Latest news with #TonyGardner
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season: CenterPoint Energy emphasizes preparedness with critical resiliency efforts completed before June 1; urges customers to have an emergency plan and practice that plan
Historic series of Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative key improvements completed ahead of schedule to strengthen the grid and reduce the impact of outages from major storms Joint emergency response exercise completed; community safety and preparedness events continue with emergency officials and local partners CenterPoint continues proactive outreach and communication efforts across Greater Houston service area to help customers prepare for upcoming storm season HOUSTON, June 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season officially underway, CenterPoint Energy is reinforcing the resiliency and preparedness efforts the company already completed to strengthen grid resiliency, improve local emergency coordination and help communities and customers better prepare for potential severe weather. Last month, CenterPoint held its 2025 emergency response exercise as part of a coordinated effort with public officials, emergency response managers and community partners to improve local cooperation and response efforts. The company continues to work with communities to donate and install more than 20 backup generators for critical facilities and other key locations across its 12-county service area and has been hosting a series of community and customer outreach events across the Greater Houston area to share important safety information and preparation updates. "Ahead of this year's hurricane season, CenterPoint has been fully engaged in completing a series of historic resiliency improvements and preparedness activities to enhance how we prepare for and respond to hurricanes and other severe weather events," said Tony Gardner, CenterPoint Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. "While we've accomplished a great number of milestones ahead of the start of hurricane season, we won't stop there. We will continue diligently monitoring the weather, making more improvements and investments, and maintaining our storm preparedness efforts while we work every day to achieve our goal of building the most resilient coastal grid in the country." 2025 Hurricane Season Preparedness: Getting Ready for Extreme WeatherCenterPoint has been conducting and helping coordinate a series of important preparedness activities over the last several months, including: Completing historic grid improvements: As part of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI), CenterPoint has completed a series of critical resiliency actions ahead of schedule, including: Installing 26,000 stronger, more storm-resilient poles; Installing 5,150 automated devices; Clearing high-risk vegetation from 6,000 miles of power lines; Undergrounding more than 400 miles of power lines; and Installing 100 weather stations to provide real-time weather monitoring. Leveraging AI and emerging technologies: Collaborating with industry-leading technology providers, including Neara and Technosylva, to better predict and prepare for extreme weather impacts. Working with emergency partners to get ready: Coordinating with local officials, emergency management offices and community partners to prepare for extreme weather events, including through joint emergency response exercises. Donating and installing emergency generators to key locations: Working with local communities to provide backup generators to critical facilities and community centers that provide medical care, food and water, cooling and other essential services in emergencies. Hosting customer and community hurricane preparedness events: Holding a series of community preparedness events and webinars to provide updates about CenterPoint's preparations for hurricane season, important safety tips and key resources for customers. Enhancing critical storm response tools: Implemented sophisticated damage modeling to help expedite critical decision making before and during an event, as well as adopted a new storm management software program to more efficiently onboard and deploy mutual assistance crews in support of CenterPoint's emergency response efforts. Upgrading CenterPoint's Outage Tracker: Launched a new and improved, cloud-based Outage Tracker to provide real-time updates on outages and restoration efforts, available in English and Spanish. CenterPoint will continue to provide updates on its critical resiliency actions. More information is available at About CenterPoint Energy, Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) is a multi-state electric and natural gas delivery company serving approximately 7 million metered customers across Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas. The company is headquartered in Houston and is the only Texas-domiciled investor-owned utility. As of March 31, 2025, the company had approximately $44 billion in assets. With approximately 8,300 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been serving customers for more than 150 years. For more information, visit Forward-looking statementsThis news release, as well as the website pages related to the GHRI, includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this news release or the website pages related to the GHRI, the words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "goal," "intend," "may," "objective," "plan," "potential," "predict," "projection," "should," "target," "will" or other similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, which include statements regarding the GHRI and longer-term resiliency plans, including effectiveness, timing and related matters, are based upon assumptions of management which are believed to be reasonable at the time made and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Any statements in this news release or the website pages related to the GHRI regarding future events that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement contained in this news release or the website pages related to the GHRI speaks only as of the date of this release or the date that such statement is made, as applicable. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the provided forward-looking information include risks and uncertainties relating to: (1) business strategies and strategic initiatives, restructurings, joint ventures, acquisitions or dispositions of assets or businesses involving CenterPoint Energy or its industry; (2) CenterPoint Energy's ability to fund and invest planned capital, and the timely recovery of its investments; (3) financial market and general economic conditions; (4) the timing and impact of future regulatory, legislative and political actions or developments; and (5) other factors, risks and uncertainties discussed in CenterPoint Energy's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 and other reports CenterPoint Energy or its subsidiaries may file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE CenterPoint Energy
