Company makes internal and contractor frontline
electrical workers available to
other impacted utilities in Gulf
Coast states
- CenterPoint's nearly 480-member natural gas workforce in
Louisiana and its nearly
200-member workforce in Mississippi are responding to customer
requests and odor calls.
- Crews are expected to complete all safety inspections by the
end of the day today, with portions of Louisiana already reported as
completed.
- CenterPoint did not experience significant impacts from
Hurricane Francine on its electric or natural gas networks across
Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
- CenterPoint has released 1,500 distribution frontline and
700 vegetation management mutual aid workers to support other
utilities in areas more impacted by the storm.
HOUSTON, Sept. 12,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Following Hurricane Francine's
landfall, CenterPoint Energy is focusing its response efforts on
its natural gas infrastructure and customers in Louisiana and Mississippi. As of 4
p.m. CT, Thursday, September
12, the effects of Francine have not resulted in any
significant damage to its electric or gas networks across the
Gulf Coast region. CenterPoint's
nearly 480-member natural gas workforce in Louisiana and nearly 200-member workforce in
Mississippi are expected to
complete all safety inspections today, with portions of
Louisiana already being reported
as completed. Crews will also be responding to customer requests
and odor calls.
"While the worst of the storm has passed, we continue to urge
our customers to take precautions and follow the necessary safety
steps when it comes to their natural gas service, including staying
alert for the smell of natural gas and refraining from turning gas
valves on or off," said Bo Murphy,
CenterPoint's Vice President of Louisiana and Mississippi Natural Gas.
Given no significant impact on the electric system in
Greater Houston from Francine,
CenterPoint has made 1,500 distribution frontline and 700
vegetation management mutual aid workers available to other
utilities more impacted by the storm. As part of its commitment to
provide assistance to other utilities impacted by Francine,
CenterPoint will also be making some of its Greater Houston area internal and contractor
frontline electric workers available to the mutual aid system.
"The mutual aid system is an essential part of a utility's
operations before, during and after a major storm. We are prepared
to answer the call if utilities in impacted states need additional
support to repair damage to their electric system and restore power
to their customers," said Darin
Carroll, Senior Vice President of Electric Business.
Support Actions in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas
The current response by
CenterPoint to Hurricane Francine includes:
- Conducting natural gas inspection process in LA and MS:
The company's nearly 480-member natural gas workforce in
Louisiana and its nearly
200-member workforce in Mississippi are conducting safety inspections
and will be responding to customer requests and odor calls.
- Readied frontline electric crews for mutual aid.
CenterPoint will be making some of its internal and contractor
frontline electric workers in the Greater
Houston area available to other more-impacted utilities in
the east.
- Released all 1,500 frontline mutual aid workers: Made
available all additional distribution frontline, mutual aid workers
secured for the Greater Houston
area to other more-impacted utilities to the east.
- Released all 700 vegetation management mutual aid
workers: The 1,300 internal and mutual aid vegetation
management personnel finished the pre-storm high-risk vegetation
work in the Greater Houston area
and the 700 mutual aid vegetation management personnel have been
made available to the mutual aid system.
- Coordinating with government officials: Providing
regular updates to federal, state, county and city officials to
communicate company's pre-storm activities and readiness posture
and provide critical updates.
- Sharing customer communications: Shared safety and
preparedness actions with CenterPoint customers across social media
and other platforms to help keep customers informed and
prepared.
Safety Tips for Natural Gas
Customers
CenterPoint is continuing to remind its
customers to stay safe after Hurricane Francine by following these
natural gas safety tips:
- Do not turn off your natural gas service at the meter; doing so
could allow water to enter the natural gas lines should flooding
occur. If you wish to discontinue gas service, turn off the natural
gas at each appliance.
- Always be alert for the smell of natural gas. If you smell
natural gas, leave the area immediately on foot and tell others to
leave, too.
- If you smell natural gas, do not turn the lights on or off,
smoke, strike a match, use a cell phone or operate anything that
might cause a spark, including a flashlight or a generator.
- Do not attempt to turn natural gas valves on or off. Once
safely away from the area, call 1-888-876-5786 and CenterPoint will
send a trained service technician.
- If your home is flooded, call a licensed plumber or natural gas
appliance technician to inspect your appliances and gas piping to
make sure they are in good operating condition before calling
CenterPoint to reconnect service. This includes outdoor natural gas
appliances including pool heaters, gas grills and gas lights.
- If you are planning any digging or clearing as part of your
post-hurricane activities, please call 811, the nationwide Call
Before You Dig number, to locate underground natural gas lines and
other underground utility lines.
- Be aware of where your natural gas meter is located. As debris
is put out for heavy trash pickup, make sure it is placed away from
the meter. In many areas the meter may be located near the curb. If
debris is near a natural gas meter, the mechanized equipment used
by trash collectors could pull up the meter, damaging it and
causing a potentially hazardous situation. If this happens, leave
the area immediately and call CenterPoint at 1-888-876-5786.
For the latest updates, follow CenterPoint
on X (formerly Twitter) for real-time updates. For more
information and other resources, visit
CenterPointEnergy.com/NaturalGasSafety.
About CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
As the only investor-owned electric and gas utility based in
Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
(NYSE: CNP) is an energy delivery company with electric
transmission and distribution, power generation and natural gas
distribution operations that serve more than 7 million metered
customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas. With approximately 9,000 employees,
CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in
business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit
CenterPointEnergy.com.
For more information, contact:
Communications
Media.Relations@CenterPointEnergy.com
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SOURCE CenterPoint Energy