CenterPoint

Commentary is still without power. Today is trash pick-up day, so it was a good day to empty the refrigerator. Sigh. I am now down to a few cold cuts and a couple of cans of tuna, then I will have to rely on restaurants. I guess that comes with being the part of the one million without power.  This is in the Chron today:

Several people on social media said CenterPoint notified them through text that their electricity was restored while remaining powerless. Others claimed the tracker falsely indicated that repairs were completed in neighborhoods while they remained still without power.

Here is the entire read with a not so good explanation: Some Houston residents receiving incorrect CenterPoint power updates (houstonchronicle.com).

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This is also from the Chron:

Two days after Hurricane Beryl knocked out power for a record 2.26 million CenterPoint customers in the Houston area, Gov. Greg Abbott said he is directing the Public Utilities Commission to study why the region has not been able to access electricity “on multiple occasions.”

Abbott, who is currently on an economic development trip in Asia, said in two TV interviews on Wednesday that he wants to find out “why this is repeatedly happening in Houston.”

Here is the entire read: Hurricane Beryl power outages: Abbott calls for investigation (houstonchronicle.com).

What a joke. We have not fixed the grid and Gov. Abbott wants to investigate CenterPoint. What a joke. When was the last time the state of Texas solved a major consumer or utility issue? What a joke.

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Maybe this needs investigating. This is also in the Chron:

Texas was quick to ask for federal aid when Hurricane Ike hit in 2008, when Hurricane Harvey struck in 2017, and again when Hurricane Hanna touched down in 2020. But that did not happen this year as Hurricane Beryl approached Houston, triggering a round of finger-pointing between the White House and Texas officials over how quickly federal supplies including food, water and generators should have been distributed.

President Joe Biden told the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday that he had to personally reach out the state’s acting governor, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, for a formal request a day after the storm hit, knocking out power to more than 2 million CenterPoint Energy customers.

“I’ve been trying to track down the governor to see — I don’t have any authority to do that without a specific request from the governor,” Biden said in a call. 

That’s not how Texas leaders have handled past hurricanes.

The night before Harvey first made landfall in Texas in 2017, Abbott already had a request signed and submitted to then-President Donald Trump in anticipation of the storm making landfall near Rockport. Days later, the storm hit Houston, dropping more than 50 inches of rain on the city.

In 2020, Abbott requested a major disaster declaration from Trump before Hanna made landfall in South Texas as a Category 1 hurricane.

“I submit this request in anticipation of the impacts of Hurricane Hanna, currently forecast to make landfall as a hurricane along the southern coast of Texas with continuing impacts to counties along the entire Texas coast and further inland,” Abbott said in his letter to Trump.

Abbott’s predecessor, Rick Perry, filed a major disaster declaration with then-President George W. Bush on Sept. 12, 2008, the day before Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston as a Category 2 storm with 110-mph winds.

Here is the entire read: Texas was slower to request federal Beryl aid than in past hurricanes (houstonchronicle.com).

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And finally, this from the Chron:

Mayor John Whitmire criticized CenterPoint’s response to Hurricane Beryl at a Houston City Council meeting on Wednesday, saying the energy company “needs to do a better job” restoring power to millions of customers who lost it when the storm tore through Houston. 

“That is the consensus of Houstonians, that’s mine,” Whitmire told reporters following the meeting.

Here is the read: Houston mayor after Beryl: CenterPoint ‘needs to do a better job’ (houstonchronicle.com).

Having no power and internet keeps you out of the loop. I am trying to stay up to date, but it has its challenges.

I am also dealing with insurance companies. See the featured photo of my tree that hovers over my destroyed carport. They need to come by to remove a limb.

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We won last night.