Texas launches new investigation into Houston's power utility following deadly outages after Beryl

zooming in

Texas' attorney general launched an investigation Monday into Houston's electric utility over allegations of fraud and waste following Hurricane Beryl, adding to the mounting scrutiny after widespread power outages left millions without electricity for days.

The latest investigation of CenterPoint Energy comes after state regulators and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott have also demanded answers about storm preparations and the response to Beryl, a Category 1 hurricane that knocked out power to nearly 3 million people around the nation’s fourth-largest city.

The storm was blamed for at least three dozen deaths, including those of some residents who died in homes that were left without air conditioning in sweltering heat after the storm's passage.

“My office is aware of concerning allegations regarding CenterPoint and how its conduct affected readiness during Hurricane Beryl,” Ken Paxton, the state's Republican attorney general, said in a statement. “If the investigation uncovers unlawful activity, that activity will be met with the full force of the law.”

The utility pledged its support of the investigation.

“We look forward to cooperating with the Texas Attorney General or any other agency and have made clear our commitment to upholding the values of our company,” CenterPoint spokesperson John Sousa said.

Paxton did not cite any specific allegations of waste or fraud in his announcement and his office did not respond to requests for comment.

Abbott has demanded answers from CenterPoint for what he called its slow restoration efforts and poor communication with customers in the days leading up to the storm. The state's Public Utility Commission has launched its own investigation, and lawmakers grilled the company’s top executive over its failures at a hearing last month.

CenterPoint has largely defended its storm preparedness and said that it deployed thousands of additional workers to help restore power. The utility provider has also begun a monthslong plan to replace hundreds of wooden utility poles and double its tree-trimming efforts after the governor pressed for swift action.

Beryl damaged power lines and uprooted trees when it made its Texas landfall on July 8. It’s the latest natural disaster to hit Houston after a powerful storm ripped through the area in May, leaving nearly 1 million people without power.

Many residents fear that chronic outages have become the norm after Texas’ power grid failed amid a deadly winter storm in 2021.

CenterPoint has previously faced questions over the reliability of Houston's power grid.

In 2008, Hurricane Ike, a Category 2 storm, knocked out power to more than 2 people million and it took 19 days to fully restore electricity. The city of Houston created a task force initiative to investigate the company's response and determined it needed to automate parts of its grid to minimize outages.

CenterPoint received millions of dollars in federal funding to implement this technology years ago. However, according to executive vice president Jason Ryan, it's still a work in progress.

Some utility experts and critics say the company hasn’t adapted its technology fast enough to meet the extreme weather conditions Texas will continue to face.

From Your Site Articles

It will take days to recover from Hurricane Beryl. Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Houston residents face high temperatures after storm Beryl leaves millions without power

lights out

The return of searing heat in the Houston area has deepened the misery for people still without power after Hurricane Beryl left residents in search of places to cool off and fuel up as the extended outages strained one of the nation’s largest cities.

More than 1.7 million homes and businesses in Texas lacked electricity Wednesday morning, down from a peak of over 2.7 million on Monday, according to PowerOutage.us. State officials faced questions over whether the power utility that covers much of the area had sufficiently prepared.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that a sports and event complex would be used to temporarily hold up to 250 hospital patients who are awaiting discharge but cannot be released to homes with no power.

Beryl, which made landfall in Texas early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, has been blamed for at least seven U.S. deaths — one in Louisiana and six in Texas — and at least 11 in the Caribbean. It weakened as it moved deeper into the U.S. and early Wednesday was a post-tropical cyclone centered over northeastern Indiana.

A flood watch was in effect for parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The storm spawned suspected tornadoes in parts of Indiana and Kentucky.

In the Houston area, Beryl compounded and repeated the misery of May, when storms killed eight people and left nearly 1 million without power.

High temperatures Tuesday climbed into the 90s (above 32.2 Celsius) with humidity that made it feel even hotter. Similar heat and humidity were expected Wednesday. The National Weather Service described the conditions as potentially dangerous, given the lack of power and air conditioning.

People coped as best they could. Kyuta Allen took her family to a Houston community center to cool down and use the internet.

