CenterPoint Energy activates staging sites and begins onboarding additional emergency response resources as preparations continue ahead of this weekend's approaching winter weather conditions
Approximately 3,300 CenterPoint electric employees and contract workers are pre-staged for storm preparation and potential restoration efforts across Southeast Texas
Approximately 700 natural gas workers and contractors support response as well
State of Texas issues disaster declaration ahead of potential impacts
Customers urged to have a plan and prepare for freezing temperatures, high winds and potential ice accumulation
HOUSTON, Jan. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In preparation for forecasted winter weather heading towards Southeast Texas, CenterPoint Energy continues to monitor the approaching system. With 3,300 frontline workers, support personnel and contractors, CenterPoint stands ready to support its customers and communities. Additionally, the company has stood up three staging sites at strategic locations across the Greater Houston area to pre-position resources to support potential restoration efforts. The company's Emergency Operations Center is also open, fully staffed, and will remain operational through the weekend as CenterPoint continues executing its cold weather action plan.
During the company's first daily operational briefing at its Emergency Operations Center, CenterPoint leaders emphasized the company's continued commitment to delivering for our customers and communities.
"We want our customers to be confident in the numerous cold weather preparations CenterPoint has executed from our winter readiness plan and to know we have plans in place to support customers during this weekend's forecasted freezing temperatures, high winds, and potential ice accumulation. We also want to urge our customers to stay weather alert, have an emergency plan in place and take steps now to prepare," said Nathan Brownell, Vice President of Resilience and Capital Delivery.
Yesterday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration ahead of potential impacts, and CenterPoint continues to work closely with government officials and emergency agencies to prepare for the approaching weather system.
What our experts are saying
"Weather forecasts continue to trend toward less icing risk in the Houston area. We continue to actively monitor internal and publicly available weather modeling resources to track forecast changes and adjust our preparations as needed. We encourage our customers and communities to remain prepared for cold weather that will impact the area Sunday and Monday," said Matt Lanza, CenterPoint's Chief Meteorologist.
The current weather forecast for CenterPoint's Houston electric service territory indicates the potential for ice accumulation this weekend, subject to updated forecasts. 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.
"Our Natural Gas teams are prepared to respond to critical issues that may be caused by the weather. We've placed Compressed Natural Gas trucks at 13 strategic locations across Texas to support our system and have frontline gas workers on hand who are ready 24/7 to respond to any service interruptions. We've also strengthened our natural gas infrastructure with added hardening measures and heaters to prevent ice damage," said Richard Leger, CenterPoint's Senior Vice President of Natural Gas Business.
Staging sites and additional resources
CenterPoint activated its Emergency Operations Center on Thursday morning and secured more than 600 additional frontline workers for an expanded workforce of 3,300 workers and personnel to address the approaching winter storm. In addition to CenterPoint's Emergency Operations Center staff of 200 personnel and on-system workforce of approximately 2,500 internal line workers, local contractors and vegetation management resources, the company has secured an additional approximately 600 frontline workers including more line workers, vegetation management resources, and damage assessors.
The company is also deploying more than 700 gas workers and contractors to support the weekend response.
The company's three staging sites will host hundreds of workers and help pre-position crews, vehicles, equipment and materiel needed for restoration across its service territory. These staging sites are strategically placed to position resources in locations where the winter weather system's impact is forecasted to be the most severe.
Cold weather preparations
The pre-winter safety and readiness actions taken by CenterPoint include:
- Activating its Emergency Operations Center to coordinate response and restoration efforts;
- 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;
- 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;
- Positioning Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks at 13 strategic locations to be deployed to supplement the natural gas system, if needed;
- Monitoring more than 100 weather stations across the Greater Houston area to enhance situational awareness and storm preparation;
- 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.
For more information, contact:
Communications
[email protected]
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/centerpoint-energy-activates-staging-sites-and-begins-onboarding-additional-emergency-response-resources-as-preparations-continue-ahead-of-this-weekends-approaching-winter-weather-conditions-302669002.html
SOURCE CenterPoint Energy