grid resiliency
CenterPoint gets go-ahead for $2.9B upgrade of Houston grid
Texas utility regulators have given the green light for Houston-based CenterPoint Energy to spend $2.9 billion on strengthening its Houston-area electric grid to better withstand extreme weather.
The cost of the plan is nearly $3 billion below what CenterPoint initially proposed to the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
In early 2025, CenterPoint unveiled a $5.75 billion plan to upgrade its Houston-area power system from 2026 through 2028. But the price tag dropped to $2.9 billion as part of a legal settlement between CenterPoint and cities in the utility’s service area.
Sometime after the first quarter of next year, CenterPoint customers in the Houston area will pay an extra $1 a month for the next three years to cover costs of the resiliency plan. CenterPoint serves 2.9 million customers in a 12-county territory anchored by Houston.
CenterPoint says the plan is part of its “commitment to building the most resilient coastal grid in the country.”
A key to improving CenterPoint’s local grid will be stepping up management of high-risk vegetation (namely trees), which ranks as the leading cause of power outages in the Houston area. CenterPoint says it will “go above and beyond standard vegetation management by implementing an industry-leading three-year trim cycle,” clearing vegetation from thousands of miles of power lines.
The utility company says its plan aims to prevent Houston-area power outages in case of hurricanes, floods, extreme temperatures, tornadoes, wildfires, winter storms, and other extreme weather events.
CenterPoint says the plan will:
- Improve systemwide resilience by 30 percent
- Expand the grid’s power-generating capacity. The company expects power demand in the Houston area to grow 2 percent per year for the foreseeable future.
- Save about $50 million per year on storm cleanup costs
- Avoid outages for more than 500,000 customers in the event of a disaster like last year’s Hurricane Beryl
- Provide 130,000 stronger, more storm-resilient utility poles
- Put more than 50 percent of the power system underground
- Rebuild or upgrade more than 2,200 transmission towers
- Modernize 34,500 spans of underground cables
In the Energy Capital of the World, residents “expect and deserve an electric system that is safe, reliable, cost-effective, and resilient when they need it most. We’re determined to deliver just that,” Jason Wells, president and CEO of CenterPoint, said in January.
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