10/05/2024 09:00 AM
Advertisement
Current Time 6:17:16
Duration 6:19:18
Loaded: 99.49%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 2:02
1x
  • Chapters
  • descriptions off, selected
  • captions off, selected
  • default, selected
x
ZOOM HELP
Drag zoomed area using your mouse.
100%
Search
  • Item 0 - Chairman Gleeson calls meeting to order
    00:00:00
    This meeting of the Public Utility Commission of Texas will come to order. To consider
  • 00:00:04
    matters that have been duly posted with the Secretary of State for October
  • 00:00:08
    5, 2024. Thank you to everyone for being here.
  • 00:00:12
    I appreciate you taking time on a Saturday to come out.
  • 00:00:15
    We're going to call up a number of items. So that everyone
  • 00:00:18
    who's here to speak can talk about a myriad of issues that are,
  • 00:00:22
    that are on their minds. We'll hear from invited testimony first, and then
  • 00:00:26
    we'll hear from the public at the end, just for a little housekeeping. Obviously,
  • 00:00:29
    there are exits over here. There are bathrooms on both ends of the outside hallway,
  • 00:00:33
    if you need them. And again, thank you for being here.
  • Item 3 - Project No. 53404 – Temporary Emergency Electric Energy Facilities and Long LeadTime Facilities
    00:00:36
    So with that, I will call up Project No.
  • Item 4 - Project No. 56897 – Electric Utility Outage Trackers and Hazardous Condition Reporting
    00:00:40
    53404, Project No. 56897,
  • Item 5 - Project No. 56898 – Provision of Emergency Contact Information to Transmission and Distribution Utilities by Retail Electric Providers
    00:00:45
    Project No. 56898,
  • Item 9 - Project No. 56822 – Investigation of Emergency Preparedness and Response by Utilities in Houston and Surrounding Communities
    00:00:52
    Project No. 56822,
  • Item 10 - Project No. 56793 – Issues Related to the Disaster Resulting from Hurricane Beryl
    00:00:55
    and Project No. 56793.
  • 00:00:59
    And with that, we're going to offer time at the beginning to
  • 00:01:02
    the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Texas. The Honorable Dan Patrick is here to
  • 00:01:06
    address us and to address the public.
  • 00:01:21
    It.
  • 00:02:18
    Good morning. Good morning, Governor Patrick. Thank you for being here this morning, sir.
  • 00:02:24
    Would you like for me to begin? Yes sir, please.
  • Item 0 - Remarks by Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick
    00:02:27
    I have a few prepared remarks,
  • 00:02:31
    and then I just want to touch on some issues that I believe are very
  • 00:02:35
    important for this Commission to
  • 00:02:40
    respond to. Important for all the citizens to
  • 00:02:44
    know who may not, as well as the media. So my
  • 00:02:49
    prepared remarks, thank you first of all, for coming and
  • 00:02:52
    bringing the hearing to the people. It's very important that you do that.
  • 00:02:58
    This is an important hearing for the people, not just in Houston, but the surrounding
  • 00:03:01
    counties, all covered by CenterPoint. As you
  • 00:03:05
    know, I was acting Governor during the storm.
  • 00:03:09
    The Governor was out of the country, and I
  • 00:03:13
    was very involved in the preparation at a state level.
  • 00:03:17
    Very involved during the storm, at a state level in the emergency center
  • 00:03:22
    and very involved after in the recovery. Not just for Houston, but for the
  • 00:03:26
    surrounding counties. So I'm very knowledgeable of what happened.
  • 00:03:30
    I had many conversations with CenterPoint,
  • 00:03:35
    as well as the County Judges, the emergency managers in the surrounding counties,
  • 00:03:38
    and the Mayor of Houston. I believe
  • 00:03:42
    that the state responded properly. The Houston Chronicle
  • 00:03:45
    is not necessarily a big fan of me.
  • 00:03:49
    But after an extensive interview and study, they reported that
  • 00:03:52
    they thought the state was prepared. And the state responded
  • 00:03:57
    afterwards meeting the needs of, of the
  • 00:04:00
    areas impacted. And that's because we have the finest
  • 00:04:03
    emergency management response team in the country.
  • 00:04:07
    Nim Kidd, our Chief, and the team that we built out.
  • 00:04:11
    The Legislature on a bipartisan basis, has invested millions upon
  • 00:04:15
    millions upon millions for emergency response, because the federal government has
  • 00:04:18
    kind of stepped back in the last several years from that.
  • 00:04:22
    So we did, I believe, what was expected of
  • 00:04:26
    us by the public. I also think the City of Houston,
  • 00:04:30
    Mayor Whitmire and his emergency management team and the police
  • 00:04:34
    responded as they should have.
  • 00:04:38
    And never has the relationship between the city and
  • 00:04:42
    the state been stronger. Because of the personal relationship, quite frankly, that I have
  • 00:04:45
    with Senator Whitmire, now Mayor. And the fact that he served in the Legislature
  • 00:04:49
    for over 40 years. And I commend the County Judges and
  • 00:04:52
    the emergency management team around the state in the area
  • 00:04:56
    that we covered. I flew to many of those counties and helped them in the
  • 00:04:59
    aftermath. Of being there with our emergency management team to deliver the
  • 00:05:04
    needs that they presented us. I cannot say I
  • 00:05:08
    am proud of the work of CenterPoint.
  • 00:05:12
    Neither in the preparation or the communication or
  • 00:05:16
    the recovery of the storm, and remarks since then. And I'll go into
  • 00:05:20
    that in a little bit more detail. Look, all of us who
  • 00:05:24
    live in this area know the risk of flooding
  • 00:05:27
    and terrible storms and hurricanes.
  • 00:05:30
    And even along with the state through Uri, which was a once
  • 00:05:34
    in a hopeful lifetime at the most.
  • 00:05:38
    Maybe a once in a 500 year storm, but we are familiar with the storms.
  • 00:05:42
    I've lived in Harris County since I arrived here
  • 00:05:46
    in 1979 for most of my life. I live in Harris county now.
  • 00:05:50
    I lived in Montgomery county for several years. So I'm a resident
  • 00:05:54
    here. Like everyone else in this audience. I've been through those times when my
  • 00:05:57
    power was knocked out in the past. And we are patient people.
  • 00:06:01
    We are helping people. We come together.
  • 00:06:04
    We are Texas strong, but we expect
  • 00:06:09
    CenterPoint and their predecessor to be there,
  • 00:06:12
    as they should be. They're a private company,
  • 00:06:16
    but you oversee them. They were not there this time.
  • 00:06:19
    This is not the CenterPoint that I know from the past
  • 00:06:24
    or the companies that preceded them. And their failures
  • 00:06:28
    resulted in misery for the most vulnerable, misery for everyone,
  • 00:06:32
    economic impact on businesses and people who
  • 00:06:35
    couldn't go to work, and for the over 40
  • 00:06:39
    people who died in the storm. Now, I don't accuse
  • 00:06:43
    CenterPoint of being responsible for those deaths. Some were just pure accidents that happened
  • 00:06:47
    during storms, tragedies. Trees falling on a house,
  • 00:06:51
    someone who drowns. But there were a number of deaths
  • 00:06:55
    due to heat. That
  • 00:06:59
    may have resulted in
  • 00:07:03
    the poor response and the poor preparation of CenterPoint. So what
  • 00:07:06
    I say today is going to be sharp and to the point to you, to them.
  • 00:07:11
    I'm not going to hold back. We're going to
  • 00:07:15
    walk through these points one by one.
  • 00:07:18
    Not personal. I have no personal animus towards Jason
  • 00:07:22
    Wells or anyone at CenterPoint or anyone on this Commission.
  • 00:07:25
    But I take this personally on behalf of the former 40 people who died,
  • 00:07:30
    because it is personal for their families. So make no
  • 00:07:34
    mistake, you have a big task ahead of you to respond as
  • 00:07:37
    you think appropriate. I want to start with something that I
  • 00:07:44
    have a couple of key points to cover. But I want to start with something,
  • 00:07:46
    and let me pull it up on my phone here. Of an interview I
  • 00:07:50
    saw this week with Jason Wells,
  • 00:07:53
    this current CEO, former CFO, CEO of CenterPoint and
  • 00:07:57
    Channel 2. And the reporter asked Jason
  • 00:08:01
    off the top. He said,
  • 00:08:05
    "The City of Houston and many others believe that CenterPoint has
  • 00:08:08
    been overcharging customers $100 million
  • 00:08:12
    a year. What do
  • 00:08:15
    you say?" These are the exact words
  • 00:08:19
    from Jason Wells. First he paused
  • 00:08:25
    and said, "We want to work with all our stakeholders on what
  • 00:08:28
    is a fair rate for our service."
  • 00:08:31
    Pause.
  • 00:08:36
    "I don't think we're overcharging our customers $100 million."
  • 00:08:41
    Now, this is the CEO and the former CFO
  • 00:08:45
    of CenterPoint. You don't know
  • 00:08:49
    if you've been overcharging the customers $100 million?
  • 00:08:54
    When someone says I think, I don't think we've been overcharging.
  • 00:08:58
    Well, does that mean we may have been overcharging $20 million
  • 00:09:02
    or $50 million? But I don't really know. I don't think we've been doing this.
  • 00:09:06
    That's an answer from a low level management person, not the CEO
  • 00:09:10
    of CenterPoint. Who was in charge of their finances before
  • 00:09:14
    taking on that job. So I'm asking this Commission,
  • 00:09:17
    No. 1,
  • 00:09:23
    under the PURA Section 14.201
  • 00:09:26
    and Section 14.202. You have
  • 00:09:30
    the right to conduct an audit and review the utilities,
  • 00:09:33
    management and business operations. I expect you to do that audit.
  • 00:09:37
    I want to know how much they have been overcharging,
  • 00:09:40
    if they've been overcharging the customers at CenterPoint and
  • 00:09:44
    for how long. We need that
  • 00:09:47
    answer. You can ask him today. Have you been
  • 00:09:51
    overcharging? I can just tell you what he said on camera. I don't think
  • 00:09:54
    we have been. That's not an acceptable
  • 00:09:58
    answer. He went on to say, "I know there has been some
  • 00:10:02
    frustration with our withdrawal from the rate case",
  • 00:10:05
    which you all are reviewing now. And he went on to
  • 00:10:09
    say, "Now is not the time to talk about higher profits. We withdrew our rate
  • 00:10:12
    case so we could focus on making these critical investments to improve our service."
  • 00:10:19
    I don't know if that's the real reason,
  • 00:10:22
    but they asked to withdraw. You all granted the withdrawal.
  • 00:10:26
    The SOAH Court overruled and now it's back to you.
  • 00:10:30
    They should not be allowed to withdraw. Why do they want to withdraw? It is
  • 00:10:33
    my belief on the information that I believe I have an understanding of
  • 00:10:36
    the situation. They're concerned that you'll actually lower the rate because
  • 00:10:40
    you're going to go back and review. So don't let them
  • 00:10:44
    get out of this.
  • 00:10:48
    They need the rate case. So let's
  • 00:10:52
    look at a couple of issues. Preparation,
  • 00:10:55
    and I'm not going to be a half hour, 20 minutes. I'm going to try
  • 00:10:58
    to contain my comments. And if you have questions after fine to 10 or
  • 00:11:02
    15 minutes here, because there are many people who want to speak.
  • 00:11:06
    Preparation. So when Beryl came into
  • 00:11:10
    the Caribbean, I was heading to California to see my grandson play
  • 00:11:13
    in a baseball tournament. The Governor was out of state.
  • 00:11:19
    I left. The storm had not quite come in the Gulf yet. I got there
  • 00:11:22
    and within 24 hours, I watched the weather. It was clear we
  • 00:11:26
    could be in danger. I turned right around and came back. I got a
  • 00:11:30
    plane, got back here as soon as I could. So I was here 3
  • 00:11:34
    to 4 days before the storm. I immediately contacted Nim Kidd from California.
  • 00:11:38
    And said Nim, I think that storm is coming to Houston. Because we've
  • 00:11:42
    seen it before, those storms that come into the Gulf and come up the coast.
  • 00:11:47
    So I was aware, I was alert.
  • 00:11:50
    The state was already bringing in resources from other states.
  • 00:11:54
    We were prepared for this storm hitting a major population area.
  • 00:11:59
    Now, I've heard Jason Wells say in this interview as
  • 00:12:02
    well, " Well, we were focused on Corpus."
  • 00:12:07
    We're looking at Corpus. Well originally, you remember, the storm was supposed to kind of
  • 00:12:10
    come on the Mexico and Texas border. Then it was up to
  • 00:12:13
    Corpus. I talked to the Corpus Mayor. I talked to the County Judge. They were
  • 00:12:16
    getting ready. They were concerned.
  • 00:12:20
    But any storm that comes into the Gulf,
  • 00:12:23
    and this is for the people as well. We should always
  • 00:12:26
    expect it's going to come to you, and this is the biggest
  • 00:12:29
    population center. With all the tragedies that
  • 00:12:33
    we see in this storm from Helene that's going on in North
  • 00:12:37
    Carolina and Georgia and Florida, the millions of
  • 00:12:41
    customers. We still had more people out of power just in the greater Houston area,
  • 00:12:44
    than all those people who were out of power when that storm hit.
  • 00:12:49
    So you have to be prepared if you're the CEO of CenterPoint for the storm
  • 00:12:53
    coming here. The idea that, well, we thought it was going to
  • 00:12:57
    Corpus. Well guess, why? Because the weather forecast said it was in
  • 00:13:00
    the cone of uncertainty. What is that cone called uncertainty?
  • 00:13:06
    And we know that the National Hurricane Weather Service
  • 00:13:10
    always says that even when they give you a prediction the day before
  • 00:13:13
    the storm, it can move 40 to 50 miles overnight, as storms have in the
  • 00:13:17
    past. That's what happened to Bolivar Island when that storm moved 50 miles overnight.
  • 00:13:21
    So CenterPoint should have been prepared 3 and 4 days out for that
  • 00:13:25
    storm to hit Houston, and they were not.
  • 00:13:28
    They were not. We were at the state level.
  • 00:13:32
    They were not. Had they been prepared,
  • 00:13:35
    I believe much of the misery and damage after the fact
  • 00:13:39
    could have been averted. It was a terrible wind event. Only a Category 2,
  • 00:13:43
    but a terrible wind event. That brought down trees and power lines
  • 00:13:46
    and traffic lights. We know all of what happened,
  • 00:13:50
    but they were slow. They were slow in
  • 00:13:54
    preparation, procrastination,
  • 00:13:58
    and then communication.
  • 00:14:02
    Communication. People didn't know where to turn.
  • 00:14:06
    No one could get a response.
  • 00:14:09
    It was the poorest response to citizens and
  • 00:14:12
    elected officials trying to reach them of any storm I've ever seen.
  • 00:14:17
    So someone
  • 00:14:20
    on their team, if they have meteorologists who guide them,
  • 00:14:23
    ought to be fired. Someone should have been in the ear of Jason
  • 00:14:27
    Wells saying, Sir, you need to prepare for this storm.
  • 00:14:30
    A high wind event taking out tremendous power,
  • 00:14:33
    a record level actually. That never happened.
  • 00:14:37
    And he as a CEO, should have been asking that question. He is as
  • 00:14:41
    smart as I am and probably a lot smarter. He should have looked
  • 00:14:44
    at that storm and said, we need to be ready. They were not. It took
  • 00:14:48
    him a long time to get the units here. Yes, they did a
  • 00:14:54
    quick job of getting bulk power back to a number of citizens.
  • 00:14:59
    But it took 7 days, 8 days, 9 days, 10 days.
  • 00:15:03
    And during that time, people died.
  • 00:15:06
    During that time, people suffered. So they were not prepared.
  • 00:15:11
    I want to talk about next. So, preparation, communication,
  • 00:15:15
    disaster. Next.
  • 00:15:19
    This leasing of $800 million worth
  • 00:15:22
    of mobile generators that weren't mobile.
  • 00:15:28
    You know, there's a real mystery about this.
  • 00:15:34
    So we passed a Senate Bill, the House passed a House bill,
  • 00:15:39
    HB1500 and 2418. Allowed for
  • 00:15:43
    TDUs, that's transmission and distribution
  • 00:15:47
    utilities, to have mobile generators.
