Harris County Officials Condemn Threats Against CenterPoint Workers During Beryl Restoration Work – Houston Public Media

Celeste Schurman/Houston Public Media

Local and state officials are condemning threats against CenterPoint Energy line construction crews as patience begins to wear thin for thousands of Texans without power a week after Hurricane Beryl.

It’s been seven days since the Category 1 storm left roads flooded, homes destroyed and much of the metropolis in the dark. On Monday, more than 250,000 CenterPoint customers faced another day not knowing exactly when their lights would be back on.

Since the first day of the power outage, there have been several threats against crews restoring power, CenterPoint and local authorities said. Charges have been filed against a man who pointed a gun at a utility worker over the weekend, according to the Houston Police Department.

Jason Wells, CEO of CenterPoint Energy, said more than 100 line workers were evacuated from a substation after line crews reported the man was shooting at them.

“Unfortunately, there have been instances where threats of violence have been made or committed against our teams working on this vital restoration,” Wells said. “This is unacceptable.”

“We understand how difficult it is to be without power, especially in this heat,” he said. “I understand the anger and frustration.”

At a news conference over the weekend, Harris County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mike Lee said officers will ask the district attorney to continue to upgrade charges to storm-related crimes following threats against workers.

Lee said that during the early days of the storm, some workers felt unsafe after being threatened by residents near a staging area in southeast Houston.

“We sent the police out there,” he said. “They did their best to keep them in that area so that these residents could get their electricity back in a timely manner. At the end of the day, they packed up all their supplies or equipment and we had to move them to a safer location.”

The company has since asked customers to keep their distance from line crews and allow them to do their jobs.

RELATED: Houston power outages: Abbott says CenterPoint must develop storm plans as more than 385,000 people without power Sunday

Houston residents and city officials have grown increasingly angry with CenterPoint in recent days, criticizing the giant company for a lack of communication and a new power outage map that customers say is inaccurate.

A graffiti that appeared on an I-10 underpass last week may be an indication of customer confidence in the energy giant: “CenterPointle$$.” It was not immediately clear who painted it.

Daisy Espinoza / Houston Public Media

“The threats, the attacks, the vandalism of CenterPoint property and the linemen’s trucks … all of this is making it more difficult and longer to get the lights back on,” Commissioner Adrian Garcia said at a news conference.

The company said many of the city’s trees were vulnerable due to severe frost, drought and heavy rain over the past three years, blaming fallen trees for crews’ difficulty accessing some streets to restore power.

But by Monday afternoon, the team announced it had restored power to at least 2 million of the 2.26 million customers affected by Beryl. The company said it was on track to restore power to 98% of those customers by the end of the day Wednesday.

Ed Allen, a representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 66, said he wants CenterPoint to be held accountable for the company’s lack of transparency, but at the right time and in the right place.

“For now we have to turn the lights back on,” he said.

“We need all these people here,” he said. “Some have been pointed at with guns. Some have had stones thrown at them. Some have had AK-47s pointed at them, and that has to stop.”