CenterPoint Energy's 3,300-person expanded electric workforce pre-positioned at area staging sites and ready to mobilize ahead of late-night winter weather
Download photos and videos of CenterPoint's preparedness efforts here
100% of employees and contract resources will be in place by 12 p.m. Saturday
Approximately 700 natural gas workers and contractors ready to support response
Company encourages the public to heed state and local elected officials' guidance to stay off road Saturday night through Monday
Customers urged to have a plan and prepare for freezing temperatures, strong winds and potential ice accumulation
HOUSTON, Jan. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In preparation to support its customers and communities during the first major winter weather system of the season, which is forecasted to impact Southeast Texas tonight, CenterPoint Energy continues to mobilize emergency preparedness and response resources. 100% of CenterPoint's 3,300 line skills workers, vegetation management professionals and contract crews will be in place, mobilized and ready to respond at the Emergency Operations Center and two staging sites, both strategically placed in the northeastern Greater Houston area based on weather forecasts shifting northward of the Greater Houston area, as weather forecasts indicate the highest probability of ice impacts in this area.
The company's Emergency Operations Center — which has been fully activated and staffed since Wednesday with approximately 200 personnel — will remain open and operational through the storm's full impact as CenterPoint continues carrying out its cold weather action plans. The company is also deploying more than 700 gas workers and contractors to support the weekend response.
"Prioritizing our customers and communities is central to how we plan and prepare for severe weather. We have already pre-positioned our personnel, equipment, and resources needed to support our customers throughout this weekend's forecasted freezing temperatures, strong winds, and potential ice accumulations. Based on current forecasts, we've reallocated people, materials and supplies to the two north Houston staging areas which are expected to see the most significant impacts from the incoming weather. The actions we're taking reflect our commitment to restoring impacted customers safely and quickly in the areas where the need could be most significant. We urge customers to remain weather alert, activate their emergency plan and please stay off area roads and highways," said Nathan Brownell, Vice President of Resilience and Capital Delivery.
Safety reminder: Wires down
The company reminds customers and community members to always assume downed lines or wires are energized and potentially dangerous if contacted. Stay at least 35 feet away from downed power lines or fallen wires and keep a safe distance from objects touching downed lines (tree limbs, vehicles, fences, etc.) and immediately report downed power lines to CenterPoint.
Electric and Gas cold weather preparations
The pre-winter safety and readiness actions taken by CenterPoint include:
- Positioning 17 compressed natural gas (CNG) trailers to provide additional supply for our customers, if needed, adding an additional trailer today to help strengthen preparedness;
- Staging more than 700 frontline natural gas workers to respond safely and quickly around the clock to any gas emergency calls and service interruptions;
- Inspecting nearly 200 natural gas regulator stations and installing heaters on equipment to prevent ice damage;
- Prepping and pre-staging electric restoration equipment at staging sites, including
- More than 9,200 distribution poles;
- More than 11,500 transformers; and
- More than 100,000 cable splices;
- Activating its Emergency Operations Center to coordinate response and restoration efforts;
- Inspecting and testing critical electric equipment, including all 270 electric substations, executing enhanced tree trimming and conducting inspections to prepare for wintery precipitation and cold temperatures;
- Monitoring more than 100 weather stations across the Greater Houston area to enhance situational awareness and storm preparation;
- Coordinating with the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) about statewide energy needs;
- Communicating with customers to provide safety and preparedness information directly via email and help keep customers informed and prepared;
- Conducting outreach to critical care customers by email, phone or text;
- Donated and installed more than 20 emergency backup generators at key locations across Greater Houston to improve local emergency preparedness and response efforts; and
- Conducted more than 19,000 total hours of emergency training in 2025 for hundreds of operational, emergency response and other personnel and contractors to strengthen severe weather preparation and response efforts.
Stay informed with Power Alert Service®
CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive winter storm outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates by phone call, text or email.
Have a plan and stay safe
CenterPoint encourages customers to prepare and have a plan to stay safe during severe winter weather. Customers can get storm-related safety tips at CenterPointEnergy.com/ActionCenter — available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Customers can also stay up to date on outages with CenterPoint's Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish. The Outage Tracker is built to handle increased traffic during storms, is mobile-friendly, accessible for those with disabilities and allows customers to see outages by county, city and zip code.
For the latest updates, follow CenterPoint on X and visit CenterPointEnergy.com/ActionCenter.
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, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas. As of September 30, 2025, the company owned approximately $45 billion in assets. With approximately 8,300 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit CenterPointEnergy.com.
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SOURCE CenterPoint Energy