  • 00:15:51
    To help restore power in neighborhoods or
  • 00:15:55
    to nursing homes or to assisted living centers or anywhere to
  • 00:15:58
    neighborhoods. There was pushback for years
  • 00:16:02
    by the generators. But they didn't want the companies like CenterPoint
  • 00:16:05
    to have that ability, because they were afraid they'd start expanding
  • 00:16:09
    that and selling generation. So the legislature fought
  • 00:16:12
    really hard to get this done. You know, I've been the Lieutenant Governor now since
  • 00:16:16
    2015. It took us two Sessions to really get this done.
  • 00:16:20
    It was for mobile generation to put generators
  • 00:16:23
    on trailers and 18 wheelers,
  • 00:16:26
    mobile. What did
  • 00:16:30
    they do? They spent $800 million
  • 00:16:34
    to lease generators that they couldn't move.
  • 00:16:38
    That would take a crane to move them, take days to move them. They went
  • 00:16:42
    directly against what the legislation said and against what
  • 00:16:46
    other companies did. Oncor spent their money in mobile generators.
  • 00:16:50
    In fact, CenterPoint had to call to some of these companies to borrow their mobile
  • 00:16:54
    generators. They spent $800 million
  • 00:16:58
    in a lease for
  • 00:17:01
    generators that weren't mobile, and they spent
  • 00:17:05
    $5 million in generators that were
  • 00:17:08
    mobile. I would argue had they done what the
  • 00:17:11
    legislature intended, they would have had power
  • 00:17:16
    back faster. Lives may have been saved.
  • 00:17:20
    Lives may have been saved. Now, it's very
  • 00:17:24
    curious about these $800 million, this $800 million
  • 00:17:27
    lease. First of all, it was done with a company that's
  • 00:17:33
    very small. Biggest contract they've ever had.
  • 00:17:37
    Some have said there was a personal relationship between people at CenterPoint and that company.
  • 00:17:40
    I don't know that. But here's
  • 00:17:44
    what's really interesting, they signed that lease
  • 00:17:48
    before the PUC. Your Commission, you weren't there in charge. Peter Lake was the Chair
  • 00:17:52
    then. They signed that lease before
  • 00:17:55
    the PUC even issued any rulings.
  • 00:18:00
    So what was going on? And then
  • 00:18:03
    interveners, people like here and companies came in and said, wait a minute,
  • 00:18:07
    this is a terrible lease. $800 million that you all
  • 00:18:11
    have to pay, $800 million. So the Court overturned
  • 00:18:15
    it, sent it back to the Commission. Again,
  • 00:18:19
    different team for the most part.
  • 00:18:25
    Then Peter Lake, the Chair, decided to overturn
  • 00:18:28
    the Court. And say no, there's nothing wrong with this $800
  • 00:18:31
    million lease. Okay?
  • 00:18:38
    And there's something called folks, a prudency standard.
  • 00:18:42
    So if you say, if they rule that a deal is prudent,
  • 00:18:46
    guess what? It can't be overturned.
  • 00:18:50
    So an $800 million lease for generators
  • 00:18:54
    that they couldn't use in storms like Beryl,
  • 00:18:57
    and most of the storms we get. Signed
  • 00:19:01
    before rulemaking. Overturned
  • 00:19:05
    by a court. And then Peter Lake and that Commission
  • 00:19:09
    say, not only are we overturning it but it's prudent.
  • 00:19:15
    And by the way, what business would sign an $800
  • 00:19:19
    million lease for anything that they had to return
  • 00:19:22
    to the company in eight years? So again,
  • 00:19:26
    folks, they spent $800 million on a lease. Which they could only
  • 00:19:30
    have that equipment for eight years before returning it and probably
  • 00:19:34
    never, ever going to use it.
  • 00:19:38
    Why? It was all profit.
  • 00:19:42
    Because they testified in our Senate Hearings that they make $30 to
  • 00:19:45
    $40 million. Not only do you pay for that $800 million,
  • 00:19:48
    but they get $30 to $40 million per year in
  • 00:19:52
    profits on that. Because whenever companies like CenterPoint
  • 00:19:56
    buy equipment, we, the ratepayers, pay it so they can keep
  • 00:19:59
    up with the demand. We all understand that. But in
  • 00:20:03
    this case, we're paying for something they were never going to use. If they made
  • 00:20:05
    $30 to $40 million a year over eight years, that's a $250 million profit
  • 00:20:09
    for CenterPoint. So were they acting in the interest of
  • 00:20:14
    the folks in their coverage area, or were they interested in their
  • 00:20:18
    bottom line? And again, I go back to
  • 00:20:22
    the lease before
  • 00:20:27
    rulemaking, overturned by a court, and then the Commission overturns
  • 00:20:30
    that and puts a prudency standard. Which makes it tough for you to recover,
  • 00:20:35
    I understand that.
  • 00:20:38
    Corruption. Don't know, can't prove it,
  • 00:20:42
    not suggesting it. Sneaky, definitely sneaky,
  • 00:20:47
    definitely sneaky. Malfeasance, absolutely. Negligence,
  • 00:20:51
    but they've never explained it. And I have said from day one that
  • 00:20:55
    the ratepayers of CenterPoint should not be held responsible to pay back
  • 00:20:59
    that $800 million. It should come out of their profits, and the ratepayers should
  • 00:21:03
    not pay the profits to CenterPoint on that $800 million. And so
  • 00:21:06
    far they've been willing we'll take, you know, we'll give $100 million back.
  • 00:21:10
    Well first of all, remember what, what Mr. Wells said at the
  • 00:21:13
    beginning. "I'm not sure if we've been overcharging. I don't think we're
  • 00:21:17
    overcharging." So they may owe these people and all the people in CenterPoint
  • 00:21:20
    a whole lot of money. And you know what? If it comes out of their
  • 00:21:24
    bottom line, so be it.
  • 00:21:27
    I've been told. Well, you know, that'll make investors very nervous.
  • 00:21:30
    They're stockholders. They expect to, you know, a guaranteed return.
  • 00:21:35
    Well not if there's, I hope,
  • 00:21:38
    not corruption. Not if they're sneaky, not if there's negligence, not if
  • 00:21:42
    there's malfeasance. They should be
  • 00:21:45
    accountable like any other business. They made a bad deal. And let me
  • 00:21:49
    just wrap up on this point. No company
  • 00:21:54
    would ever lease a piece of equipment for $800 million
  • 00:21:58
    that they knew they had to turn back in eight years if
  • 00:22:03
    they had to pay for it.
  • 00:22:06
    But in the case of CenterPoint, they didn't have to pay for it.
  • 00:22:09
    They have to pay for it, they have to pay for it.
  • 00:22:13
    So they could make any terrible deal they made. And the idea that the PUC
  • 00:22:17
    Commission said it was prudent is insulting, because no business
  • 00:22:20
    would ever make that deal. Unless somebody else was picking up the freight.
  • 00:22:26
    Second, second issue.
  • 00:22:30
    I've seen Mr. Wells tell us
  • 00:22:33
    all the things they're going to do. Why didn't they do
  • 00:22:37
    them before Beryl? Why didn't
  • 00:22:40
    they do them? Why are we now replacing the poles? Why are we
  • 00:22:44
    now addressing vegetation? Why are we now etcetera,
  • 00:22:47
    etcetera, etcetera. Why now after Beryl?
  • 00:22:50
    He's been on the job since January as CEO and he was
  • 00:22:54
    CFO before that.
  • 00:22:57
    Could it be because normal
  • 00:23:00
    maintenance is not profitable for them?
  • 00:23:04
    Is it because if they let it all stack up after
  • 00:23:07
    a storm, then they can be reimbursed and can make
  • 00:23:11
    a profit on that? Is that the reason?
  • 00:23:15
    But when I say they weren't prepared for the storm because they didn't see
  • 00:23:19
    it coming or thought it might come here. Oh, that's going to go to Corpus.
  • 00:23:21
    We don't have to worry. They were prepared by
  • 00:23:25
    doing simple maintenance. We all know we have a lot of trees and look,
  • 00:23:28
    and we as citizens, we have to address that issue too. You know,
  • 00:23:31
    we plant trees in our backyard near the power lines. We all get it.
  • 00:23:34
    We need to be better at that. But their job is to address that
  • 00:23:38
    vegetation. And now they're doing it. Storm came, better do it.
  • 00:23:43
    And now they're addressing all these other issues.
  • 00:23:46
    So why not before? That's a part
  • 00:23:49
    of preparation also.
  • 00:23:54
    So to you on the Commission,
  • 00:23:57
    you have tough job. You may have
  • 00:24:01
    to, first of all, you need to go ahead with the rate case.
  • 00:24:05
    You need to find out through your audit through PURA
  • 00:24:09
    1401. What did I say it was? 14.
  • 00:24:13
    201 and 202. You need to have an audit.
  • 00:24:16
    You need to find out how much money they've overcharged the customers. If they have,
  • 00:24:20
    and they need to get that back, they shouldn't pay for eight.
  • 00:24:24
    Why should the people of Texas under CenterPoint, pay $800 million
  • 00:24:27
    for this terrible deal and a profit on top of it?
  • 00:24:32
    You're going to have to find a way around the prudency, standardization,
  • 00:24:36
    or you're going to have to lower the rates in another way.
  • 00:24:39
    If the PUC allows CenterPoint to get away and try to P.R., their way
  • 00:24:43
    through this.
  • 00:24:48
    That will show the Commission
  • 00:24:51
    is not accountable. Now I haven't said much
  • 00:24:56
    since the storm. There were calls for his resignation,
  • 00:24:59
    Mr. Wells in August. I didn't,
  • 00:25:04
    I didn't because we're in the middle of the hurricane season. We still have several
  • 00:25:07
    weeks left. But there was no point in him
  • 00:25:11
    stepping down because I don't know who's next. Who's next may be worse and who
  • 00:25:14
    is. So I
  • 00:25:18
    didn't call for that. But I
  • 00:25:21
    believe today
  • 00:25:25
    after you do your research. If we've been overcharged, if they've been overcharged,
  • 00:25:29
    and if they're responsible for the $800 million. And looking
  • 00:25:33
    back at the lack of preparation, the tragedy of the deaths,
  • 00:25:37
    the destruction, the misery. I mean,
  • 00:25:40
    it's so bad folks. Talk about them losing
  • 00:25:44
    money. Do you realize the City of Houston, there are companies now are saying,
  • 00:25:47
    I don't know if we want to move to Houston. I don't want to move
  • 00:25:49
    my company there, be down for power for weeks.
  • 00:25:54
    Again, we all understand there's a level of response time and things have to be
  • 00:25:57
    done. But this is an
  • 00:26:02
    issue that has to be addressed. It can't be swept under the rug.
  • 00:26:07
    Now, I'm not asking for a Texas Ranger Criminal
  • 00:26:11
    Investigation because I don't know that a crime has been committed. But if
  • 00:26:15
    the Commission doesn't act on the $800 million, if they don't act on the rate
  • 00:26:18
    case. If the Commission does not act on looking,
  • 00:26:22
    have they been overcharged all these customers for so long?
  • 00:26:25
    Then our Business and Commerce Committee will be
  • 00:26:29
    given subpoena power to get the answers. I want to know about that $800 million
  • 00:26:33
    lease. I want to know why it was signed and who decided to sign
  • 00:26:37
    it before the rulemaking. I want to know why it was overturned and who told
  • 00:26:40
    Peter Lake to overturn it. Or was that Peter Lake's idea?
  • 00:26:44
    Who influenced him to overturn that? The worst deal in
  • 00:26:47
    the history of doing business of CenterPoint.
  • 00:26:51
    So I
  • 00:26:56
    believe at this point, the Board of CenterPoint should ask for Jason Wells
  • 00:26:59
    resignation or I believe he should submit it.
  • 00:27:04
    The preparation for the storm was not done.
  • 00:27:09
    The communication to the public was abysmal.
  • 00:27:14
    And he can't answer a simple question from a reporter
  • 00:27:18
    from Channel 2. That says, did you charge, overcharge ratepayers
  • 00:27:22
    $100 million for the last several years?
  • 00:27:26
    When any CEO says, I don't think we did.
  • 00:27:31
    I kind of read that as they probably did.
  • 00:27:35
    So it's not personal Mr. Wells, we've had good discussions.
  • 00:27:39
    But CenterPoint needs to have a strong leader who will
  • 00:27:42
    have foresight, not look back in the rearview mirror. Oh, we'll fix it now
  • 00:27:46
    after the storm. Who are not
  • 00:27:49
    going to make bad deals like they made on the generators and who are not
  • 00:27:53
    going to put the people in their areas,
  • 00:27:56
    Houston surrounding counties at risk.
  • 00:28:02
    I have another issue to discuss, another committee on another day with the Energy Fund.
  • 00:28:07
    But I have great concerns about that, that's kind of my baby. I kind of
  • 00:28:10
    created it along with the Senate to build more
  • 00:28:13
    power. This was not a grid issue as you know,
  • 00:28:16
    but we need more power. And we know that someone
  • 00:28:20
    slipped through the hoop to get a grant from the State of Texas, who was
  • 00:28:24
    convicted of embezzlement.
  • 00:28:28
    And now we have a hold of 1200 MW power because
  • 00:28:32
    of that. I know there's an investigation going on that and how that happened.
  • 00:28:35
    Deloitte and Touche, the accountants that you all pay a lot of money to.
  • 00:28:38
    I don't know how they let us slip this far, Members of the Commission.
  • 00:28:42
    But that 1200 MW needs to be replaced, because
  • 00:28:46
    we need every megawatt we can get. But that's for another day.
  • 00:28:50
    Thank you for your attention. Again,
  • 00:28:54
    nothing I've said here is not factual.
  • 00:28:57
    Nothing I've said here, it's not the truth
  • 00:29:00
    as I believe it to be. And nothing here is personal,
  • 00:29:04
    except on behalf of the 40 people who died. Thank you.
  • 00:29:08
    Thank you for being here, Governor.
  • 00:29:13
    You know, you and I spoke a lot during the week that the storm hit.
  • 00:29:17
    We spent a lot of time together. I know how personal this is to you.
  • 00:29:19
    Thank you for your leadership. And I know you'll continue to hold this Commission and
  • 00:29:23
    everyone accountable to make sure we get the right. So appreciate you being
  • 00:29:26
    here. Commissioners, do you have any comments,
  • Item 0 - Commissioner Glotfelty's comments on the Lt. Governor's remarks
    00:29:29
    any questions? I would just
  • 00:29:33
    say Governor, I appreciate your passion on this.
  • 00:29:37
    It's clear that you represent the people of this city and this region,
  • 00:29:41
    and I think you've said a lot of the right things at
  • 00:29:44
    the right time. About 18
  • 00:29:48
    months ago, we submitted an application, the Public Utility Commission did to the Department
  • 00:29:52
    of Energy for a resilience grant.
  • 00:29:55
    Yes. CenterPoint was part of that, American Electric
  • 00:29:59
    Power. It was all a Coastal resiliency plan, it even went down to Brownsville.
  • 00:30:04
    We were denied that. We hope that
  • 00:30:07
    in the future there will be an opportunity to do that again. And hope we
  • 00:30:10
    can count on you and the entire Legislature, and the
  • 00:30:14
    leadership of the State to push forward so we can get that. So we can
  • 00:30:17
    get some Texans money back and use it for grid resiliency along
  • 00:30:21
    the Coast. Thank you. I believe that was $100 million request.
  • 00:30:24
    That was CenterPoint. CenterPoint. CenterPoint put in a $300 million request. Overall.
  • 00:30:28
    We put in 300 more. And that was our taxpayer money that went to Washington and
  • 00:30:31
    we didn't get it back. But almost every other state was granted the request but
  • 00:30:35
    Texas. Correct. Okay. Look, I have faith in all of you.
  • 00:30:38
    I know you have a hard job. I know these are, you're facing issues
  • 00:30:42
    that really no other Commission has faced.
  • 00:30:46
    I know there's a lot of pressure from all areas. I just ask you to
  • 00:30:49
    do the right thing. So thank you and God bless you. Thank you. Thank you.
  • 00:30:52
    Thank y'all for coming and being here today.
  • 00:31:01
    So we have a couple of State Senators that I know are here.
  • 00:31:05
    State Senator Molly Cook and State Senator Carol Alvarado.
  • 00:31:09
    Senator Alvarado, if you'd like to come up.
  • 00:31:12
    Good morning. Thank you. Thank you for being here
  • Item 0 - Remarks by Texas State Senator Carol Alvarado
    00:31:16
    this morning. Thank y'all, good morning. And especially
  • 00:31:19
    thanks to this crowd that has shown up today.