“During the day you can have the doors open, but at night you’ve got to board up and lock up — lock yourself like into a sauna,” she said.

An executive for CenterPoint Energy, which covers much of the Houston area, defended the utility’s preparation and response.

“From my perspective, to have a storm pass at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, have those crews come in in the late evening, and have everything ready by 5 a.m. to go out and get out and start the workforce is rather impressive, because we’re talking about thousands of crews,” said Brad Tutunjian, vice president of regulatory policy.

Nim Kidd, head of the state’s division of emergency management, stressed that restoring power was the top priority.

Patrick, who is acting as governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is overseas, said nursing homes and assisted living centers were the highest priority. Sixteen hospitals ran on generator power Tuesday morning, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Ad Placement 300x100

Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Houston startup strikes deal to develop hydrogen production plant in Canada

hydrogen partnership

Houston-based cleantech startup Vema Hydrogen has reached a tentative agreement with Canada-based CHARBONE Corp. to develop a hydrogen production and processing plant in Québec.

The deal would couple Vema’s production of engineered mineral hydrogen with CHARBONE’s purification, compression and distribution capabilities.

Engineered mineral hydrogen, also known as orange hydrogen, is produced underground by accelerating naturally occurring geochemical reactions in iron-rich rock formations, according to the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

“Across high-value markets — from aviation and maritime fuels to industrial gases — there is incredible demand for Vema’s low-carbon [hydrogen]. Now, more than ever, we need a pathway to deliver these low-carbon fuels,” Pierre Levin, CEO of Vema, said in a news release.

The project would enable Vema to expand into emerging markets like low-carbon maritime and aviation fuel, e-fuels and power generation. Incorporating CHARBONE’s capabilities, the agreement would also support Québec’s hydrogen supply chain.

“The market is demanding high-value industrial gases, and our customers need cleaner, more reliable supply. By pairing Vema’s [hydrogen] feedstock with our purification and distribution capabilities, we’re strengthening Québec’s position as a regional hub for next-generation hydrogen,” Dave Gagnon, CEO of CHARBONE, added in the release.

Vema said in February that it had completed drilling of its first two pilot wells in Québec, making them the world’s first pilot well for orange hydrogen. It’s the first time Vema’s technology has been used outside a lab.

“This pilot will provide the critical data needed to validate [our hydrogen] at commercial scale and demonstrate that Quebec can lead the world in this emerging clean energy category,” Levin said. “The quality of the rock within our core samples is exactly what we expected and is very promising for hydrogen yields.”

Shortly before Vema carried out the pilot drilling, it signed a 10-year deal with California-based energy technology company Verne Power to supply clean hydrogen for California data centers. Over the course of the 10-year agreement, Vema will boost annual production of orange hydrogen to more than 36,000 metric tons.

“There is a robust market for baseload power generation across the U.S., where data centers are straining the grid,” Levin said. “As we power California’s fastest-growing markets with clean hydrogen, we look toward expanding our hydrogen to markets globally and supporting AI-driven power hubs.”

Vema, founded two years ago, raised $13 million in seed funding in 2025.

“The energy transition and emerging uses of hydrogen have spurred demand for clean hydrogen,” Levin said in its funding announcement. “However, existing decarbonized hydrogen production methods simply don’t work — they are too costly and energy-intensive. Vema is here to change that. It’s time to unlock a new era of scalable, low-carbon hydrogen.”

5 must-read Houston energy headlines: Veriten venture fund, ERock IPO + more

Trending News

Editor's note: The month of May brought big news for the Houston energy sector, including a flagship energy venture fund and IPO updates. Here are the five most-read EnergyCapital stories published May 14-29, 2026:

1. Houston investment firm closes $105M energy venture fund

Houston-based investment firm Veriten has announced the initial close of its second flagship energy venture fund with more than $105 million in capital commitments. Fund II will build on Veriten’s initial fund and aim to support “scalable technology solutions for energy, power and industrial applications.” Veriten is supported by over 50 strategic partnerships in the energy, power, industrial and technology sectors, including major players like Halliburton and Phillips 66.