Associated Press
16-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
CenterPoint Energy returns to normal operations as NWS Red Flag Warning expires, weather and wind threat ends for Greater Houston region
Approximately 99% of customers experienced no outages during fire weather conditions HOUSTON, March 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy is returning to normal operations as the National Weather Service's Red Flag Warning and risks of fire weather and strong wind end for the Greater Houston area. The company's system performed well, with less than one percent of customers experiencing an outage throughout today's high wind gusts. Over the last several days, CenterPoint actively prepared for potentially dangerous weather conditions by conducting pre-inspections of electric and natural gas equipment, adjusting power line safety settings in higher-risk areas, communicating with customers and working with local emergency agencies. Key Actions to Help Keep Customers Safe Leading up to today's Red Flag Warning, CenterPoint's safety preparations included the following key actions: Inspected and Hardened Key Power Lines: Inspected power lines in areas of heightened fire risk, cleared hazardous vegetation near power lines and conducted repairs where needed, ahead of potential extreme weather. Inspected Natural Gas Facilities: Inspected gas facilities in areas of heightened fire risk and cleared hazardous vegetation near facilities ahead of potential extreme weather. Adjusted Safety Settings: Adjusted the settings on some power lines for safety between noon and 9 p.m. today. Brought on Additional Crews to Respond: Positioned CenterPoint crews and additional contractors to respond to any power outages or natural gas service interruptions that may occur. Coordinated with Local Emergency Partners: Proactively shared information with state, county and local leaders. Communicated with Customers: Proactively communicated with approximately 330,000 customers in the Cypress, Fort Bend and Katy areas by phone, text or email about the potential for temporary safety outages due to high fire danger. 'We'd like to thank our customers for their patience as some might have experienced temporary outages today as we took the necessary precautions to protect the community and our electric system from the fire weather conditions,' said Tony Gardner, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. 'While today's weather risk has passed, we encourage customers to take this opportunity to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® and verify contact information so that when the next weather event might impact Greater Houston area, CenterPoint can contact you with important information regarding your electric service.' CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates by phone call, text or email. Customers can also follow @CenterPoint_TX
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
CenterPoint Energy returns to normal operations as NWS Red Flag Warning expires, weather and wind threat ends for Greater Houston region
Approximately 99% of customers experienced no outages during fire weather conditions HOUSTON, March 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy is returning to normal operations as the National Weather Service's Red Flag Warning and risks of fire weather and strong wind end for the Greater Houston area. The company's system performed well, with less than one percent of customers experiencing an outage throughout today's high wind gusts. Over the last several days, CenterPoint actively prepared for potentially dangerous weather conditions by conducting pre-inspections of electric and natural gas equipment, adjusting power line safety settings in higher-risk areas, communicating with customers and working with local emergency agencies. Key Actions to Help Keep Customers SafeLeading up to today's Red Flag Warning, CenterPoint's safety preparations included the following key actions: Inspected and Hardened Key Power Lines: Inspected power lines in areas of heightened fire risk, cleared hazardous vegetation near power lines and conducted repairs where needed, ahead of potential extreme weather. Inspected Natural Gas Facilities: Inspected gas facilities in areas of heightened fire risk and cleared hazardous vegetation near facilities ahead of potential extreme weather. Adjusted Safety Settings: Adjusted the settings on some power lines for safety between noon and 9 p.m. today. Brought on Additional Crews to Respond: Positioned CenterPoint crews and additional contractors to respond to any power outages or natural gas service interruptions that may occur. Coordinated with Local Emergency Partners: Proactively shared information with state, county and local leaders. Communicated with Customers: Proactively communicated with approximately 330,000 customers in the Cypress, Fort Bend and Katy areas by phone, text or email about the potential for temporary safety outages due to high fire danger. "We'd like to thank our customers for their patience as some might have experienced temporary outages today as we took the necessary precautions to protect the community and our electric system from the fire weather conditions," said Tony Gardner, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. "While today's weather risk has passed, we encourage customers to take this opportunity to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® and verify contact information so that when the next weather event might impact Greater Houston area, CenterPoint can contact you with important information regarding your electric service." CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates by phone call, text or email. Customers can also follow @CenterPoint_TX to receive the most up-to-date information on the company's operations in the Greater Houston area and across Texas. For more information, contact: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE CenterPoint Energy