  • 00:31:23
    Commissioners, I know this is the first time in over 20
  • 00:31:26
    years that you have met outside of Austin. So we're glad that you're taking
  • 00:31:31
    this important issue to the public where it belongs.
  • 00:31:35
    For those of you who don't know, these individuals are
  • 00:31:39
    appointed by the Governor.
  • 00:31:43
    They're not elected. You can't fire
  • 00:31:46
    and hire them, right? But I can.
  • 00:31:50
    Because each and every one of them come
  • 00:31:53
    to the Senate Nominations Committee, which I sit on, and then
  • 00:31:57
    they have to go before the entire body to be voted on.
  • 00:32:00
    So just throwing that out there,
  • 00:32:04
    no pressure. Just letting people know that how
  • 00:32:07
    you all come to your positions.
  • 00:32:10
    And while there's been a lot said
  • 00:32:14
    to CenterPoint, I'm going to get into some specifics.
  • 00:32:18
    Is that you all, you have some
  • 00:32:22
    accountability. You have some responsibility in this,
  • 00:32:26
    as well. And I have had the pleasure
  • 00:32:30
    of meeting many of you and have confidence in each and
  • 00:32:33
    every one of you that you will do the right thing.
  • 00:32:36
    And I'm hoping that whether it's an audit
  • 00:32:40
    or the investigation that
  • 00:32:43
    you'll be doing. That it's done before we get to Session,
  • 00:32:48
    because we need a little direction. We have a list
  • 00:32:51
    of things that we're going to be taking on in the form of Legislation.
  • 00:32:55
    But we also want to see what you uncovered and what
  • 00:32:59
    we need to do, if there are some gaps to be filled.
  • 00:33:04
    Something that you need that you're lacking. Or if
  • 00:33:08
    we see that you haven't done your job,
  • 00:33:12
    then there's issues that we need to address as well.
  • 00:33:17
    I want to express my sympathy to the
  • 00:33:21
    families and communities across Houston and the greater Gulf
  • 00:33:24
    Coast impacted by Hurricane Beryl. It's been challenging
  • 00:33:28
    for us, but as always, we are Houston strong. We are Texas strong.
  • 00:33:34
    We all know that the power outages and infrastructure failures
  • 00:33:38
    we experienced during, again a Category
  • 00:33:42
    1. They were not only disruptive,
  • 00:33:46
    they were dangerous. Nearly 3 million
  • 00:33:49
    homes, schools, and businesses lost power at the peak of Beryl.
  • 00:33:53
    Hundreds of thousands were left without power for
  • 00:33:58
    a week, 10 days and beyond. Families were
  • 00:34:01
    left in the dark for days. Businesses faced immense
  • 00:34:05
    losses. And our most vulnerable, our seniors
  • 00:34:08
    and those with medical needs, were at serious risk.
  • 00:34:12
    Without power in our region to date,
  • 00:34:16
    42 Texans died.
  • 00:34:19
    This is not the first time we have faced such challenges,
  • 00:34:24
    but it must be the last time that we
  • 00:34:27
    face them without concrete actions in place
  • 00:34:31
    to mitigate them. All of our constituents,
  • 00:34:36
    the public, has been affected by natural disasters
  • 00:34:40
    this year in one way or another. Unfortunately,
  • 00:34:44
    it's not new to us. What I'm becoming increasingly
  • 00:34:48
    worried about is the widening gap
  • 00:34:52
    between the haves and the have nots
  • 00:34:56
    after disasters. We cannot just
  • 00:34:59
    simply generate our way out of this.
  • 00:35:02
    We know that people are purchasing generators,
  • 00:35:06
    but what about those who cannot afford generators?
  • 00:35:11
    Not a cheap investment.
  • 00:35:14
    Safe living conditions during disaster should not be a privilege reserved
  • 00:35:19
    for those who are able to afford a backup generator.
  • 00:35:23
    During the next legislature, we are
  • 00:35:27
    going to ensure that electric utilities prioritize
  • 00:35:31
    their customers over their shareholders.
  • 00:35:35
    They will be made to hire more
  • 00:35:39
    linemen and tree trimmers, expand their vegetation
  • 00:35:45
    and harden their infrastructure. I will personally
  • 00:35:48
    be filing legislation to ensure that those living in senior
  • 00:35:52
    communities are not abandoned during their
  • 00:35:55
    disasters, during disasters. I saw this in
  • 00:35:58
    my district, in Jacinto City, at a multi-family
  • 00:36:04
    complex. Where the management simply
  • 00:36:08
    took off and left seniors to fend for
  • 00:36:11
    themselves. Seniors that were wheelchair bound, on
  • 00:36:15
    the second floor, had no assistance to get out
  • 00:36:18
    of there, risking their lives.
  • 00:36:22
    And this cannot continue today.
  • 00:36:27
    I want to highlight a few key areas that require action to ensure that
  • 00:36:31
    utilities are holding up their end of the bargain with
  • 00:36:34
    the customers. And to the PUC,
  • 00:36:37
    we need you all to be willing partners. Let's start with resilience
  • 00:36:41
    and maintenance. The Legislature will need to ensure that TDUs not
  • 00:36:45
    only have the legal tools that they need to
  • 00:36:49
    manage vegetation in their service areas, but that the PUC is
  • 00:36:53
    closely monitoring those activities and ensuring that
  • 00:36:57
    appropriate measures are being taken.
  • 00:36:59
    Despite CenterPoint's vegetation management budget increase in recent
  • 00:37:04
    years have seen the miles of line
  • 00:37:08
    manage drop from 5800
  • 00:37:11
    miles to 4600 miles.
  • 00:37:15
    I would like to hear what the explanation was.
  • 00:37:19
    Why did they decrease that? And you also have a responsibility.
  • 00:37:24
    You regulate them, you oversee them, you have the ability
  • 00:37:27
    to look at their budgets. Somewhere along the line,
  • 00:37:32
    someone should have noticed that that had been decreased.
  • 00:37:36
    Additionally of their 9000 employees,
  • 00:37:39
    fewer than 500 are vegetation management professionals.
  • 00:37:44
    And I was also shocked to learn that out of
  • 00:37:48
    CenterPoint's 9000 employees, only 1000
  • 00:37:52
    are actually linemen. They have been outsourcing that
  • 00:37:57
    over time. Now, I do want to give them
  • 00:38:00
    a little credit. Because their CEO at our hearing, did
  • 00:38:04
    say they were going to commit to hiring more in-
  • 00:38:08
    house linemen and people to address vegetation.
  • 00:38:12
    I hope that today we hear some progress on that.
  • 00:38:17
    Secondly, enhanced coordination and communication. We've all
  • 00:38:21
    heard the terrible communication, the lack of communication.
  • 00:38:25
    I know that they have made some changes with personnel,
  • 00:38:30
    but this continues to be an issue.
  • 00:38:34
    We heard just the other day when we were with Amy Davis at
  • 00:38:38
    Channel 2. There was someone on the panel
  • 00:38:41
    that talked about an outage, he may be here
  • 00:38:45
    today. An outage that occurred and the mixed
  • 00:38:48
    signals of communication. This was just very recently. This wasn't
  • 00:38:52
    a storm of any kind. This was just a
  • 00:38:55
    what we think was a planned outage. So the
  • 00:38:59
    PUC, you've got to rein that in. When there
  • 00:39:03
    are planned outages, people need to be advised ahead of
  • 00:39:06
    time and they need accurate information how
  • 00:39:10
    long it will occur. This gentleman talked about
  • 00:39:14
    the inconsistency of communication that he
  • 00:39:17
    received. The legislature, we have some
  • 00:39:21
    work to do, too. The legislature needs to ensure that
  • 00:39:26
    we are working to improve information sharing between the
  • 00:39:30
    retail energy providers and transmission utilities
  • 00:39:34
    going forward. This was something that came out of the hearing where
  • 00:39:38
    CenterPoint said that they needed certain authorization
  • 00:39:42
    from the retail providers. So we will look to see if that's something
  • 00:39:46
    that we need to do or if that's something that the PUC needs to
  • 00:39:49
    grant. Because fewer than half of CenterPoint's
  • 00:39:54
    customers are signed up to receive the outage.
  • 00:39:58
    It's funny that CenterPoint can find us when it's
  • 00:40:01
    time to pay our bill, but it's hard to
  • 00:40:05
    find just when it's time to communicate about paying power outages.
  • 00:40:10
    Thirdly, prioritizing equity and recovery. Again
  • 00:40:14
    as I said, our most vulnerable residents,
  • 00:40:18
    our seniors, also low income communities and
  • 00:40:22
    those living in underserved areas who have suffered the most.
  • 00:40:26
    Moving forward, we must ensure that our recovery and rebuilding
  • 00:40:30
    efforts prioritize equity.
  • 00:40:33
    This means directing resources to communities that were
  • 00:40:36
    hard as hell hit and ensuring that they are
  • 00:40:39
    not left behind as we make improvements to our grid and infrastructure.
  • 00:40:44
    Fourth, accountability and transparency.
  • 00:40:48
    We need to know what went wrong,
  • 00:40:52
    but more importantly, we need to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
  • 00:40:56
    I trust that this Commission will ensure,
  • 00:41:00
    will continue to conduct a thorough review
  • 00:41:04
    of utility performance during and after
  • 00:41:07
    the storm. And to put in place clear,
  • 00:41:11
    enforceable standards for emergency preparedness,
  • 00:41:15
    response times and infrastructure improvements.
  • 00:41:20
    I want to thank you all for coming to Houston,
  • 00:41:23
    especially to our district. And I especially
  • 00:41:26
    want to thank the public. We are here because we
  • 00:41:30
    want answers. And some of those answers hopefully we get
  • 00:41:33
    today. We know that some are forthcoming and
  • 00:41:37
    some will be coming during the legislative session.
  • 00:41:41
    Thank y'all. God bless you and God bless the State of Texas.
  • 00:41:45
    Thank you, Senator.
  • 00:41:51
    We'll hear from State Senator Molly Cook next.
  • 00:41:56
    Good morning.
  • Item 0 - Remarks by Texas State Senator Molly Cook
    00:42:02
    Good morning to the Commission and everyone here. I'm very grateful to see
  • 00:42:06
    a large crowd and very grateful to see the PUC in Houston
  • 00:42:09
    at the scene of the crime, if you will. To hear directly from the people.
  • 00:42:13
    And we know that the folks who are the hardest hit by Hurricane Beryl are
  • 00:42:17
    often the folks who have the hardest time making their voices heard in the halls
  • 00:42:20
    of power that affect the them. So we are glad to be here with you
  • 00:42:23
    this morning. What we saw during this hurricane
  • 00:42:27
    was absolutely horrifying. And when our team was out knocking
  • 00:42:31
    on doors in senior living facilities, and finding people without power,
  • 00:42:35
    people without food. If they were on an upper floor, without elevators or
  • 00:42:39
    access to the outside world. And sometimes without water, relying on
  • 00:42:42
    pumps. We were scared.
  • 00:42:45
    We were scared that we would knock on a door and that folks who didn't
  • 00:42:49
    answer were behind it, perhaps not conscious,
  • 00:42:52
    perhaps there was loss of life. And when I
  • 00:42:56
    wasn't knocking on doors and out in our district, trying desperately to meet the needs
  • 00:42:59
    of our constituents. I was in the emergency department,
  • 00:43:02
    witnessing the unbearable suffering. Heat related illnesses,
  • 00:43:06
    folks with disabilities.
  • 00:43:09
    This has been an unacceptable experience for the people of Houston
  • 00:43:14
    and for the surrounding counties that sometimes don't get the headlines in the Houston
  • 00:43:17
    Chronicle. And we have to do everything that we possibly can.
  • 00:43:21
    We're counting on you to make sure that this never happens again,
  • 00:43:25
    not just to Houstonians, but across the state of Texas.
  • 00:43:28
    We have the resources that we need to be hurricane resilient,
  • 00:43:32
    and that's the reality of this region. So we hope that you'll
  • 00:43:36
    help make that happen. This morning, I want to say thank you to the Lieutenant
  • 00:43:39
    Governor for being here this morning, and for his sense of urgency and for his
  • 00:43:43
    words. Thank you to Senator Alvarado. Thank you
  • 00:43:46
    to all of my Senate colleagues. We heard a unified voice during the Senate
  • 00:43:50
    Hearing on CenterPoint's inability to meet the needs of the people.
  • 00:43:53
    And we are here as your legislators to make sure that every single dime
  • 00:43:58
    that can stay in your pocket stays in your pocket.
  • 00:44:01
    That every single public dime gets spent on keeping the power
  • 00:44:05
    on. Not just recovering after a storm, but making sure that
  • 00:44:08
    the power never goes out. And that every single dime that
  • 00:44:11
    you pay to CenterPoint as a customer is spent the
  • 00:44:15
    right way. To keep lights on and make sure that you are safe in your
  • 00:44:18
    homes, regardless of changing weather conditions. So thank
  • 00:44:22
    you so much. And we look forward to championing this from the legislature as well
  • 00:44:26
    and putting the full weight of our office behind. Making legislative
  • 00:44:30
    changes that turn into real changes on the ground for your
  • 00:44:33
    experience. Thank y'all so much. Thank you, Senator.
  • 00:44:42
    So I believe that concludes all the elected officials who asked
  • 00:44:46
    to speak. So at this point, I'll call up Commission Staff to
  • 00:44:50
    give an update on PUC activities. Commission Executive Director Connie
  • 00:44:53
    Corona. And just for those in attendance, we've asked CenterPoint to set up
  • 00:44:57
    a customer service table outside to answer any questions you may have. So
  • 00:45:01
    you can get directed out there from PUC or CenterPoint staff. But there is a
  • 00:45:05
    table outside for CenterPoint to answer your questions as well.
  • Item 9 - PUC Executive Director Connie Corona with overview of the investigation schedule related to issues with Hurricane Beryl
    00:45:09
    Good morning, Connie. Good morning Commissioners.
  • 00:45:12
    Good morning everyone. Thank you for welcoming us to Houston.
  • 00:45:17
    I'll begin with a brief overview of the investigation schedule
  • 00:45:22
    regarding issues related to Hurricane Beryl. In August,
  • 00:45:26
    Staff issued requests for information to electric service providers,
  • 00:45:30
    as well as water and communications providers.
  • 00:45:33
    We also invited input from the retail electric
  • 00:45:36
    providers, the power generators and impacted groups
  • 00:45:41
    like healthcare facilities.
  • 00:45:43
    Those RFIs generated volumes of information that
  • 00:45:47
    Staff is using to create our report.
  • 00:45:51
    Our final report is due by
  • 00:45:54
    December 1, which means it will be before the Commissioners
  • 00:45:58
    at our November 21 Open Meeting. The report
  • 00:46:02
    will include an assessment of utility preparedness as
  • 00:46:05
    well as response and recommendations on that response.
  • 00:46:11
    We expect that some of the information we hear from panelists today
  • 00:46:14
    will help inform our recommendations.
  • 00:46:17
    This investigation has been a major group effort. We have
  • 00:46:21
    over two dozen Staff members across
  • 00:46:25
    several divisions. So that includes engineers,
  • 00:46:29
    attorneys, accountants,
  • 00:46:32
    investigators, enforcement investigators working
  • 00:46:36
    collaboratively on a daily basis. To create this report
  • 00:46:39
    to the Commission that will eventually be passed on to the
  • 00:46:43
    legislature and the Governor.
  • Item 10 - Connie Corona on public input questionnaire related to issues with Hurricane Beryl
    00:46:46
    Today, we've come to Houston to hear firsthand from
  • 00:46:50
    Houstonians. So I'd want to share some of the public input
  • 00:46:53
    we've received so far in our
  • 00:46:57
    questionnaire. We've received over 16,000
  • 00:47:01
    responses to our public comment questionnaire that
  • 00:47:05
    is still available on our website. We are planning to
  • 00:47:09
    keep it open through this coming Wednesday.
  • 00:47:13
    The questionnaire seeks inputs of input from residents and businesses
  • 00:47:16
    who experienced outages related to Hurricane Beryl and the
  • 00:47:21
    May de Racho. Most of the respondents
  • 00:47:24
    indicated that their home or business was without power for at least one
  • 00:47:28
    day. With the largest category being 5 to
  • 00:47:31
    7 days and the second largest being 7 days or more.
