- Company has completed Phase One of the Greater Houston
Resiliency Initiative; continues to make progress on Phase Two of
the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative to be better prepared for
2025 hurricane season; and will file its multi-year system
resiliency plan by January
2025
- Company has continued to communicate with intervening
parties and plans to resume settlement talks immediately
HOUSTON, Nov. 8, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy (CenterPoint) today
announced its plans to proceed with settlement talks for its 2024
CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric (CEHE) rate case that the
company had previously requested to withdraw on August 1, 2024. The CEHE 2024 rate case was first
filed with Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and municipal regulatory
authorities on March 6, 2024.
Over the last several weeks, CenterPoint has received feedback
and continued to communicate with intervening parties to the rate
case. The company plans to resume settlement talks immediately.
The original withdrawal request was part of the company-wide
commitment to act urgently to improve and strengthen the resiliency
of the energy system during this hurricane season.
"Throughout the second half of the year, we've been acting
urgently to strengthen our resiliency, including completing the
first phase of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative,
and we are making good progress on phase two. Our company's
collective focus remains on building the most resilient coastal
grid in the country," said CenterPoint President and CEO
Jason Wells.
"Even as we have focused on rapidly hardening our system, we've
continued to listen to our customers and parties to the rate
case. Based on that feedback, we believe there is a shared
interest in working toward a constructive resolution. We remain
focused on providing value to our customers and affordably
delivering our ambitious long-term resiliency goals that are vital
to Houston's future economic
growth," said Wells.
"We are determined to reach an agreement that reflects our
commitment to customer affordability while addressing the fact that
in 2023 alone CenterPoint invested more in our system, resulting in
$75 million more in costs that were
not billed to customers for additional system improvements and
vegetation management. We look forward to working with all parties
bring resolution to this case," said Jason
Ryan, Executive Vice President of Regulatory Services and
Government Affairs.
First Phase: Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative
Since Hurricane Beryl earlier this summer, CenterPoint has taken
action across the 12-county Greater
Houston area to improve resiliency and help reduce the risk
of outages this hurricane season.
In the first phase of its Greater Houston Resiliency
Initiative, CenterPoint crews and contractors installed more
than 1,100 stronger and more resilient fiberglass poles,
trimmed vegetation along more than 2,000 miles of power
lines and installed more than 300 automation devices in
neighborhoods across the region.
Second Phase: Greater Houston Resiliency
Initiative
The company's second phase is taking the boldest
series of resiliency actions in its nearly 160-year history. In
early September, CenterPoint announced a comprehensive suite of new
actions as part of the next phase of its Greater Houston
Resiliency Initiative, including strengthening the energy
system and operations over the next eight months and before the
start of the 2025 hurricane season. These extensive near-term
actions will: build on the work CenterPoint completed in
the first phase of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative,
continue to strengthen resiliency, improve its communications and
develop stronger partnerships, and help reinforce its electric
system as it prepares for both the upcoming winter season and the
2025 hurricane season.
The actions in Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative Phase Two
will help enable a self-healing grid, reduce the length and
frequency of outages and lead to more than an estimated 125 million
fewer outage minutes annually for customers in the Greater Houston area. Work will be completed
ahead of the 2025 hurricane season, or June
1, 2025, and will include:
- Installing new or replacing 25,000 poles that meet extreme wind
standards;
- Trimming or removing higher-risk vegetation across 4,000 miles
of power lines;
- Installing 4,500 automation devices, known as trip savers, and
350 Intelligent Grid Switching Devices as part of our effort to
build a self-healing grid that utilizes automation to respond to
outages faster; and
- Strategically undergrounding more than 400 miles of power
lines.
Third Phase: Multi-Year System Resiliency Plan
As
previously stated, CenterPoint will file its updated and enhanced
multi-year system resiliency plan by the end of January 2025.
Estimated Monthly Customer Bill Impact
CenterPoint's
filing originally sought a net increase on the average residential
customer bill using 1,000 kwh per month of approximately
$1.25 per month, which is overall
less than a one percent net increase on the total retail bill.
CenterPoint Earnings Monitoring Report
As was reported
in the company's 2024 Earnings Monitoring Report to the PUCT, for
calendar year 2023, CenterPoint invested more in its system,
resulting in $75 million more in
costs that were not billed to customers for additional system
improvements and vegetation management.
About CenterPoint Energy
As the only investor-owned
electric and gas utility based in Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) is
an energy delivery company with electric transmission and
distribution, power generation and natural gas distribution
operations that serve more than 7 million metered customers in
Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas. With approximately 9,000 employees,
CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in
business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit
CenterPointEnergy.com. For more information about affirmation
of CenterPoint Energy's current earnings guidance and other
financial information, please visit the "Investor Relations"
homepage of our website under "Events & Presentations," found
here.
Forward-looking Statements
This news release, as well
as the website pages related to the Greater Houston Resiliency
Initiative, 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 Greater
Houston Resiliency Initiative 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, including statements regarding the
Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative and longer-term resiliency
plans, including effectiveness, timing and related matters, as well
as the timing of and projections for upcoming rate cases
for CenterPoint and its subsidiaries, 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
Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative 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 Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative
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) CenterPoint's business strategies
and strategic initiatives; (2) financial market conditions; (3)
general economic conditions; (4) the timing and impact of future
regulatory and legislative decisions; and (5) other factors, risks
and uncertainties discussed in CenterPoint's Annual Report on Form
10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31,
2023 and CenterPoint's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for
the quarters ended March 31, 2024,
June 30, 2024 and September 30, 2024 and other reports CenterPoint
or its subsidiaries may file from time to time with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
For more information, contact
Communications
Media.Relations@CenterPointEnergy.com
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SOURCE CenterPoint Energy