Some of the most serious storm-related criticisms faced by the Houston-based utility related to the failure of its online outage tracker. Frustrated by system crashes, many Houstonians found themselves turning instead to an online application sponsored by the Whataburger fast food chain.
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Texas Transmission and Distribution Utilities would be required to create and maintain online outage trackers under new regulations proposed at the Texas Public Utility Commission.
The proposed rules, which are part of a “Proposal for Publication” rulemaking launched August 15 by agency staff, also would require Transmission and Distribution Utilities (TDUs), Municipally Owned Utilities (MOUs) and electric co-ops to develop a process to receive reliable and accurate information from governmental entities whenever hazardous conditions arise.
The PUC took up the proposed rules under Project No. 56897 (and a related rulemaking under Project No. 56898) in response to communication failures by CenterPoint Electric after Hurricane Beryl swept ashore July 8. The storm knocked out power for more than 1 million CenterPoint customers, and many remained without power for 10 days.
Some of the most serious storm-related criticisms faced by the Houston-based utility related to the failure of its online outage tracker. Frustrated by system crashes, many Houstonians instead found themselves turning to an online application sponsored by the Whataburger fast food chain to determine which neighborhoods had power. CenterPoint said it revamped its tracker earlier this month — but the corrections came too late to help those affected by the storm.
Although all five PUC commissioners were supportive of the proposed rule under Project No. 56897, Commissioner Lori Cobos called for two additional considerations: (1) outage trackers must provide information in English and Spanish where applicable, and (2) utilities should be required to immediately notify the PUC when their outage tracker unexpectedly goes off-line. Ultimately, the commissioners approved going forward with the 56897 rulemaking consistent with the changes Commissioner Cobos proposed.
The second rulemaking, under Project No. 56898, relates to individual communications during emergencies. Currently, retail electric providers — and not Transmission and Distribution Utilities — maintain customer contact information. Customers can opt-into a system whereby that information is shared with the electric utility for emergency purposes. Under the proposed new rule, customer information would be shared by default with utilities, with customers able instead to opt-out. “We’re going to flip the script on this — instead of opt-in, we’re requiring REPs — that handle customer relations — to provide this information to the TDUs,” said PUC staffer David Smeltzer about the proposed changes.
Stakeholders — including electric utilities and retail electric providers — now will receive the opportunity to weigh in on the proposed rules. The PUC then will take them up for final approval at a later date.