  • 00:47:39
    The overwhelming majority of the respondents said they either never received
  • 00:47:43
    communication from their electric provider or
  • 00:47:46
    received first communication after the storm.
  • 00:47:50
    86% have said that the customer communications
  • 00:47:53
    received during the storms did not meet their needs.
  • 00:47:58
    I'd like to share a few stories that we've received in
  • 00:48:01
    the public survey. We heard from a business who lost
  • 00:48:05
    power for more than 9 days during their busiest month
  • 00:48:09
    of business. We heard from a small public water system
  • 00:48:13
    that was de energized for more than a week and struggled
  • 00:48:17
    to get information about restoration. We heard
  • 00:48:21
    from people who live and work in long term care facilities.
  • 00:48:25
    Who describe stressful and scary experiences,
  • 00:48:29
    and from families with children who had to throw out all of their food.
  • 00:48:35
    These are just a few of the many stories that we received in the questionnaire.
  • 00:48:39
    We truly appreciate the comments and input that Houstonians
  • 00:48:43
    have taken the time to provide to us for our report.
  • 00:48:48
    More details on the public input will be covered in depth
  • 00:48:52
    in the report. In the next part
  • 00:48:55
    of the workshop, we're going to hear from experts on storm
  • 00:48:59
    preparedness and best response practices.
  • 00:49:03
    We hope that this information will also help inform the policy recommendations
  • 00:49:08
    in Staff's report and that we will find it useful
  • 00:49:11
    as we prepare our recommendations to the legislature.
  • 00:49:15
    Thank you. Thank you, Connie. And just so
  • 00:49:18
    everyone knows, once that investigation report is completed, we'll post that
  • 00:49:21
    on our website as well for people to access. That's correct. Thank you.
  • 00:49:25
    Commissioners, any questions for Connie?
  • 00:49:29
    Thank you. So now
  • 00:49:32
    I'll ask Luisa to come up. Staff's going to run this portion of the
  • 00:49:36
    meeting and call up all the panels. And then run us through the public
  • 00:49:39
    portion, the public comment portion of the hearing.
  • 00:49:47
    Good morning, Luisa. Good morning.
  • 00:49:51
    For our first panel, I'm going to call up Sean Miller
  • 00:49:55
    with Texas Division of Emergency Management and Lance Wood
  • 00:49:58
    with the National Weather Service.
  • 00:50:09
    Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you both for being here this morning.
  • 00:50:12
    Good morning. Morning.
  • 00:50:17
    So good morning, I'll begin. And thank you
  • 00:50:20
    Commission and thank you to the people here for providing me the
  • 00:50:23
    opportunity to speak. Oh sorry. Providing
  • 00:50:28
    me the opportunity to speak today on behalf of the Texas Division Emergency Management.
  • Item 9 - Shaun Miller, Assistant Chief of Texas Division of Emergency Management on response and communication
    00:50:31
    My name is Shaun Miller. I'm an assistant chief with TDEM in the Texas Division
  • 00:50:35
    of Emergency Management and responsible with implementing the state's emergency management
  • 00:50:39
    programs here in the Southeast Texas. I'd like to talk
  • 00:50:42
    today about emergency management response and communication.
  • 00:50:47
    Each disaster begins and ends at the local level.
  • 00:50:50
    Local governments, which includes counties, cities and
  • 00:50:54
    towns, respond to emergencies daily using their own resources.
  • 00:50:58
    During those emergencies, local governments rely on mutual aid and assistance
  • 00:51:02
    agreements with neighboring jurisdictions. When local jurisdictions cannot meet
  • 00:51:06
    the incidents response resource needs with their own resources or with the
  • 00:51:10
    help available from other local jurisdictions, they may ask for state assistance.
  • 00:51:15
    In Texas, as I mentioned, we begin incidents.
  • 00:51:18
    All incidents begin and end locally and are managed daily at the
  • 00:51:22
    closest possible geographical, organizational and jurisdictional
  • 00:51:25
    level. Effective emergency management relies on the integration
  • 00:51:29
    of emergency management plans at all levels, which includes the
  • 00:51:33
    cooperation and collaboration from local, state and federal.
  • 00:51:37
    In Texas, TDEM assists local responders with state resources needed
  • 00:51:41
    to conduct their work to protect life, property and the environment.
  • 00:51:45
    TDEM coordinates the state emergency management program to include planning
  • 00:51:49
    training, exercising, response, recovery and mitigation.
  • 00:51:54
    Under Chapter 418 of the Texas Government Code, each county and
  • 00:51:58
    incorporated City in Texas is to maintain an emergency management agency
  • 00:52:02
    or participate in a local or inter jurisdictional emergency management agency.
  • 00:52:08
    We work in all phases of emergency management from preparedness, which includes planning,
  • 00:52:12
    training and exercising through response,
  • 00:52:16
    recovery and mitigation, and it's in a continuous process.
  • 00:52:20
    The Texas Division Emergency Management has been working tirelessly to coordinate
  • 00:52:23
    our response across this region. That effort
  • 00:52:27
    remains ongoing throughout the recovery process.
  • 00:52:30
    Although the volume of disasters may be daunting, we leverage every tool at
  • 00:52:34
    our disposal. We surge personnel and equipment from other
  • 00:52:37
    areas of the state to help backfill and supplement our operations during
  • 00:52:42
    a disaster. It could take the shape of ice, water,
  • 00:52:46
    generators, personnel, ambulances, whatever the
  • 00:52:50
    local government needs. Streamlined operations strengthen
  • 00:52:54
    partnerships with local agencies and mobilized additional support
  • 00:52:58
    from both state and federal levels are brought to bear in support
  • 00:53:01
    of local officials. It's a multi-faceted approach,
  • 00:53:05
    ensuring that the most critical needs are addressed first.
  • 00:53:08
    Placing response, recovery and mitigation personnel in
  • 00:53:11
    emergency operations centers and at the disaster district emergency operations
  • 00:53:15
    center. To capture fatigue points with a jurisdiction
  • 00:53:18
    that we can work to bolster in the days and weeks weeks post the disaster.
  • 00:53:22
    We partner with local nonprofits and city county personnel
  • 00:53:26
    to address long term recovery and the issues that may arise during
  • 00:53:30
    that process. Collaboration at all levels of
  • 00:53:33
    government and non government agencies help us manage the challenges we
  • 00:53:36
    face, tackling difficulties effectively and continuing to support
  • 00:53:41
    the people of Texas through these trying times.
  • 00:53:45
    Communication and coordination with other agencies is a cornerstone
  • 00:53:49
    of our approach. Here in Southeast Texas,
  • 00:53:52
    we activate the disaster district, which brings in representatives from the
  • 00:53:55
    state, partners and agencies that are present in the state operations center to ensure
  • 00:53:59
    a unified and effective response. Collaboration helps
  • 00:54:02
    us share resources, streamline operations,
  • 00:54:05
    and address the needs of affected communities more effectively.
  • 00:54:09
    By leveraging expertise and capabilities of Texas agencies,
  • 00:54:13
    we can enhance our response efforts and provide more comprehensive support
  • 00:54:17
    to those impacted by these disasters. It truly becomes a
  • 00:54:20
    team effort. Disaster planning,
  • 00:54:23
    training and exercising are the cornerstones of disaster preparedness.
  • 00:54:27
    They ensure that communication, excuse me, they ensure that communities are
  • 00:54:31
    not just reactive, but are proactively prepared to mitigate the impact of disasters,
  • 00:54:36
    reducing the potential loss of life and property.
  • 00:54:39
    TDEM preparedness administers a statewide emergency management program focusing
  • 00:54:43
    on all hazards, emergency planning, exercise and continuous
  • 00:54:46
    improvement. The preparedness division is dedicated to the whole
  • 00:54:50
    community by managing and coordinating a comprehensive all hazards
  • 00:54:53
    program to achieve a more resilient Texas planning
  • 00:54:57
    supports enhances the state's all hazard emergency operations plan
  • 00:55:01
    that clarifies the roles and helps coordinates resources before,
  • 00:55:06
    during, and after an incident of state significance.
  • 00:55:09
    Training is a useful conduit for a range of training opportunities,
  • 00:55:12
    including continuity of operations as well as different
  • 00:55:16
    program support. The exercise mission serves
  • 00:55:20
    and assists Texas communities through TDEM's regional personnel
  • 00:55:24
    and partners, agencies and partner agencies, by supporting the development
  • 00:55:27
    of self sustaining exercise programs.
  • 00:55:30
    Planning, training and exercising emergency plans
  • 00:55:34
    empowers not just emergency management agencies, but also the community at large.
  • 00:55:39
    Educating the public on preparedness measures enhances resilience,
  • 00:55:42
    enabling communities to withstand and recover from disasters
  • 00:55:46
    more quickly. But personal preparedness
  • 00:55:49
    is the key. Not just for the public, but for our local and state
  • 00:55:53
    partners. It is important to practice what we preach.
  • 00:55:57
    We must all have a plan in case disaster strikes our daily lives.
  • 00:56:01
    We have to stay informed and be aware, communicate our plans
  • 00:56:05
    with those that we love so they know what the plan is.
  • 00:56:09
    Have emergency supplies handy in case they are needed.
  • 00:56:12
    We cannot anticipate every threat the future can bring.
  • 00:56:15
    But what we can do today as individuals, as organizations,
  • 00:56:19
    as governments, is learn from the lessons of the past. Remain aware,
  • 00:56:23
    be prepared, and constantly improve our planning, our cooperation
  • 00:56:26
    and trainings. This will determine the effectiveness of our response
  • 00:56:30
    and increase our chances of saving lives and protecting property. Thank you.
  • 00:56:35
    Thank you for being here this morning. And thanks to you and the
  • 00:56:38
    local team here from TDEM and all the work you do during
  • 00:56:42
    and after disasters to help everyone get restored.
  • 00:56:46
    Appreciate the work. Thank you.
  • 00:56:49
    Good morning. Okay, here we
  • Item 9 - Lance Wood, Houston-Galveston office of the National Weather Service with Post Tropical Cyclone Report
    00:56:53
    go. I'm Lance Wood from the National Weather Service, Houston-Galveston office
  • 00:56:57
    and I want to say thank you for having us here. As you know,
  • 00:57:00
    we work closely with the community for preparedness activities. Shaun did a good
  • 00:57:04
    job kind of outlining what they do. We work closely with emergency management.
  • 00:57:08
    I can talk a lot about the weather, but I'm going to be brief this
  • 00:57:10
    morning and I'm going to read a little bit from our post tropical cyclone
  • 00:57:14
    report and just give some specifics about barrel, the meteorological
  • 00:57:17
    statistics. As you know, Beryl made landfall in
  • 00:57:21
    the early mornings hours of July 8 near Matagorda,
  • 00:57:24
    Texas. The very first outer rain bands actually reached southeast
  • 00:57:28
    Texas during the afternoon. The previous afternoon. On the 7th,
  • 00:57:31
    barrel brought coastal flooding, flash flooding,
  • 00:57:34
    widespread wind damage to most of the region. So we pretty much had all the
  • 00:57:37
    threats you can expect from a hurricane. The highest sustained
  • 00:57:41
    wind gusts were at Surfside Beach, sustained at
  • 00:57:45
    64. Actually had a gust of 97
  • 00:57:48
    mph. Beryl was a particularly gusty storm and I
  • 00:57:51
    think that was mainly because it was strengthening
  • 00:57:55
    at landfall. We had been watching it across the Gulf of Mexico.
  • 00:57:59
    It had kind of struggled to strengthen after it. It moved across the Yucatan,
  • 00:58:02
    but got its act together right as it was making landfall.
  • 00:58:05
    I think that's one of the reasons why we saw those category one wind
  • 00:58:09
    gusts across a lot of Southeast Texas. And of course these winds
  • 00:58:13
    brought down numerous trees, power lines across the region,
  • 00:58:16
    and the widespread power outages. It's also a pretty prolific rainfall producer.
  • 00:58:21
    In general 48 inches of rainfall, but there were swaths of 10 to 15
  • 00:58:24
    inches. And even in the Houston area on the West side, where the rain bands
  • 00:58:28
    were a little more persistent. There was one confirmed tornado in EF
  • 00:58:32
    1. I actually surveyed that down in Jamaica Beach. It started
  • 00:58:36
    out as a waterspout and then crossed the island. We had
  • 00:58:39
    significant storm surge flooding, generally four to 6ft of
  • 00:58:42
    inundation, and our survey findings actually found up to 8ft
  • 00:58:46
    as the maximum. The other thing I
  • 00:58:50
    was just going to say specifically for Harris County in the Houston area, we had
  • 00:58:53
    a flood watch. We had tropical storm warning in effect that began
  • 00:58:57
    on Saturday night on July 6. Once the track was, as you know,
  • 00:59:01
    the track was shifting to the right, as they often do along the Texas coast.
  • 00:59:04
    And we expanded the inland coverage of warnings on Saturday and Sunday.
  • 00:59:08
    Seeing that track shift, we had numerous stations reporting wind gusts
  • 00:59:12
    of 60 to 70 mph in the Houston area and some reports
  • 00:59:15
    of greater than 80 mph, which again, is in that category one
  • 00:59:19
    range. The highest wind gust was at Houston Hobby Airport with
  • 00:59:23
    a gust of 84. Which actually is a little bit higher than what
  • 00:59:27
    we saw during Hurricane Ike back in 2008.
  • 00:59:31
    The wind gust we saw at that time was about 80. So very similar type
  • 00:59:35
    winds as Ike. The track was a little different than Ike.
  • 00:59:38
    Ike went right over Galveston Bay and Houston saw the western eye wall,
  • 00:59:43
    but with, with Beryl, unfortunately,
  • 00:59:46
    the inland track was off to the northeast, right across the Houston metropolitan area.
  • 00:59:50
    And we were in the northeast, eastern,
  • 00:59:53
    unfortunately, where you see the strongest winds, eyewall region that moved
  • 00:59:57
    just to the right of the storm. So the tracks were a little different,
  • 01:00:00
    wind speeds, kind of similar. The other thing
  • 01:00:04
    I would like to comment on, and this was mentioned earlier, that we had quite
  • 01:00:07
    a bit of heat after barrel moved inland,
  • 01:00:11
    and we saw heat indices of 100 to 106 degrees for
  • 01:00:15
    days after Beryl. We were concerned about that because
  • 01:00:18
    of the power outages. We knew some people may not be ready for that kind
  • 01:00:21
    of heat stress since obviously most of us live in air conditioned
  • 01:00:25
    environment. So we lowered our heat advisory criteria and had
  • 01:00:29
    heat advisories out for the Houston area for about a
  • 01:00:32
    week after barrel actually might have been even a little bit longer. Than that,
  • 01:00:36
    and I'll stop there. And again, thanks for having me. Thanks for being here this
  • 01:00:40
    morning. Maybe one thing. So as Lieutenant Governor Patrick
  • 01:00:44
    mentioned, you know, we're still in hurricane season. Can you talk about maybe
  • 01:00:48
    what you're seeing for the rest of the season, the activity in the Atlantic and
  • Item 9 - Chairman Gleeson's question for Lance Wood concerning activity for the rest of hurricane season
    01:00:51
    what to expect? Yeah, great question. In fact, we have a tropical cyclone
  • 01:00:55
    forming in the Southern Gulf as we speak today. We're watching
  • 01:00:59
    to see, I'm not sure if that advisory already came out while we were here.
  • 01:01:02
    But Milton is likely to form here in the Gulf today.
  • 01:01:06
    But the good news for Texas is that's going to be headed off to the
  • 01:01:09
    East Northeast. So we'll be thinking about our friends in Florida
  • 01:01:12
    on this one. And that's typical of October, that the
  • 01:01:16
    threat starts to shift East to Florida and
  • 01:01:19
    the Atlantic coast for the United States. So even though the season
  • 01:01:23
    does go to November 30. For the Texas coast, we've never had
  • 01:01:26
    a hurricane landfall past October 15 with reliable records.
  • 01:01:30
    So that's good news. We still need to be vigilant.
  • 01:01:33
    I mean, we're still not quite to October 15, so.
  • 01:01:37
    But yeah, October is generally kind of when we end here for Texas.
  • 01:01:41
    And again, we're kind of dodging a bullet here with future
  • 01:01:44
    Milton that's South of us. Thank you.
  • 01:01:48
    Commissioners, any questions of this panel?
  • 01:01:52
    Shaun, real quick. I wanted to ask about what type
  • 01:01:56
    of list at TDEM you keep with critical infrastructure. Do you check
  • 01:02:00
    with those prior going into an emergency, if you're available?
