Restoration costs after Houston storm will be passed on to customers

HOUSTON — It’s been three weeks since strong derecho winds hit Houston, damaging homes and businesses and leaving many people without power for days.

Since then, CenterPoint crews have had a busy few weeks, working to recover after back-to-back severe storms knocked out power in the Houston area.

“I think this storm that hit on May 16 shows that we can be prepared, even with little notice, for a hurricane-type event and restore service to customers as quickly as possible,” said Jason, executive vice president of CenterPoint regulatory and government affairs services. Ryan.

Ryan said crews are still working on repairs.

“Things like temporary transmission structures that were installed where the transmission structure was damaged, we have to go back and replace them with permanent structures. Also, you can have distribution poles that are leaning – the current can be lit, but this leaning pole needs to be replaced,” he said.

All this work could take months and come at a high cost – and customers will ultimately help foot that bill.

“We don’t have a definitive estimate at this time on costs,” Ryan said. “It will cost at least $100 million.”

Consumer experts say this isn’t the first time these types of costs have been passed on to customers.

“The company can make several choices to try to obtain a refund. One of them is reimbursement as part of the invoice. A few years ago it was a surcharge,” said Sandra Haverlah, president of the Texas Consumer Association. “It’s a tax added to the bill.”

“I think what customers can anticipate, though, is a financial impact of about a dollar a month,” Ryan said.

Haverlah said returning the ball might be something that changes in the future.

“Damage with a high price. I think the legislature should address this issue and develop new ways to pay for storm damages in the future,” she said.

CenterPoint told KHOU 11 they don’t have an exact final cost yet because they’re still waiting on the bill from all the out-of-town and out-of-state crews that were brought in to help restore power .

As for additional fees, the company said you won’t see them right away. Instead, this will be implemented gradually over the next year.

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