The restoration costs will add about $2 per month to the average customer’s electricity bill, with the rate change expected to take effect later this year or early next year.
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An approximately $1.2 billion CenterPoint customer rate increase has been tentatively approved to cover repair and recovery costs from Hurricane Beryl and two other storms that affected the Greater Houston area.
The restoration costs will add about $2 per month to the average customer’s electricity bill, with the rate change expected to take effect later this year or early next year, according to an Oct. 6 statement from CenterPoint Energy. The Public Utility Commission voted on the recovery costs on Oct. 2. However, the Commission has not yet issued a final order, and has indicated that it will take up the issue again during its next open meeting on Oct 23.
APRIL APPLICATION
According to a CenterPoint statement, the PUC’s Oct. 2 decision allows for the utility to spread its “system restoration” costs to residential customers for the next 15 years. However, the approved amount is slightly less than what the company initially requested. In its April application, CenterPoint sought recovery of $1.3 billion for system restoration costs related to Hurricane Beryl, Hurricane Francine and Winter Storm Enzo. But after negotiations with city groups and other interested parties, the utility agreed to reduce that amount by $22 million and to defer an additional $78 million subject to a future rate case.
In a memo filed prior to the commission’s decision, PUC Chair Thomas Gleeson also questioned CenterPoint’s inclusion of $23.5 million in costs associated with Hurricane Francine — given that that storm caused no outages. However, the commissioners ultimately agreed to include those costs, reasoning that to do otherwise could disincentivize utilities from preparing for storms.
Other Storms
More than 2.2 million customers in the Greater Houston area lost power during Hurricane Beryl in July 2024, and over 4,400 Harris County homes were damaged, according to media reports. The Category 1 storm led to an estimated $32 billion in losses nationwide.
About 28,500 CenterPoint Energy customers lost power because of Winter Storm Enzo and most of those outages were resolved within 24 hours, according to the Community Impact publication. City of Houston officials reported minimal damage from the storm, which hit Houston in January.