  • 01:02:03
    You know it's coming, do you reach out before and say, I will be your
  • 01:02:07
    person if you need me, contact me? What does TDEM do in regards to
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Hjaltman's question for Shaun Miller on communication of critical infrastructure
    01:02:10
    that? No. Great question. So during,
  • 01:02:13
    before a disaster starts, we start, and we're always
  • 01:02:17
    collaborating and coordinating with our local elected officials,
  • 01:02:20
    from county judges to city mayors, their emergency management coordinators,
  • 01:02:24
    as well as ISDs. Their emergency management coordinators,
  • 01:02:28
    utility districts, MUDs,
  • 01:02:31
    the LIDs. The list goes on and on. So we make sure that
  • 01:02:34
    they're all aware and are paying
  • 01:02:38
    attention to whether it's the Gulf or paying attention to the storms.
  • 01:02:42
    We do our statewide weather calls. When we start
  • 01:02:45
    seeing something that's forming, whether it's forming in the gulf,
  • 01:02:49
    it could be wildfire danger or fire danger. It could just be
  • 01:02:53
    our seasonal severe storms that may cause riverine
  • 01:02:57
    flooding or localized flooding. So we reach out to them well
  • 01:03:01
    before that event may occur to ensure that they
  • 01:03:05
    are aware of it and that they know that, you know, if there is a
  • 01:03:08
    need, they can have our, they have our number, they can
  • 01:03:11
    contact us. So we keep that line of communications
  • 01:03:15
    open consistently. Is that list purged and
  • 01:03:18
    checked and updated? And how often is that done from your side?
  • 01:03:22
    So we check it well, we're required to
  • 01:03:26
    update it annually, but we do that more often
  • 01:03:29
    than that. So we, both during and after
  • 01:03:32
    a post storm or post event, we'll confirm
  • 01:03:36
    that the contacts are still correct so that
  • 01:03:40
    we always have the latest information for those
  • 01:03:44
    elected officials or those points of contact.
  • 01:03:47
    Thank you. I have a TDEM question.
  • 01:03:50
    And that is, we obviously have a lot of community members here.
  • 01:03:54
    How do they know when you're active in their community? Do they see
  • 01:03:57
    TDEM or do they see it through the state and local organizations which
  • Item 9 - Commisisoner Glotfelty's question for Shaun Miller on community outreach
    01:04:02
    ultimately serve the people here? So we work collaboratively
  • 01:04:07
    with our locally elected officials, the mayors, the judges, the emergency
  • 01:04:10
    management coordinators. So we're always in their communities as their
  • 01:04:13
    request. And when we are with
  • 01:04:17
    them, we do provide or we do wear,
  • 01:04:21
    whether it's a reflective vest or other ways
  • 01:04:25
    to show that we're present in their community.
  • 01:04:28
    We also collaboratively work with their public information officers
  • 01:04:32
    to ensure that that message is getting out. A good example is
  • 01:04:37
    a couple weeks ago when we had the Deer Park and
  • 01:04:40
    LaPorte pipeline fire. We worked collaboratively
  • 01:04:43
    with their public information officers to do preliminary damage
  • 01:04:47
    assessments post event and made sure that that message was getting out to
  • 01:04:51
    the community so that the community members knew that we would be in that
  • 01:04:54
    community doing damage surveys and would
  • 01:04:58
    be working collaboratively with their city and county officials.
  • 01:05:03
    So you all are not the ones to get the lights back on.
  • 01:05:06
    That still will always reside with the utility,
  • 01:05:10
    but you all will support the local communities in different ways. That's correct.
  • 01:05:17
    More of a National Weather Service question. So as
  • 01:05:20
    you're seeing weather patterns develop,
  • 01:05:25
    how do you communicate out from a National Weather Service standpoint?
  • 01:05:29
    Do you let the media know? Are you in communication with
  • 01:05:33
    local utilities, government entities?
  • 01:05:37
    How is that communication done? Yeah, that again, another great
  • Item 9 - Commisisoner Cobos' question for Lance Miller concerning communication
    01:05:41
    question. So we have partner webinars kind
  • 01:05:44
    of following each advisory from the National Hurricane Center. Where
  • 01:05:48
    we go over the specifics of the impacts to Southeast
  • 01:05:51
    Texas. So we cover 23 county areas and then of course,
  • 01:05:55
    offshore waters as well. So those are the partners that we would invite.
  • 01:05:59
    We also really rely on the media to help get our message out.
  • 01:06:03
    So we have a great partnership with the media. We have integrated
  • 01:06:07
    warning team workshops once or twice a year where we go over
  • 01:06:11
    how events went. Can we, can we improve communication?
  • 01:06:15
    So we realize the importance of communication?
  • 01:06:18
    So, you know, through the web, we communicate a lot.
  • 01:06:22
    Through social media, we communicate a lot but we do direct partner
  • 01:06:26
    support. We'll even jump on any conference call from
  • 01:06:30
    a government official and support that conference call. So county
  • 01:06:34
    judges, if they're having a call, we'll jump in there
  • 01:06:37
    and offer our advice.
  • 01:06:40
    Okay, so it sounds like no direct communication with the utility
  • 01:06:44
    itself. Well, the utilities could be on our conference calls. Okay,
  • 01:06:48
    thank you. So but and if they call we would, we would support
  • 01:06:51
    it. We don't. We're not there sitting next to them.
  • 01:06:54
    So, you know, not that direct. Right, right. There's other meteorological,
  • 01:06:58
    meteorological information out there that they may rely on, but they
  • 01:07:02
    have the ability to get on your call, too. Yeah. And, you know,
  • 01:07:05
    when we do a webinar,
  • 01:07:08
    we also record it and upload it to our YouTube channel so
  • 01:07:12
    anybody can ,can view and I listen to the information that we're putting out there.
  • 01:07:17
    Thank you. I have
  • 01:07:20
    one more for TDEM. And that is, so during this
  • 01:07:23
    storm, how was your communication with
  • 01:07:27
    CenterPoint? Was it acceptable? Was it unacceptable?
  • 01:07:30
    Was it spotty? How do you, as a state
  • 01:07:33
    official in the Division of Emergency Management, feel that that
  • Item 9 - Commisisoner Glotfelty's question for Shaun Miller on communication with CenterPoint
    01:07:37
    communication worked? So during the storm, we did
  • 01:07:40
    have a representative from, from CenterPoint in our disaster district,
  • 01:07:44
    EOC, Emergency Operations Center. So they were providing
  • 01:07:47
    us updates on restorations that
  • 01:07:52
    they had at that time. I know that at the
  • 01:07:55
    state operations center, we have a member as well,
  • 01:07:59
    that through the PUC is part of our emergency support function that
  • 01:08:03
    provides that level of assistance as well. So we do work collaboratively
  • 01:08:07
    with not just CenterPoint, but with Entergy as well.
  • 01:08:10
    So during Beryl, there was other providers.
  • 01:08:14
    Entergy was one of them, especially down in the Galveston area that was
  • 01:08:18
    impacted. So we worked collaboratively with them as well. As a
  • 01:08:22
    member of our emergency support team, is there
  • 01:08:25
    something that. I guess I'd throw this out to you,
  • 01:08:29
    that if you can think of ways to improve that so that the public knows
  • 01:08:32
    that this communication is happening, the highest levels
  • 01:08:36
    of their government are working for them. That might be something that we
  • 01:08:39
    want to think about for our report. If there's a public event or something that
  • 01:08:43
    they know that TDEM is working with
  • 01:08:47
    the local utility. That might be something that's valuable
  • 01:08:51
    in the communications world in the future. Shaun, were you
  • 01:08:54
    ever reached out from a MUD or any
  • 01:08:58
    other critical infrastructure. Saying we can't reach CenterPoint,
  • 01:09:01
    we don't know who to contact, they're not responding? Was that ever something you
  • 01:09:05
    received? Not to my knowledge. And really,
  • 01:09:08
    if we had, since we do work closely with
  • 01:09:12
    our city and county officials, we would see if they were having any
  • 01:09:16
    issues. But I don't recall that being an issue.
  • 01:09:19
    Not off the top of my head.
  • 01:09:23
    I have one more question with the weather service, and that is you
  • 01:09:28
    all. You may have your own hurricane
  • 01:09:32
    model, but there are. You aggregate the data of
  • 01:09:36
    lots of the models out there. And do
  • 01:09:40
    utilities subscribe to your service, or do they subscribe
  • 01:09:44
    to third party models that help them make decisions?
  • 01:09:48
    How does that work in terms of understanding where these storms
  • Item 9 - Commisisoner Glotfelty's question for Lance Wood on utilities subscribing to their hurricane models
    01:09:52
    are going? Yeah, it's hard
  • 01:09:55
    to say exactly from my perspective, what a utility is looking at model
  • 01:09:59
    wise. I know the models that the government runs is all in the public
  • 01:10:02
    domain, so it's out there. You can see all that model guidance.
  • 01:10:06
    It's some of the best in the world. I know there's proprietary models as well.
  • 01:10:11
    Our main mission is we do look at all that modeling,
  • 01:10:15
    but we try to keep it as simple as possible in the messaging side and
  • 01:10:19
    go with the National Hurricane Center's forecast. And we coordinate
  • 01:10:22
    with the National Hurricane Center, you know, on that forecast, on the watches and warnings.
  • 01:10:26
    I found that if you try to show a whole bunch of different model solutions,
  • 01:10:30
    you know, you often confuse people. So you really
  • 01:10:34
    need to stick to what the forecast is and see what the experts think about
  • 01:10:38
    all that model guidance. You know, that's my opinion.
  • 01:10:42
    It's probably a good question. We can ask some centerpoint about what
  • 01:10:46
    information they relied on in making their determinations. Any other
  • 01:10:49
    questions? Thank you both for being here this morning.
  • 01:10:55
    Luisa, if you'll call up the second panel, please. For the
  • 01:10:59
    next panel, we'll have Mac Martin with A&M Forest
  • 01:11:02
    Service. Mike Spore, Spore Consulting. Bryan Olnick,
  • 01:11:06
    GridSky Strategies, and Scott Aronson - EEI.
  • 01:11:11
    And I'll also note that any written materials associated with
  • 01:11:14
    the presentations are filed publicly in the PUC
  • 01:11:18
    interchange in Project 56822.
  • 01:11:27
    Mac, if you don't mind going first, that would be great.
  • 01:11:35
    I'll say again that any materials associated with the presentations
  • 01:11:39
    are filed publicly in the PUC interchange in Project
  • 01:11:42
    56822.
  • Item 9 - Mac Martin, Urban & Community Forestry Program Leader, Texas A&M Forest Service on storm resilience, tree placement and well managed trees
    01:11:48
    Hey, good morning. My name is Mac Martin. I'm the Urban and Community
  • 01:11:52
    Forestry Program Leader for the Texas A&M Forest Service, the State
  • 01:11:55
    Forestry Agency. Thank you for the opportunity to come speak today.
  • 01:11:59
    I could spend a lot of time talking about the importance of proper tree management
  • 01:12:03
    for utility of boraculture, as well as the many benefits trees provide to
  • 01:12:06
    communities. But with my five minutes, I really want to focus on three critical
  • 01:12:10
    topics. We'll start with part of the reason we're here today,
  • 01:12:13
    which is storm resilience. We all know that severe weather events are becoming more
  • 01:12:17
    frequent and intense in our state. We also know that properly managed
  • 01:12:21
    trees play a crucial role in community resilience for normal storm
  • 01:12:24
    and other weather events. During these occurrences, trees create wind
  • 01:12:28
    breaks and also provide support to stormwater management by reducing
  • 01:12:31
    runoff, stabilizing soil, and mitigating flood risks.
  • 01:12:35
    Regular proper pruning and risk assessments can help to ensure that
  • 01:12:38
    trees better withstand these events.
  • 01:12:41
    Looking back at recent weather challenges such as near historic droughts,
  • 01:12:45
    freezes, and even the de racho that occurred shortly before barrel,
  • 01:12:48
    we see how these stressors can increase the likelihood of tree failure.
  • 01:12:52
    That being said, we have to make sure to consider the selection and pull placement
  • 01:12:56
    of trees. This brings us to the second principle, right tree
  • 01:12:59
    right place. It's essential that we educate our communities and utilities
  • 01:13:04
    about selecting trees that are appropriate for their specific environments.
  • 01:13:07
    This means considering the mature size, root structure, and potential impact
  • 01:13:11
    on people, property, and utility lines. An excellent five
  • 01:13:15
    step framework for proper utility of boraculture management that
  • 01:13:18
    respects utility infrastructure and enhances community benefit benefits
  • 01:13:22
    from trees is the Arbor Day Foundation's treeline USA.
  • 01:13:26
    By emphasizing the concept of right tree right place, Treeline USA
  • 01:13:30
    encourages the selection of tree species that are appropriate for their
  • 01:13:33
    specific locations, and this approach minimizes the risk of
  • 01:13:36
    tree related conflicts with power lines and other utilities,
  • 01:13:40
    promoting healthier, safer trees that thrive without becoming a hazard.
  • 01:13:44
    The program also advocates for industry best practices in
  • 01:13:47
    utility of boriculture. This includes training utility personnel and proper
  • 01:13:51
    tree care and management techniques, ensuring that tree pruning and
  • 01:13:54
    removal are conducted in ways that protect both the trees and the surrounding community
  • 01:13:58
    and ecosystem. Part of Treeline's framework fosters collaboration
  • 01:14:03
    between utility companies and municipal foresters, promoting open communication
  • 01:14:07
    and shared goals for sustainable tree management, including about how trees also
  • 01:14:11
    save energy. This is the third point. Well managed trees
  • 01:14:14
    can significantly reduce energy consumption, especially during our
  • 01:14:18
    peak summer months. Strategically placed trees provide shade to buildings,
  • 01:14:22
    lowering air conditioning costs and reducing the urban heat island effect.
  • 01:14:25
    In fact, studies show that a single mature tree can save a homeowner between
  • 01:14:29
    100 and $250 in energy costs each year,
  • 01:14:33
    and that number will compound as the tree grows. By implementing effective
  • 01:14:37
    tree management programs, we can maximize the energy efficiency of our canopies
  • 01:14:41
    while minimizing disruptions to utility. So, in conclusion,
  • 01:14:45
    managing our forests is not just about planting trees, it's about establishing a
  • 01:14:49
    sustainable framework for their growth and integration into our
  • 01:14:52
    infrastructure. Effective tree management ensures that we have the right species
  • 01:14:56
    in the right places, maximizing benefits that save Texans money
  • 01:15:00
    and enhance our community resilience. Thank
  • 01:15:04
    you. Thank you.
  • 01:15:12
    Good morning Commissioners and elected officials, distinguished guests
  • Item 9 - Michael Spoor, President of MG Spoor Consulting on Florida Power & Light's grid resiliency journey
    01:15:16
    and citizens of the community here today. My name is Michael Spore.
  • 01:15:20
    I'm President of MG Spore Consulting, and with me here today is Brian Olnick,
  • 01:15:24
    President of GridSky Strategies. We are both retired
  • 01:15:28
    executives with Florida Power and Light Company,
  • 01:15:31
    having been with FPL for both, each of us over
  • 01:15:35
    35 plus year careers there serving in a variety of roles
  • 01:15:39
    in both power delivery and customer service. We're here
  • 01:15:43
    today to share our experiences with Florida Power and Light.
  • 01:15:47
    It's electric, Florida Power and Light's electric grid resiliency journey.
  • 01:15:52
    So specifically, there's three areas that I wanted to cover this morning.
  • 01:15:56
    The first is why we embarked on
  • 01:15:59
    our resiliency journey. Second,
  • 01:16:03
    what the FPL resiliency plan consists of.
  • 01:16:07
    And third, how the FPL electric grid has performed
  • 01:16:10
    because of these resiliency efforts.
  • 01:16:15
    So there is a presentation of just a handful of slides.
  • 01:16:18
    Hopefully each of the commissioners have that in front of you, and I'm going to
  • 01:16:21
    be referencing that here with my next several comments.
