy says they have released more than 500 contract frontline electric workers to go help support other states that were hit harder by this weekend’s winter storm.
The company says less than 1% of its Texas customers were impacted by outages and 2,800 workers remain mobilized to respond to outages should more occur.
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“As of 4 p.m. today, CenterPoint Energy has determined the company has the resources necessary to continue supporting its severe weather response efforts in the Greater Houston area. The company has released more than 500 contractors from 9 states to support response efforts in states more heavily impacted by yesterday evening’s winter weather system and will continue collaborating on meeting additional needs from other utilities through mutual aid,” the company said.
The company also said as of 4 p.m., approximately 2,000 customers were affected by outages, which is less than 1% of its 2.9 million customers it serves across the Greater Houston area.
“We know how important it is for our customers to have electric service to power their daily lives, especially during cold weather and freezing conditions like we’ve seen this weekend. Our system continues to perform well, but tonight and tomorrow are forecasted to be hard freezes hovering around 20 degrees, which may impact our equipment in some places. We are currently responding to any outages safely and as quickly as we can, and we will continue to monitor our system diligently as winter weather conditions are exiting our service area. We want to thank our dedicated crews for braving this weather and supporting our community through this event, and we want to thank our customers for their continued patience,” said Nathan Brownell, CenterPoint VP of Resilience and Capital Delivery.
CenterPoint activated its Emergency Operations Center on January 21 and has been actively preparing for the impacts caused by winter storm, including:
- Deploying restoration electric workforce: Continuing to deploy its 2,800-person workforce to support winter storm response efforts and address potential equipment damage and outages;
- Releasing 500 contract crews to support restoration efforts for utilities in hard-hit areas;
- Staging more than 700 frontline natural gas workers to respond safely and quickly around the clock to any gas emergency calls and service interruptions;
- Keeping customers informed: Sharing safety and preparedness information and resources with CenterPoint customers through direct outreach, social media and other channels;
- Inspecting and testing critical electric equipment, including all 270 electric substations, executing enhanced tree trimming and conducting inspections to prepare for wintry precipitation and cold temperatures;
- Conducting outreach to Critical Care customers: Reaching out to identified Critical Care Residential and Chronic Condition Residential electric customers by email, phone or text.
- Coordinating with government officials: Providing regular updates to government officials on preparation activities and closely coordinating on customer support.
- Providing operational updates for media and public: Conducting daily press briefings to provide important updates related to its pre-storm activities and readiness posture; additional briefings may be held to provide operational updates on response and restoration efforts following the storm.
These emergency preparedness actions build on the winter readiness activities that CenterPoint conducted since the fall of 2025, including annual weatherization requirements from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and Railroad Commission of Texas to prepare for winter storms. These actions include:
- Donated and installed more than 20 emergency backup generators at key locations across Greater Houston to improve local emergency preparedness and response efforts;
- Positioning 17 compressed natural gas (CNG) trailers to provide additional supply for our customers, if needed, adding an additional trailer today to help strengthen preparedness;
- Inspecting nearly 200 natural gas regulator stations and installing heaters on equipment to prevent ice damage; and
- Conducted more than 19,000 total hours of emergency training in 2025 for hundreds of operational, emergency response and other personnel and contractors to strengthen severe weather preparation and response efforts.