CenterPoint Energy has reached a settlement agreement with parties to its 2026-2028 Systemwide Resiliency Plan (SRP), which will represent the largest single grid resiliency investment in CenterPoint's history.
The plan is expected to reduce storm-related outages by 1 billion minutes for its 2.8 million customers by 2029 and build on the first two phases of the company's Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI), according to a release from CenterPoint.
This SRP is designed to further address the impacts of extreme weather threats. The deal, which is subject to Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) review and approval, reflects discussions with intervening parties following the filing of CenterPoint's enhanced SRP with the PUCT in January 2025.
“Our plan is cost-effective and will build on the progress we've made to date through the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative,” Jason Wells, president and CEO of CenterPoint, said in a news release. “We believe that these resiliency actions will help create a future with fewer outages that impact smaller clusters of customers, coupled with faster restoration times for our Greater Houston communities.”
Included in the SRP is a revised, agreed-upon investment of more than $3 billion in CenterPoint's electric distribution system, and also includes the deferment of more than $240 million in SRP costs until the second half of 2029, which will spread the costs out for customers over a four-year period. All SRP work will be completed in the proposed 2026-2028 timeframe, once approved.
The plan will target high-risk areas. Key initiatives include:
- Distributing 130,000 stronger storm-resilient poles
- Clearing 100 percent of power lines of hazardous vegetation every three years
- Undergrounding more than 50 percent of CenterPoint's system
- Modernizing 20,150 spans of underground cables
- Automating lines serving the most customers to make them capable of “self-healing”
CenterPoint also announced it will continue its nearly $2 billion investment planned for the electric transmission system, which includes rebuilding or upgrading 2,200 structures to help withstand extreme weather.
The SRP investment in the electric distribution system would add $1.40 per month for an average residential customer each year from 2026 through 2028, with a final $0.60 per month added in 2030, according to the news release.
“This is another major step on our strategic roadmap to building and operating the most resilient coastal grid in the nation,” Wells said in the release.
In preparation for filing the SRP, CenterPoint ran 30 community meetings, listening sessions and solicited feedback on the plan during the draft stages.
In April, CenterPoint began building a network of 100 new weather monitoring stations, which will provide 24/7 weather monitoring and storm response preparation, and in June began installing 100 new local weather monitoring stations as part of the GHRI Phase 2. Also in April, CenterPoint began a collaboration between AI-powered predictive modeling platform company Neara and utility infrastructure asset assessment solutions company Osmose.