  • 01:16:26
    So, on slide one, to answer the question of why
  • 01:16:30
    we embarked on a resiliency journey. Florida, of course,
  • 01:16:33
    like most states in the southeast at least,
  • 01:16:38
    has a long history of hurricanes. In fact,
  • 01:16:42
    we often say that it's not a question of if you're going to be impacted
  • 01:16:46
    by a hurricane, but when. And so for us
  • 01:16:49
    in the state, what really was kind of the catalyst
  • 01:16:52
    for us to recognize that we needed to make a change in
  • 01:16:56
    terms of how we design and build our grid was after the
  • 01:16:59
    zero four and zero five hurricane seasons. During those two
  • 01:17:03
    years, actually, during those 18 months, the state of Florida was impacted
  • 01:17:07
    by seven storms in 18 months. And so
  • 01:17:11
    you can imagine with all those storms, our customers were
  • 01:17:15
    upset and they were tired, our employees were
  • 01:17:18
    tired. And frankly, everyone within the state of
  • 01:17:22
    Florida recognized that we needed to do something different with this weather that
  • 01:17:25
    seemed to be changing for us at the time.
  • 01:17:29
    So we worked at the time with the Florida Public Service Commission,
  • 01:17:33
    our peer, utilities, industry experts,
  • 01:17:36
    external stakeholders, and we filed our first hardening
  • 01:17:40
    plan called storm Secure in early 2006.
  • 01:17:44
    So on slide two, it really covers the
  • 01:17:48
    five key areas that we focused on. Now, there's plenty
  • 01:17:52
    of pieces, obviously, to any resiliency plan, but for
  • 01:17:56
    this, I'll just focus on the key five that we had.
  • 01:18:00
    The first was about storm follow up.
  • 01:18:04
    We wanted to make sure that after each hurricane that the electric grid
  • 01:18:08
    was brought back to what we considered considered pre hurricane status
  • 01:18:12
    as quickly as possible. So that was our first area of focus as
  • 01:18:16
    part of our plan. The second was to harden the grid,
  • 01:18:21
    both our distribution and our transmission grid.
  • 01:18:24
    So this, for us in Florida,
  • 01:18:27
    consisted of replacing all of our wood transmission structures
  • 01:18:30
    with concrete or steel. So over the last 18 years,
  • 01:18:34
    close to 25,000 structures have been replaced and are now concrete
  • 01:18:38
    or steel. For the distribution grid,
  • 01:18:41
    that meant retrofitting all of our mainline circuits
  • 01:18:44
    or our feeders to a higher design criteria
  • 01:18:48
    or a higher standard. And this was called the extreme wind loading criteria.
  • 01:18:53
    And depending upon where you are within the state, it varies on
  • 01:18:57
    if you're in Southern Florida or Northern Florida, but a good majority
  • 01:19:00
    of the state. Now, this new design will allow
  • 01:19:04
    the distribution mainline feeders to withstand winds,
  • 01:19:08
    sometimes in upwards of 100 4550 miles an hour,
  • 01:19:11
    three second gusts, wind gusts that you would experience for
  • 01:19:15
    some typical hurricanes within the service area. The third
  • 01:19:19
    point of the five points of focus was pole inspections. So in
  • 01:19:23
    2006, FPO began a rigid eight
  • 01:19:26
    year pole inspection cycle on its 1.1 million poles
  • 01:19:30
    on its distribution grid. The fourth
  • 01:19:33
    was on vegetation management. FPL instituted
  • 01:19:37
    formal trim cycles to its grid, specifically on the mainline feeders,
  • 01:19:41
    to have a three year trim cycle on all those mainline circuits and
  • 01:19:45
    a six year trim cycle on all the neighborhood or lateral lines.
  • 01:19:49
    And then the last area was about converting
  • 01:19:53
    targeted facilities from overhead to underground. Now, that has,
  • 01:19:57
    since the initial plans were filed back in 2006,
  • 01:20:00
    has changed, and now that has even expanded to consider more
  • 01:20:04
    undergrounding of the distribution grid, especially for the laterals
  • 01:20:09
    on slide three, to help demonstrate some of the impacts,
  • 01:20:14
    positive impacts, that the FPL resiliency efforts have made.
  • 01:20:18
    This slide represents four hurricanes,
  • 01:20:21
    two that we had as part of those seven I mentioned
  • 01:20:25
    over the 0405 seasons in which they were pre resiliency,
  • 01:20:30
    and two that have occurred since
  • 01:20:34
    the company has been on its resiliency journey. One in 2017,
  • 01:20:38
    and then Ian in 2022.
  • 01:20:41
    So, you know, most times hurricanes are categorized
  • 01:20:45
    by category of storm, category one, all the way up to
  • 01:20:48
    a category five. Another metric,
  • 01:20:52
    though, that can be used to measure the
  • 01:20:55
    impact or intensity of a hurricane, is what's called the
  • 01:20:59
    cyclone damage potential index. Now, what this does
  • 01:21:03
    compared to what a category storm does, whereas the category just measures the wind
  • 01:21:07
    speed, and this index actually measures not only the wind speed,
  • 01:21:11
    but the size of the storm. Is it a small storm, is it a big
  • 01:21:14
    storm? And the forward motion of the storm, is it
  • 01:21:17
    a fast moving storm, or is it a storm that's going to be moving slow
  • 01:21:21
    and maybe creating more damage because of that?
  • 01:21:25
    So, on this slide, you can see the four hurricanes
  • 01:21:29
    that were referenced now on slide four shows
  • 01:21:34
    the restoration performance with these same four hurricanes, again,
  • 01:21:38
    two of them before resiliency efforts,
  • 01:21:42
    and then two that happened as the resiliency plans
  • 01:21:46
    have been taking place. And so the big takeaway on
  • 01:21:49
    this slide is, whereas Wilma, which was a hurricane that impacted
  • 01:21:53
    Florida in October of 2005,
  • 01:21:57
    took 18 days to essentially restore all those customers,
  • 01:22:02
    Ian that impacted the state in 2022,
  • 01:22:06
    took essentially eight days to restore the customers,
  • 01:22:10
    66% of those customers being restored after one
  • 01:22:13
    full day of restoration. The last slide
  • 01:22:17
    that I'll cover is on slide five, which just again shows
  • 01:22:22
    a comparison of these same four hurricanes, again,
  • 01:22:25
    two, pre resiliency, and two,
  • 01:22:28
    the resiliency efforts have been ongoing within the state of Florida.
  • 01:22:33
    The first data point that I'll just bring to your attention on
  • 01:22:37
    this slide, if I may, is about distribution poles damaged.
  • 01:22:42
    So for Ian, again happened in 2022,
  • 01:22:47
    3200 poles, distribution poles had to be replaced,
  • 01:22:50
    whereas during Wilma, 12,400 poles had to
  • 01:22:54
    be replaced. So one of the big things about this, and I think it's an
  • 01:22:58
    important point to make, is it's
  • 01:23:01
    our opinion that no electric grid can be made,
  • 01:23:04
    hurricane proof outages are going to happen.
  • 01:23:10
    But what we believe is with the right
  • 01:23:14
    efforts and plans, you can lessen the work that's required
  • 01:23:18
    in order to restore power to customers. And so in
  • 01:23:21
    this example, with this particular data point on the distribution poles,
  • 01:23:25
    less distribution poles damaged, thus less work for the restoration crews
  • 01:23:29
    to restore power to customers. The other one I'll just quickly
  • 01:23:33
    point out before turning it over to my colleague here, Brian, is on
  • 01:23:37
    transmission structures for en.
  • 01:23:40
    Thankfully, there were no transmission structures lost,
  • 01:23:43
    whereas for women we had over 100 and obviously,
  • 01:23:46
    again, less work. Thus faster restoration times
  • 01:23:50
    for the crews and the men and women that were working in the field.
  • 01:23:54
    And so with that, I'll go ahead and turn over the remainder of our time
  • 01:23:57
    to Brian Olnick for him to share some thoughts with you as well. Thank you.
  • 01:24:01
    Thanks, Mike. And also, good morning,
  • 01:24:04
    everyone. Thanks for being here. As you can tell,
  • 01:24:07
    Mike and I tend to refer kind of we a lot, although we're both
  • 01:24:11
    retired. So, you know, I would
  • 01:24:14
    have to emphasize again, we're here as retired representatives and
  • 01:24:18
    not commenting specifically for Florida Power and Light. I just want to make sure
  • Item 9 - Bryan Olnick, Founder of GridSky Strategies on Florida Power & Light's best practices
    01:24:22
    we're kind of clear on that, you know. So as Mike said,
  • 01:24:26
    you know, before I begin going through just a couple thoughts that Mike and
  • 01:24:29
    I put together as a laundry list of ideas
  • 01:24:33
    for best practices that we've seen and we've used at Florida
  • 01:24:36
    power and lightning but that we've also gleaned and used from other utilities
  • 01:24:40
    and industries, as well as emergency response organizations
  • 01:24:44
    and even the military. So there's a lot of lessons learned and best practices.
  • 01:24:48
    I'm going to briefly go over and then we'll open it up kind of for
  • 01:24:50
    your thoughts. But before I begin, I'd also
  • 01:24:54
    like to comment on what Mike said,
  • 01:24:57
    and that's really as much as we try to hurricane proof.
  • 01:25:02
    It's almost impossible possible to hurricane proof a system.
  • 01:25:06
    I can share that personally, having flown in yesterday from my
  • 01:25:09
    home in western North Carolina, where, you know, it's pretty
  • 01:25:12
    devastating. But with that said, you know, we believe that
  • 01:25:16
    with strategic investments and
  • 01:25:19
    working with the Governor, the state legislature and the Public Service
  • 01:25:23
    Commission, you can look at a long term
  • 01:25:26
    plan because resiliency and hardening of a yemenite grid is a
  • 01:25:30
    long term plan. As a matter of fact, when we first entered into this,
  • 01:25:33
    nobody had ever done it before. And our commission asked, well, how long is it
  • 01:25:36
    going to take? And we had, we said nobody's ever done it.
  • 01:25:39
    It's probably going to take 20 or 30 years, but unless you ever start,
  • 01:25:43
    you're never going to finish. And so, as Mike said, we started that in 2006,
  • 01:25:48
    and I believe we're well along the way,
  • 01:25:51
    as you can see by some of the comments that Mike made.
  • 01:25:55
    And, you know, I'd also like to mention, too that, you know, some of the
  • 01:25:58
    comments we're going to make today, no utility is the same in Florida.
  • 01:26:01
    We have different geographics, we have different geology,
  • 01:26:05
    different equipment is used. Different kinds of poles are used for different reasons
  • 01:26:08
    and good reasons. So what might work in Florida may not work in Texas
  • 01:26:13
    and vice versa. And lastly,
  • 01:26:16
    I think that, you know, as Mike said,
  • 01:26:19
    you have to start, but it's truly a journey find, too,
  • 01:26:22
    that over the last almost 20 years that we've been doing grid
  • 01:26:26
    hardening, things change. And your approach at the beginning may
  • 01:26:30
    change. You may find out later on that undergrounding, the introduction,
  • 01:26:34
    new undergrounding techniques has made it a lot easier. The introduction
  • 01:26:38
    of a lot of new technologies has made it different, too. And so
  • 01:26:41
    that's why truly it is a journey. So with that, I'm just going to spend
  • 01:26:45
    a few minutes and go over a list of things that first of all,
  • 01:26:49
    in hardening to help start a conversation for
  • 01:26:52
    Mike and I. And I think one of the first
  • 01:26:55
    things that I'd like to mention is really defining
  • 01:26:59
    hardening. We spent a lot of time just trying to define what is
  • 01:27:03
    going to be our standard of hardening. What does that mean?
  • 01:27:07
    What does grid resiliency really mean? As Mike said,
  • 01:27:11
    we leaned heavily on the work that the state and universities
  • 01:27:15
    and others had done in Florida as a result of the 1992
  • 01:27:19
    Hurricane Andrew event, where building standards were changed,
  • 01:27:22
    construction standards were changed. All those standards didn't come in place until the late nineties.
  • 01:27:26
    It was a zoned approach throughout all of Florida, and that helped define us
  • 01:27:30
    and how we needed to design our system to be able to withstand
  • 01:27:34
    the same events that would happen to a house. We also integrated things
  • 01:27:38
    like the 50 year flood plan. We kind of brought all this together to help
  • 01:27:41
    us define what was hardening to us. What did resiliency mean
  • 01:27:45
    to us? I think one of the other things that's important, too,
  • 01:27:49
    was we took a philosophy
  • 01:27:53
    that is used, and you'll hear later on from Scott
  • 01:27:56
    from EEI, it's used heavily in the IT organizations, it's used
  • 01:28:00
    heavily in the military. But what resiliency and hardening
  • 01:28:04
    really is, our philosophy is based on three things.
  • 01:28:08
    It's prevention, mitigation, and restoration.
  • 01:28:12
    Or sometimes people call it recovery at the end. So when you're putting
  • 01:28:15
    a hardening strategy together, whether it's for a utility or
  • 01:28:19
    any other kind of business, you try to do everything you can to engineer
  • 01:28:22
    out a problem, to prevent the problem from happening. But there are times
  • 01:28:26
    when you can't prevent it. So now as part of your hardening plan,
  • 01:28:29
    you look at ways that you can mitigate the problem. For example,
  • 01:28:34
    there's a situation that happens sometimes in transmission and distribution where you could
  • 01:28:37
    have a pole go down and it starts a cascading effect, and many go down,
  • 01:28:41
    where there's ways that you can prevent that by putting maybe a stronger pole every
  • 01:28:45
    five poles to eliminate and mitigate the problem.
  • 01:28:49
    You can't prevent it, but there are things you can do to mitigate it.
  • 01:28:52
    And then finally, part of your whole hardening and restoration plan is
  • 01:28:56
    that third step, which is there are things you can do, and technology has really
  • 01:28:59
    helped on this in the last many years. To speed up the restoration,
  • 01:29:03
    you can add redundant lines from a backside of a barrier
  • 01:29:07
    island that used to only have one feed, and you have to get there by
  • 01:29:10
    boat. Now, you may have another way that you can restore it quicker. Their investments
  • 01:29:14
    and technology helped here, too, but our whole
  • 01:29:17
    philosophy has always been and continues to be, you have to look at
  • 01:29:21
    this holistically. It's prevention, mitigation,
  • 01:29:24
    and restoration. That's all part of the hardening philosophical strategy.
  • 01:29:29
    Another thing, too, that was already talked about is prioritization. You know,
  • 01:29:32
    how do you start, how do you start in your hardening plan? One of
  • 01:29:35
    the things that worked well for us was we involved our community
  • 01:29:39
    leaders, every local town and
  • 01:29:42
    emergency management agency we met with. We let them define to
  • 01:29:46
    us what their critical infrastructure facilities were, to put that list together and
  • 01:29:50
    work with them every year to update it. So that
  • 01:29:53
    day one of the storm, whether they are water treatment plants,
  • 01:29:57
    prisons, whatever they happen to be, that is what they all considered their
  • 01:30:00
    critical infrastructure. And we would dedicate a large portion of our
  • 01:30:05
    resources to getting what those critical facilities are
  • 01:30:08
    based on, whatever they define that to be. And that is still in place today.
  • 01:30:12
    And simple things. I say simple, but in
  • 01:30:15
    Florida, there's a lot of evacuation zones, key roads,
  • 01:30:18
    if there's a major storm. So we looked at all of those critical
  • 01:30:22
    overhead road crossings and say, you know what? When they go down, that really fogs
  • 01:30:25
    up the escape routes. Let's harden those first.
  • 01:30:28
    There's all these things you kind of look at as you put your plan in
  • 01:30:31
    place, your hardening plan. And how do you prioritize things to get things done?
  • 01:30:35
    Because it's going to be a journey. It's going to be a 20 plus year
  • 01:30:38
    journey. So how do you get there at the end?
  • 01:30:41
    And again, the timeline of just, you know, how do you think you
  • 01:30:44
    can get there when you're done? What does done look like? How much do you
  • 01:30:48
    need to get every year to actually get to where you want to get to
  • 01:30:51
    in whatever period that is? I think, too, some of the
  • 01:30:55
    technology solutions, mike kind of mentioned a few things, but there
  • 01:30:59
    are ways that in a kind of
  • 01:31:02
    work together transmission distribution system, where there
  • 01:31:06
    are distribution solutions that can be put in place to
  • 01:31:10
    help transmission outages and vice versa. So it really is kind of
  • 01:31:14
    working together to look at technical solutions on how you can help
  • 01:31:17
    one another. Another important thing that when we developed
  • 01:31:20
    our hardening strategy was we put a
  • 01:31:24
    toolkit together. So as an engineer, there are many
  • 01:31:28
    ways you can solve a problem, and many
  • 01:31:31
    utilities do this.
