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After the disastrous response to Hurricane Beryl, the Texas Public Utilities Commission has approved a third-party audit of CenterPoint Energy. The audit hopes to find out, among other things, why CenterPoint hasn't been keeping up with maintenance.
University of Houston Energy Fellow Ed Hirs told KTRH, "We've learned CenterPoint has only been clearing 20 percent of its wires each year. Nobody cuts 20 percent of their lawn each year."
Foliage around power lines, as well as old, outdated wooden utility poles, are two of the major culprits in the weeks-long power outages following Hurricane Beryl. Hirs says that this lack of maintenance is why Hurricane Beryl, which was a Category 1 storm, had the same level of energy disruption as the Category 3 Hurricane Alicia did in 1983.
But the worst part is, the audit shouldn't even be necessary, and it indicates that the PUC may have been asleep at the wheel. He said, "The fact that they've asked for an audit means that they don't know what the heck is going on. And that reflects very poorly on the Public Utilities Commission. There is a lot to be done."
Unfortunately, Hirs says you shouldn't really expect too much from this audit. He suspects that this is more of the standard government approach of simply "forming a committee and investigating." He said he'd be "pleasantly surprised" to see real results from this, but he wouldn't bet any money on it.
KTRH reached out to multiple former members of the P.U.C., who did not respond to requests for comment.