AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into CenterPoint Energy, claiming its conduct during Hurricane Beryl may have violated Texas law.
Beryl knocked out electricity to more than 2 million customers.
On Monday, the attorney general’s office said that the energy provider’s response to the hurricane likely led to “significant harm to Houston residents, including rate increases, outages, and lengthy delays in restoring power.”
Officials said the investigation will look into allegations of fraud, waste, and improper use of taxpayer-provided funds.
RELATED: 13 Investigates: CenterPoint admits ‘clearly more needs to be done’
In an interview with 13 Investigates, CenterPoint Energy admits not enough resiliency work was done heading into Hurricane Beryl.
“If the investigation uncovers unlawful activity, that activity will be met with the full force of the law,” Paxton said in a statement.
The Public Utility Commission also launched an investigation into CenterPoint’s response to Beryl. The company hired an independent company to analyze the problems and make suggestions for improvement.
“CenterPoint has to do better. I cannot urge this enough. I have tried to stress with their executives that CenterPoint has to have a sense of urgency,” PUC Chairman Thomas Gleeson said last month. “We will bring to the Legislature and the governor more long-term fixes to address these issues that will probably need statutory change.”
READ MORE: Investigation underway into CenterPoint Energy’s response to Beryl: ‘The clock is ticking’
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, too, has said CenterPoint “completely dropped the ball regarding getting the power back on.”
Abbott set multiple deadlines for CenterPoint, including providing a plan by the end of last month to improve reliability and removing vegetation that threatens powerlines by the end of August.
“The clock is ticking for CenterPoint to step up and get the job done,” he said.
The governor added that CenterPoint would have to reconsider the territory it serves.
CenterPoint has apologized for its shortcomings and shared its plan to improve. The company’s initial assessment showed room for improvement in three main areas: resiliency, communication, and community partnerships.
The company plans to use technology to target areas where trees pose a threat to their lines. To improve communication, they are increasing the number of people working in call centers after a storm and have introduced a more advanced outage and restoration tracker. They also intend to create stronger ties with community agencies by hiring a new senior leader for their executive team.
CenterPoint issued the following response after Paxton’s announcement:
“Since Hurricane Beryl, we have demonstrated our absolute commitment to transparency and cooperation through our participation in three separate hearings at the PUCT, the Senate, and the House. We look forward to cooperating with the Texas Attorney General or any other agency and have made clear our commitment to upholding the values of our company. We urge any party that has information concerning these issues to come forward and provide such information to us, our regulator, or the Texas Attorney General immediately.”