  • 01:31:34
    You can put in one concrete pole, or you can put in
  • 01:31:38
    two high class wood poles closer together
  • 01:31:41
    and still have the same strength on the line. You can add more guys.
  • 01:31:45
    There's different ways you can do things, but engineers need that
  • 01:31:49
    whole toolbox when they're out there hardening and retrofitting
  • 01:31:52
    a line to be able to do that. So we kind of created
  • 01:31:55
    that. And again, some of these are just best practices, not only at floor
  • 01:31:59
    light, but you know, that we've picked up from many utilities around
  • 01:32:02
    the country and best practices, frankly, here at Centerpoint
  • 01:32:06
    so let me just move on quickly to, oh, one last thing. I did
  • 01:32:10
    want to add the definition of hardening to Florida power and light was just
  • 01:32:14
    not transmission and distribution. It was our
  • 01:32:18
    IT systems. We hardened our IT systems. We hardened our IT buildings and facilities
  • 01:32:22
    to category five. It's our integrated supply chain.
  • 01:32:27
    Every year by the 1 June, we have enough material to cover a category
  • 01:32:30
    five storm, and then we bleed that off the rest of the year.
  • 01:32:34
    In addition to that are our service centers.
  • 01:32:38
    We built category five centers, our control centers,
  • 01:32:41
    our service centers, because we needed to make sure we had facilities
  • 01:32:45
    to work out of that were hardened to. So when you look
  • 01:32:48
    at it all together, its not just transmission, distribution.
  • 01:32:52
    It's a whole family of things to look at. Resilience, a resiliency plan.
  • 01:32:56
    Now I'm going to quickly just go over a list of some restoration comments and
  • 01:33:00
    these are some best practices we've picked up from the industry and
  • 01:33:05
    use it and have used at Florida power and light. Weather forecasting was talked
  • 01:33:09
    here. A lot of utilities use their
  • 01:33:12
    own in house meteorologists. Some use contracted
  • 01:33:16
    meteorologists or I agencies. But it is important to
  • 01:33:20
    have a good relationship with your local
  • 01:33:23
    weather service and to be able to have those open channels.
  • 01:33:27
    Communication models were talked about.
  • 01:33:30
    The modeling that's taken place, unfortunately, Mike referenced how
  • 01:33:34
    many hurricanes we've had over the years. I think Mike and I have been together
  • 01:33:37
    long enough to have been involved in probably 60 or 70
  • 01:33:41
    major restoration events, whether hurricanes or tornadoes or floods
  • 01:33:44
    or fires over the years. But the models that we've created are based
  • 01:33:48
    on every single hurricane that we've had in the last several decades. We will
  • 01:33:51
    look at, using our geographic database,
  • 01:33:55
    overlaying all of the equipment that may be in the storm's path
  • 01:33:59
    and look. And we use the National Hurricane Center's models,
  • 01:34:03
    and we have put together a model that's updated every time we get a storm
  • 01:34:07
    that helps us predict how many construction man hours or how much work
  • 01:34:10
    we're going going to get out of a storm. It also allows us to play
  • 01:34:13
    with it a little bit and say, you know, what if it shifts a little
  • 01:34:15
    here or shifts a little here, what does that mean? So modeling,
  • 01:34:18
    you know, in the world today is a very key technique, and a lot of
  • 01:34:21
    utilities use that as a best practice,
  • 01:34:24
    sensitivity analysis. Again, we can kind of model, you play with our model
  • 01:34:28
    a little bit, our restoration philosophy, too. A lot of people and I know their
  • 01:34:31
    comments today, just how do you restore? Sometimes it is
  • 01:34:35
    actually better to restore, store some of the least hit areas first.
  • 01:34:40
    Think about it this way. If you have two homes side by side,
  • 01:34:43
    there's one person in each home and one of them takes
  • 01:34:47
    ten poles to get them in service. One of them takes one pole to get
  • 01:34:49
    in service. If you dedicate lots of resources to that ten,
  • 01:34:53
    that may take you days just to get that one. If you get the other
  • 01:34:56
    one first, you get that one first. It's just a whole different kind of philosophy
  • 01:35:00
    on how you set. Now, that may work not in every case,
  • 01:35:03
    but in many cases. You just need to think about what is going to be
  • 01:35:06
    the most efficient way to get the most people in service, the quickest,
  • 01:35:09
    and then consolidate so that the overall restoration time is
  • 01:35:13
    as low as it can. Things like patrols,
  • 01:35:16
    you know, every employee and a lot of utilities that
  • 01:35:20
    have a primary mission on the way in. From that very first day, they've been
  • 01:35:23
    given an assignment and a line to look at as they're driving in. It's called
  • 01:35:26
    a rapid patrol, just to get a sense of really what the damage is.
  • 01:35:29
    And then you have to do a good, thorough patrol afterwards to get a real
  • 01:35:32
    good sense of how much work you really have. To help you get a
  • 01:35:35
    good sense of how much resources it's going to take and how long it's going
  • 01:35:38
    to take. Wire down processes, restoration processes,
  • 01:35:42
    pre and post, you know, a day or two before
  • 01:35:45
    a storm. A lot of utilities do a lot of patrolling, looking for
  • 01:35:49
    potential hazards that might exist. If you're doing construction on a line,
  • 01:35:53
    maybe you're doing work on a line, you need to secure that.
  • 01:35:56
    And if there's construction going on in a big building, you need to notify all
  • 01:36:00
    the builders in the area that they need to take down their construction equipment.
  • 01:36:04
    So there's a lot of pre and post kind of work that goes on there.
  • 01:36:07
    Just the overall restoration work plan. I mean, that's kind of a
  • 01:36:11
    key element of any restoration process that goes out throughout the
  • 01:36:14
    storm. Crew makeups. It's important to make
  • 01:36:17
    sure that when big contract crews come in, usually a
  • 01:36:21
    YDE, five to ten people, you need to be able to break them down into
  • 01:36:24
    two people, let's say, to be able to spread out and do lower end work
  • 01:36:27
    at the end of a storm. It's not heavy lifting, it's lower end work.
  • 01:36:30
    Staging sites was a big thing in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew. Mike and I
  • 01:36:34
    were involved in those. That whole staging site concept started after
  • 01:36:38
    Hurricane Andrew, being able to maintain relationships
  • 01:36:41
    throughout the state. I think Florida powerline still maintains about 100
  • 01:36:45
    locations throughout the state where have agreements with. It could be
  • 01:36:49
    a fairgrounds it could be an arena parking lot,
  • 01:36:53
    any place that's big that can house a lot of people. And just the
  • 01:36:56
    staging site concept in general, having a model
  • 01:37:00
    and a template. So no matter where you get assigned, it always kind of looks
  • 01:37:03
    the same. SWAT teams are important. There's hurricanes or there's tornadoes.
  • 01:37:07
    As you've heard, you need to have small SWAT teams that
  • 01:37:10
    can go in and peel them off of your major restoration effort and
  • 01:37:14
    be able to allow them to focus on hard hit areas.
  • 01:37:17
    Forensics teams, staging site management teams. This was a lesson we
  • 01:37:21
    learned after the 0405 hurricane season. But a staging site manager has a
  • 01:37:24
    lot on his mind, his or her mind. There's a lot going on
  • 01:37:28
    now in Florida power and lights, I keep saying
  • 01:37:32
    ours and weed, but in Florida power and lights model, the restoration
  • 01:37:37
    manager is only involved in the restoration of work. There's a
  • 01:37:40
    whole other manager that's involved in operating the site,
  • 01:37:44
    the logistics, the water, the fuel, the food or whatever,
  • 01:37:48
    so that the restoration person, restoration manager, he or she can
  • 01:37:51
    just focus on the restoration effort. And that model has been in place for probably
  • 01:37:54
    over 15 years, and that actually came from the military.
  • 01:37:59
    ETRs estimated times. Communications. You know,
  • 01:38:02
    there's a lot of good practices that a lot of utilities do in different ways.
  • 01:38:05
    Communications, different utilities use different techniques.
  • 01:38:09
    Paging, they have lists of things to call pinging
  • 01:38:13
    meters nowadays is a great way to ping meters and be able to communicate to
  • 01:38:16
    certain rest homes or whatever that they've evacuated to say,
  • 01:38:20
    hey, we verified you're back in power, if you want to go back. So there's
  • 01:38:23
    a lot of techniques that's kind of been out there. I went through just
  • 01:38:26
    a quick list of things. Mike and I were kind of jotting down here over
  • 01:38:29
    the last couple days of best practices, not just at Florida
  • 01:38:33
    power and light, but really throughout the industry that,
  • 01:38:37
    you know, could be used in a consideration. I can tell you that some of
  • 01:38:40
    them are, you know, certainly in place here. That's on a
  • 01:38:44
    point. Thank you.
  • 01:38:48
    Well, good morning. There we go. Good morning. So, first of all,
  • 01:38:51
    just thank you to Chairman Gleeson, the Members of the Commission, and the members of
  • 01:38:55
    the community for being here today. An incredibly important
  • 01:38:58
    opportunity to help understand how resilience investments can
  • 01:39:01
    help with power restoration and how emergency power restoration happens.
  • Item 9 - Scott Aaronson, Sr. VP for Security for Edison Electric Institute on resiliency tools and planning effectively
    01:39:05
    So my name is Scott Aronson. I am the senior vice president for security
  • 01:39:09
    and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute. EEI has
  • 01:39:13
    worked with electric companies since the 1930s to prepare for
  • 01:39:16
    and respond to all hazards and to share
  • 01:39:20
    leading practices and sort of see between among the electric companies
  • 01:39:23
    of not just the United States, but actually all across the globe. I also
  • 01:39:27
    serve as the secretary for something known as the electricity subsector Coordinating Council,
  • 01:39:32
    which brings together senior executives from across the industry,
  • 01:39:35
    CEO's with senior government officials to prepare for and respond to again,
  • 01:39:39
    all hazards. And in fact, we've been activated for the last ten days in response
  • 01:39:43
    to Hurricane Helene and the devastation we're seeing in western North
  • 01:39:48
    Carolina. In the western Carolinas, in North Georgia.
  • 01:39:51
    I also happen to be a customer of the communities that we are privileged
  • 01:39:55
    to serve. I'm from New Jersey. Please don't hold that against me.
  • 01:39:59
    My parents were impacted by Superstorm Sandy without
  • 01:40:03
    power for 18 days. I have family here in Texas,
  • 01:40:06
    including grandmother, who is at an assisted living facility who was impacted by Hurricane
  • 01:40:10
    Beryl. So we get it. Being without power for an extended
  • 01:40:14
    period of time isn't just inconvenient, it's dangerous.
  • 01:40:18
    So I don't want to be repetitive of what we've already talked about.
  • 01:40:22
    Mr. Spoor and Mr. Olnick old friends are some
  • 01:40:25
    of the best in the business. And I've really learned a lot from them through
  • 01:40:28
    the years. Just as they've said, they've learned a lot from across the industry.
  • 01:40:32
    If you think about the energy grid of North America, it's one big machine with
  • 01:40:35
    thousands of owners and operators. We have to work together to prepare
  • 01:40:39
    to for all of these threats. So what I wanted to do
  • 01:40:42
    today was give just a little bit of that kind of 50,000 foot level view,
  • 01:40:45
    that national view, some tools for how to think about
  • 01:40:49
    resilience and how to plan effectively. Because as Mister Martin said,
  • 01:40:53
    extreme weather is becoming more frequent, it's becoming more severe.
  • 01:40:57
    You heard me say the phrase all hazards. I want to be really precise about
  • 01:41:01
    that. We are critical infrastructure, the electric companies of
  • 01:41:04
    the United States. That's not just a fun label that we put on
  • 01:41:08
    things. We are critical to national security. We are
  • 01:41:11
    critical to economic competitiveness. We are critical
  • 01:41:14
    to the life, health and safety of the communities that we're privileged to serve.
  • 01:41:18
    We have to learn from every one of these incidents. And it's
  • 01:41:22
    why I give this Commission so much credit for being here today with the
  • 01:41:25
    community to see how we can learn from this
  • 01:41:29
    most recent event. All hazards, acts of
  • 01:41:33
    war, acts of God, and a new one I've added to this acts of
  • 01:41:36
    the market. You heard a little bit about supply chain challenges, and that's something that
  • 01:41:40
    we continue to monitor a lot. Acts of God,
  • 01:41:43
    storms, fires, pandemics,
  • 01:41:47
    earthquakes, ice storms, cold snaps,
  • 01:41:50
    heat snaps, doesn't matter. We're looking at all the things that
  • 01:41:53
    weather and the changing climate can bring to impact
  • 01:41:57
    on critical infrastructure, acts of war,
  • 01:42:00
    cyber, and physical threats that we see all over the globe and
  • 01:42:03
    increasingly here at home. And again, those acts of the market.
  • 01:42:08
    I'm very fond of talking about the supply chain coming out of the pandemic.
  • 01:42:11
    We learned that just in time. Supply chains are great until
  • 01:42:14
    they're not. And with the amount
  • 01:42:18
    of reliance we have on equipment
  • 01:42:21
    and material from across the world, increasingly from China,
  • 01:42:25
    we do need to be thinking about repatriating as much of our manufacturing capacity as
  • 01:42:29
    we can so that we can prepare for and respond to all these threats
  • 01:42:33
    that are facing critical infrastructure, which is critical to our national security.
  • 01:42:38
    I could go through a litany of Katrina and Sandy
  • 01:42:41
    and a metcalf substation shooting that you may not know about. Hurricane Maria,
  • 01:42:45
    the pandemic, what's happening in Ukraine, train. All of these have
  • 01:42:49
    been inflection points for the industry and how
  • 01:42:53
    we have organized to be better prepared for these risks
  • 01:42:57
    that we face. You've heard the phrase, you can't protect
  • 01:43:01
    everything from everything all of the time, or you cannot make a hurricane
  • 01:43:06
    proof system. That is absolutely true.
  • 01:43:09
    The Department of Defense has a great. And I didn't bring or provide any slides,
  • 01:43:12
    so you just have to imagine this in your head. For me,
  • 01:43:15
    the Department of Defense has a great definition of resilience,
  • 01:43:19
    and it's a picture. So imagine for
  • 01:43:23
    me a graph. The y axis is capacity,
  • 01:43:26
    operational capacity. Am I at 0%, which means I'm completely flattened or I'm
  • 01:43:30
    at 100%, and then the x axis is time.
  • 01:43:33
    So over time, things are going great. I'm at 100%, and then an incident happens,
  • 01:43:37
    because an incident will happen. A storm, a fire,
  • 01:43:41
    if I've got to be right 100% of the time, and the adversary has to
  • 01:43:44
    be right. Once impact from a cyber or physical attack, it's going to happen.
  • 01:43:48
    So we acknowledge that it's going to happen. And then you degrade an operation.
  • 01:43:51
    So we drop, we then restore over time.
  • 01:43:55
    The next time that incident happens, we're going to degrade
  • 01:43:59
    less for less time. That is what resilience is, and that's what we need
  • 01:44:03
    to be focusing on, not trying to stop all the bad things from things from
  • 01:44:06
    happening, but making sure a bad day is not a catastrophic day.
  • 01:44:13
    Mutual assistance is a hallmark of the industry.
  • 01:44:17
    We'll talk about it a little bit more on the next panel. So I won't
  • 01:44:19
    belabor it here, but traditional mutual
  • 01:44:22
    assistance, I'll give a quick kind of history of. It goes back to literally the
  • 01:44:26
    time of Thomas Edison, the association of Edison illuminating Companies in the late
  • 01:44:29
    18 hundreds. We're building out infrastructure,
  • 01:44:32
    and, you know, if Boston and New York and Pittsburgh,
  • 01:44:36
    all having different problems, they would share expertise and
  • 01:44:40
    equipment. And that's grown ever since then. Get to the 1940s
  • 01:44:44
    and fifties, we start to interconnect the grid, and so it becomes
  • 01:44:48
    a grid of grids. And so you start getting these regional
  • 01:44:51
    mutual assistance capabilities where companies from a particular region
  • 01:44:55
    would work together to restore power when something happen, or just to share knowledge and
  • 01:44:59
    expertise or material and equipment. And then you go to
  • 01:45:02
    superstorm Sandy when that system was overwhelmed again,
  • 01:45:07
    I mentioned my parents being without power for 18 days. Not just being without power,
  • 01:45:10
    but also being without access to fuel for
  • 01:45:14
    those generators or access to fuel for cars so they could evacuate.