2. Buoyed by $1.3B sales backlog, microgrid company ERock files for IPO

Another energy company in Houston is going public amid a flurry of energy IPOs. Houston-based ERock Inc., which specializes in utility-grade onsite microgrid systems for data centers and other customers, has filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sell its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The ERock filing follows the recent $1.9 billion IPO of Houston-based Fervo Energy, a provider of geothermal power that’s now valued at $7.7 billion.

3. Houston renewables developer signs agreement with Meta for new solar project

Houston-based EDP Renewables North America has signed a long-term power purchase agreement with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for its forthcoming Cypress Knee Solar project. The 250‑megawatt solar project will be built in Arkansas and is expected to come online by 2028. The company says the project will generate approximately $25 million in new revenue for Chicot County once operational.

4. Houston energy expert asks: Who pays when AI outruns the power grid?

For most of the past 20 years, U.S. electricity policy relied on predictable trends in demand. Electricity use, in most regions, increased gradually, forecasts were stable, and utilities adjusted the system in small steps. Power plants, transmission lines, and substations were generally added to reflect shifts in load, rather than growth, and costs were recovered through modest adjustments to customer bills. Growth in AI data centers has disrupted this model. A single facility can add as much electricity demand as a small town. That demand comes all at once, runs continuously, and has little tolerance for outages. If electricity service drops even briefly, computation stops, and services shut down. Ironically, data centers need reliable service, a point that their emergence is driving concern around for the rest of the grid.

5. Report shows geoscientists earn largest salary premium in Texas

A move to Texas bolsters earnings for some, and a new SmartAsset study has revealed the top professions where the median annual earnings in the Lone Star State exceed the national median. According to the report's findings, geoscientists have the biggest "Texas premium" and make a $159,903 median annual salary. Texas' salary for geoscientists is 61 percent higher than the national median for the same position (after adjusting for regional price parity).

Greentown names 5 climatech startups to manufacturing accelerator

Catalyst Cohort

Greentown Labs has named five climatech startups to its Go Make 2026 cohort, including one from Houston.

Greentown Go Make 2026 is in partnership with Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies. Startups will be able to collaborate with leadership from Shell and Technip and have opportunities to work directly with their process engineering teams and develop potential partnerships, pilots and demonstrations, according to Greentown.

This year's manufacturing cohort focuses specifically on process technology and catalytic innovations, which, according to Greentown, have the potential to be a "critical enabler of the global energy transition." Greentown shares that 90 percent of chemical processes depend on catalysis, but traditional methods rely on fossil fuels and consume significant amounts of energy.

“Catalysis underpins the majority of industrial chemical processes, which together account for a significant share of global emissions, making it a critical lever for reducing carbon intensity while improving performance,” Georgina Campbell Flatter, CEO of Greentown, said in a news release. “Greentown Go Make 2026 is designed to close the gap between breakthrough innovation and industrial deployment. By connecting startups with Shell and Technip Energies’ technical expertise and global scale, we’re helping accelerate solutions that improve efficiency and drive industrial decarbonization.”

The five Greentown Go Make 2026 companies include:

Houston-based Biosimo, which makes scalable biochemicals from ethanol
Missouri-based Catalyxx, which transforms bioethanol into drop-in, cost-competitive, carbon-negative chemicals
Sydney, Australia-based HydGene Renewables, which produces low-carbon hydrogen and industrial chemicals from waste biomass
Switzerland-based TreaTech, which turns waste into renewable gas, water and minerals through catalytic hydrothermal gasification
California-based Unifuel, which has developed a chemical technology platform to make sustainable aviation fuel, renewable gasoline and other renewable chemicals

The cohort will be celebrated at a kickoff event in Houston at The Ion on June 9.

In addition to Greentown Go Make, Greentown also runs its Go Move (transportation), Go Energize (energy and electricity), Go Build (buildings), and Go Grow (food and agriculture) cohort-based programs. The climatech incubator announced its Go Build 2026 cohort in March. Read more here.

View All Listings

ENERGYCAPITALHTX EMAILS ARE AWESOME