Convenience Big Store: CenterPoint says its storm costs will exceed $100M. Who will pay?

May 24, 2024

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Good morning, Houston.

Happy Friday! Yesterday evening, community members gathered to celebrate the life of Reverend William Alexander "Bill" Lawson, a civil rights leader and prominent figure in the Houston community. A second celebration will take place later this morning. View photos from last night's service here.

⛅ Temperature check: High of 93; low of 79. Mary's insight: The National Weather Service could issue its first heat advisory of the year for Houston as early as Sunday. Heat advisories are intended to warn the public that the excessive heat could lead to heat-related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion or heatstroke. Read more here.

Yasmeen Khalifa, Audience Engagement Producer

yasmeen.khalifa@houstonchronicle.com

Best of the Bayou

Today we're talking about who will pay for CenterPoint's $100M in storm costs...

If you read one thing: CenterPoint Energy has incurred at least $100 million in costs in restoring power for the nearly 1 million Houston-area customers who suffered outages from last week's derecho, according to a company executive.

Are there still outages?

Nearly 18,000 customers remained without power Thursday afternoon as Houston's heat index climbed to 100 degrees.

Crews will continue through the weekend to restore those remaining outages, which are not expected to extend into next week, he said. More than 5,000 workers from utilities across Texas and eight other states came to assist CenterPoint's staff of 2,000, said CenterPoint executive Jason Ryan.

Who will pay the costs?

CenterPoint plans to seek approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas to issue bonds to recover its storm-related costs. Customers would then see a surcharge on their bills to pay down the debt, which carries interest, Ryan said.

The utility has to incur at least $100 million in costs to issue bonds, known as securitization, which would allow CenterPoint to spread out the cost burden over time, he said. The securitized costs, if approved, would show up on electricity bills sometime in the second half of next year, Ryan said.

Read Claire Hao's full story here.

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I hope your Memorial Day weekend provides a break from storm woes and some time for relaxation. See ya next week!

— Yasmeen Khalifa