CenterPoint Energy Continues to Closely Monitor the Weather and Take Actions to Prepare for Potential Wildfire Risk Weather

National Weather Service has issued a "Fire Weather Watch" for large portions of Texas with the risk of strong winds and fire danger in the Greater Houston area from noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday

CenterPoint working closely with local emergency partners and will communicate with customers about the risk of potential outages due to wildfire conditions

HOUSTON, March 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy continues to closely monitor evolving weather conditions and is taking precautionary measures to mitigate wildfire risk as the National Weather Service issued a Fire Weather Watch for large portions of Texas including in the Greater Houston area on Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. Due to the potentially dangerous weather conditions, including high wind gusts, dry fuels and low humidity, CenterPoint is actively preparing its response, including conducting pre-inspections, adjusting power line safety settings, communicating with customers, and working closely with local emergency agencies. As part of its customer outreach, CenterPoint will be notifying customers via its Power Alert Service in the Cypress, Fort Bend and Katy areas of the possibility that extreme weather and wind conditions could result in some temporary safety outages during part of the day on Saturday.  

"Our highest priority is the safety of the customers and the communities we serve, and we are closely monitoring and preparing for extreme weather conditions that may impact our system. While the fire risk is currently lower for our service area than in other parts of the state, we are staying focused and taking action to prepare our equipment and customers if weather conditions worsen and the risk of fire grows. We will keep customers informed via social media, email, text and Power Alert Service, and in the event of any temporary safety outages we will restore power safely and as quickly as possible," said Don Daigler, Senior Vice President, Emergency Planning & Response.

• Actively Monitoring Weather: Carefully monitoring the weather for potential high winds and fire danger in parts of the Greater Houston area (electric) and South Texas (natural gas operations).
• Inspecting and Hardening Key Power Lines: Inspecting power lines in areas of heightened fire risk, clearing hazardous vegetation near power lines and conducting repairs where needed, ahead of potential extreme weather.
• Inspecting Natural Gas Facilities: Inspecting gas facilities in areas of heightened fire risk and clearing hazardous vegetation near facilities ahead of potential extreme weather.
• Adjusting Safety Settings: Adjusting the settings on some power lines for safety between noon and 9 p.m. on Saturday.
• Bringing on Additional Crews to Respond: Positioning CenterPoint crews and additional contractors to respond to any power outages or natural gas service interruptions that may occur. Additional resources will be utilized to restore power safely and as quickly as possible as well as perform natural gas re-lights when conditions allow.
• Coordinating with Local Emergency Partners: Proactively sharing information with state, county and local leaders.
• Communicating with Customers: Proactively communicating with customers in the Cypress, Fort Bend and Katy areas about the potential for impacts due to extreme fire danger.

Important Safety Tips for Customers

CenterPoint encourages all customers to stay informed about weather conditions and make a plan to stay safe, including during a potential power outage. Customers can also get the latest information on CenterPoint's preparedness and response efforts and view important safety tips by visiting CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter. Additional preparations tips are available at Ready.gov. 

How to Stay Informed: Sign Up for PAS

CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates by phone call, text or email. Customers can also stay up to date with CenterPoint's new and improved, cloud-based Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish, which allows customers to see outages by county, city and zip code.

Customers can also follow @CenterPoint_TX to receive the most up-to-date information on the company's operations in the Greater Houston area and across Texas.

For the latest weather information for the Greater Houston area, view updates from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Houston/Galveston at weather.gov/hgx.

For more information, contact:

Communications

[email protected]

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SOURCE CenterPoint Energy