  • 01:45:19
    This is something that makes us look at not just
  • 01:45:22
    the electric sector, but whole of community resilience.
  • 01:45:27
    One of the gentlemen mentioned, and I'll quote Brock Long,
  • 01:45:30
    the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA,
  • 01:45:35
    who said, the first 72 hours are on you.
  • 01:45:39
    The cavalry is coming, but you are the
  • 01:45:42
    first 1st responders. Now, that may sound defeatist
  • 01:45:46
    or like we're trying to shift blame. We are nothing. But when severe
  • 01:45:50
    storms, like what we are seeing with Helene,
  • 01:45:55
    with what we saw with Sandy, with what we saw with Katrina, are becoming more
  • 01:45:58
    frequent and more severe, we have to think about whole of community.
  • 01:46:01
    And while the electric power sector is the most critical, everybody else relies on
  • 01:46:05
    us. We need water to generate steam and cool our systems. We need telecommunications to
  • 01:46:09
    operate and restore. We need fuel to be
  • 01:46:12
    able to generate electricity.
  • 01:46:15
    So pipelines, transportation, all of this.
  • 01:46:19
    We need to think about resilience, not just in these industrial
  • 01:46:22
    silos, but as a whole of community.
  • 01:46:28
    I think of resilience as, and you've heard it in different ways. So the
  • 01:46:31
    Department of Homeland Security likes to call it. They call it the boom
  • 01:46:35
    continuum. Left of boom and right of boom before the bad thing happens. After the
  • 01:46:38
    bad thing happens. Left to boom, you prepare, you protect, you detect,
  • 01:46:42
    you defend, and you respond
  • 01:46:46
    and recover. When there is that impact, you prioritize
  • 01:46:49
    and plan, you harden and protect, you monitor and mitigate, and then you
  • 01:46:53
    respond and recover as quickly as you can. And resilience investments can
  • 01:46:57
    help restoration happen more quickly.
  • 01:47:01
    The last thing I want to focus on, I've talked a lot about unity of
  • 01:47:04
    effort. How do we work together as an industry to respond
  • 01:47:07
    to these events? How do we learn from these and get better over time,
  • 01:47:11
    unity of message is incredibly important. And I know
  • 01:47:14
    there were some concerns about the way that Centerpoint communicated
  • 01:47:19
    with customers, and I know that they are taking action to address
  • 01:47:23
    those shortfalls. I will say, again,
  • 01:47:26
    going back to family history, the difference between being without power
  • 01:47:30
    for 3 hours, three days, or three weeks is three
  • 01:47:34
    very different decisions. And the public, if we're going to ask them
  • 01:47:38
    to be the first 1st responders, have to
  • 01:47:41
    know what to expect. And so unity of effort.
  • 01:47:45
    Absolutely. How do we as a community, how do we as industry, how do we
  • 01:47:48
    as all those industrial sectors, work together to respond effectively?
  • 01:47:52
    And how do we communicate to the general public so they can take action
  • 01:47:56
    to protect themselves and their families and make informed decisions,
  • 01:48:00
    and so ensuring that not just electric companies,
  • 01:48:04
    but our government partners at all levels,
  • 01:48:07
    federal, state, and local, are communicating with one voice
  • 01:48:11
    so that people can make those informed decisions. I cannot emphasize that
  • 01:48:15
    enough. And then the last thing I'll say is the value
  • 01:48:19
    of resilience. Again, I think Mr. Spoor and Mr. Olnick can talk about their
  • 01:48:22
    experience in Florida more effectively than I can,
  • 01:48:25
    but there is a value to investing in
  • 01:48:29
    resilience. The examples that they gave that 2005
  • 01:48:33
    hurricane season was devastating, and then in 2017,
  • 01:48:36
    they had a very similar set of hurricanes. So I think it was. Check my
  • 01:48:39
    work here. Was it Wilma to Irma? So Wilma and Rita in
  • 01:48:43
    zero five and then Irma in 17, took them 18 days to
  • 01:48:47
    get restored. Restored in zero five. Took him six days to get respond
  • 01:48:51
    to respond to a very similar storm in 2017.
  • 01:48:55
    During that intervening time, they spent an awful lot of money
  • 01:48:58
    in investing in resilience. And what they did was able to buy
  • 01:49:02
    down the time it took to restore by twelve days, give or take. The GDP
  • 01:49:06
    of the state of Florida is about a billion dollars a day. They spent about
  • 01:49:09
    $3 billion over a decade to save a billion
  • 01:49:13
    dollars a day. Days down to six. There is a value in investing
  • 01:49:17
    in resilience. So with that, again, really appreciate the
  • 01:49:21
    opportunity to be here with you today. Look forward to some questions and just want
  • 01:49:24
    to kind of repeat the mantra that the industry has taken from all of these
  • 01:49:27
    incidents going all the way back to the time of Ed, to Thomas Edison.
  • 01:49:31
    We want to be better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we
  • 01:49:34
    are today. And it's events like this that give us that ability to work
  • 01:49:38
    collectively to do that. Thank you. Thank you to each of you for being here
  • 01:49:41
    this morning. Commissioners, questions?
  • 01:49:46
    No. Thank them.
  • 01:49:51
    So I really appreciated the way you described management of risk.
  • 01:49:55
    And so whether you're talking about, you know, an electric system or whether you're talking
  • 01:49:59
    about any kind of risk that the public face faces, it is,
  • 01:50:02
    you know, it's very much, you know, what can we do to prevent it in
  • 01:50:06
    the event it happens? What can we do to reduce it or mitigate it?
  • 01:50:09
    And then how can we recover quickly? And, you know,
  • 01:50:13
    you talked about kind of starting, I think, Florida Power & Light with on
  • 01:50:17
    this journey, and it's been a long journey. And you said,
  • 01:50:20
    I think you said that you didn't know much to begin with,
  • 01:50:23
    but now that you have learned along the journey, can you
  • 01:50:27
    kind of backcast for us and tell us if you
  • 01:50:30
    knew what you knew today and you were starting from the very
  • 01:50:33
    beginning, what would you prioritize?
  • 01:50:37
    What were the kind of processes that you would put in place?
  • 01:50:41
    And do you have any thoughts in terms of what
  • 01:50:45
    your actual metrics would be in terms of developing those
  • 01:50:49
    standards or processes that would be both quantifiable
  • 01:50:53
    and qualitative? You want to go first?
  • 01:50:56
    Sure. I'll take
  • 01:51:01
    a shot at that excellent question.
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Jackson's question for Michael Spoor concerning what they would have prioritized in retrospect
    01:51:04
    So I think in retrospect, if we had to look back,
  • 01:51:09
    I mean, keep in mind, when we started our journey, as I
  • 01:51:12
    keep referring to it as it was all new,
  • 01:51:15
    there was no such thing as hardening
  • 01:51:19
    really, of the electric grid, no such thing as resiliency.
  • 01:51:25
    I think in looking back, we were probably a little
  • 01:51:29
    slow, but for good reasons in terms of our initial efforts,
  • 01:51:33
    because we were developing and we were piloting, I think starting
  • 01:51:37
    now, there's enough evidence within the industry and
  • 01:51:42
    proven methods in terms of how to make the grid more resilient
  • 01:51:46
    that I think anybody embarking on this right now
  • 01:51:49
    can probably move a little quicker in terms of
  • 01:51:53
    what they do in the field. I think the other thing, too, and again,
  • 01:51:56
    this is in hindsight, I think the technologies that exist
  • 01:52:00
    today, the smart grid technologies, the self healing grids that again,
  • 01:52:04
    were really just in the infancy stage when we started, but they're much more
  • 01:52:07
    mature now. I think having that as part of your, an effort,
  • 01:52:10
    if I were to start today, is very important.
  • 01:52:15
    So in terms of metrics, I think was another piece of that question.
  • 01:52:21
    I mean, you know, and the company still does it
  • 01:52:25
    today. They file plans every year with the Commission,
  • 01:52:29
    and it's really about measuring progress
  • 01:52:33
    of what you're doing. If you say you're going to do this many circuits,
  • 01:52:37
    are you doing that many circuits? It sounds
  • 01:52:40
    simple, but I think it keeps things
  • 01:52:44
    on track because again, these are long,
  • 01:52:47
    long journeys, large electrical infrastructures.
  • 01:52:50
    And I think demonstrating that you're making progress
  • 01:52:54
    to everyone involved with this is really important.
  • 01:52:57
    I can tell you in those early days, when we looked at how big
  • 01:53:01
    our electric grid was, and I know Centerpoint has a large electric grid,
  • 01:53:05
    too, it was very daunting, like, well, where do we start?
  • 01:53:09
    Some of the very first projects we actually did to make the grid hardened
  • 01:53:12
    was hospitals, 911 centers,
  • 01:53:16
    ports, things that were very critical to the communities.
  • 01:53:20
    And then the other piece that we really focused on at the time was what
  • 01:53:23
    we called community circuits,
  • 01:53:27
    because we wanted to make sure that each community had
  • 01:53:30
    a hardened feeder, hopefully didn't sustain a lot of
  • 01:53:34
    damage. And so if we could get that part
  • 01:53:38
    of the grid back quickly, then maybe a grocery store
  • 01:53:41
    is open, maybe a pharmacy is open, maybe someplace that
  • 01:53:46
    the community can go to. So they may not have electricity at their home,
  • 01:53:49
    but there's at least a place that they can go to that hopefully has
  • 01:53:53
    air conditioning or hopefully has, you know, the goods that they may
  • 01:53:56
    need to keep going on until the power is ultimately restored at their
  • 01:54:00
    home. I'll just add a couple other little
  • 01:54:03
    things to. That was a good kind of summary, Mike.
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Jackson's question for Bryan Olnick concerning what processes & standards they would have put into place in retrospect
    01:54:08
    So every utility is somewhat designed similar from a transmission
  • 01:54:12
    standpoint and a distribution standpoint. Different voltages, but similar
  • 01:54:16
    design. And we have
  • 01:54:19
    thousands of. Mike was the Vice President of Transmission.
  • 01:54:23
    I was Vice President of Distribution. We have
  • 01:54:26
    thousands of mainline circuits. And so initially, we came
  • 01:54:30
    up with a model design of what a hardened circuit would
  • 01:54:34
    look like a mainline circuit. It had every single pole,
  • 01:54:38
    every single structure, everything on it had to meet extreme wind loading
  • 01:54:41
    characteristic designs. And it took us
  • 01:54:45
    the first few years of kind of trying to come up with that
  • 01:54:48
    model circuitous design. Then, from us,
  • 01:54:52
    from a metric standpoint, it was a function of how
  • 01:54:56
    many could we do a year? Remember, you have an energized
  • 01:54:59
    line. You're going to rebuild that whole line. It's like taking a car
  • 01:55:03
    that's driving down the road and rebuild the whole car while it's still driving.
  • 01:55:06
    And so there are a lot of complexities, but how many could you do a
  • 01:55:10
    year to where you want to get to in such a period of time?
  • 01:55:14
    So, circuits, hardened circuits per year is kind of
  • 01:55:17
    a standard design metric that I think a lot of
  • 01:55:20
    people use. I think one of the other lessons learned to talk about, too,
  • 01:55:24
    is the amount of material and the amount of
  • 01:55:27
    resources that it takes and commitment
  • 01:55:31
    from vendors to be able to have a long
  • 01:55:35
    term agreement. Because once you start,
  • 01:55:40
    it's hard to slow that thing down, and you need
  • 01:55:43
    the material, the people, the resources, the engineers.
  • 01:55:47
    Then I think, too, we somewhat underestimated the
  • 01:55:51
    organization required to do it. It's an entire separate
  • 01:55:54
    organization. It's that big and that massive.
  • 01:55:58
    And it took us a few years to kind of get that right, too.
  • 01:56:02
    And then, as Mike said, I think there's some, some of the technologies today that
  • 01:56:06
    didn't exist 20 years ago. You know, the directional boring technologies
  • 01:56:10
    were expensive 20 years ago. They're a lot less expensive today.
  • 01:56:13
    So some undergrounding is a little bit easier today, it's still expensive, but it's a
  • 01:56:17
    little easier. And then coming up with the technology
  • 01:56:21
    model circuit with smart grid devices, those from the prevent,
  • 01:56:26
    mitigate, restore, they help in all three, but certainly
  • 01:56:30
    on the restoration effort, you can get half a section in real quick
  • 01:56:34
    that's maybe not damaged. The front end and the back end is damaged remotely.
  • 01:56:38
    So your customer restored it in the early ages
  • 01:56:42
    can be quicker. So we started to
  • 01:56:45
    deploy those single hardened pole with a
  • 01:56:49
    device on it on every feeder as quick as we could.
  • 01:56:52
    And then over the years, as the feeder got totally
  • 01:56:56
    hardened, that device was still there.
  • 01:56:59
    That was kind of a lesson learned that maybe we could have done that a
  • 01:57:02
    little bit quicker and leveraged technology quicker instead of waiting to harden
  • 01:57:06
    the whole feeder. We hardened specific devices all over
  • 01:57:09
    first. But there's just a lot of lessons to learn as you go through.
  • 01:57:12
    But those are a couple examples. Just one other question.
  • 01:57:16
    And it really had to do more with recovery processes. So we talk a lot
  • 01:57:20
    about hardening and we think about that physical infrastructure.
  • 01:57:23
    Right. But we also know that from an operational integrity management standpoint,
  • 01:57:27
    we also need to be focused on the process, not just during ongoing
  • 01:57:31
    day to day operations, but also in the event of an incident where
  • 01:57:34
    you have to recover. So could you speak to the processes that
  • 01:57:38
    maybe flora, power and light had in place for the recovery?
  • 01:57:42
    And, you know, how that contributed to, I guess,
  • 01:57:46
    the success of your recovery effort and what recommendations
  • 01:57:50
    you would have to kind of put those type of processes
  • 01:57:54
    in place to enhance the recovery.
  • 01:57:57
    Again, not looking so much at the physical asset, but more in terms of
  • 01:58:02
    the processes. You want to go first?
  • 01:58:05
    And I'll go again. You go ahead. All right, I'll go first this time.
  • 01:58:09
    I think you're going to hear a little bit after us from
  • 01:58:14
    the mutual exchange organization for the Southeast Electric Exchange,
  • 01:58:18
    which has a lot of key processes that are important
  • 01:58:22
    for sharing resources and acquiring resources.
  • 01:58:25
    Some of the restoration processes that
  • 01:58:29
    we use. I'll give you an example. The staging site restoration
  • 01:58:33
    process. We have a format and equipment
  • 01:58:37
    that are kind of portable, fold up,
  • 01:58:40
    military grade container looking things that
  • 01:58:44
    we keep on hand so that the day prior to a storm,
  • 01:58:48
    when we've kind of decided what staging sites we're going to use,
  • 01:58:51
    we can set up that staging site with those category five rated facilities
  • 01:58:56
    and have it in place so that the next day after the
  • 01:58:59
    storm, it can be occupied. So up front,
  • 01:59:03
    the more things you do upfront to gain restoration
  • 01:59:08
    time, the better. We have a goal of so many productivity
  • 01:59:11
    hours for per restoration crew.
  • 01:59:16
    And so we've learned over the years some of the key processes that we
  • 01:59:19
    have to use to make them more efficient. So, for example,
  • 01:59:22
    things like that weren't very favorable at first,
  • 01:59:26
    but alternative housing where you can actually house
  • 01:59:30
    the crew members on site so
  • 01:59:34
    that they're not traveling an hour every day, a bus to get to a
  • 01:59:37
    hotel in an hour back. You know, the more productive you
  • 01:59:40
    can be at the front end of the storm. It's like a financial curve.
  • 01:59:43
    The more you can be at the front end of the storm. You can gain
  • 01:59:46
    a lot of time in the back end. I think one of the things,
  • 01:59:48
    too, there's just a lot of processes involved that you do have to go through
  • 01:59:52
    training and prioritization in making sure that
  • 01:59:57
    every day the calls that you have, the organization
  • 02:00:01
    that you have in place, place that everybody knows what the priorities
  • 02:00:04
    are that day, and everybody knows what tickets and
  • 02:00:08
    what kind of work they should be doing that day, because as restoration progresses,
  • 02:00:11
    there's different kind of work that you do. And it's
  • 02:00:15
    very important to have, and Scott even kind of alluded to this, it's very
  • 02:00:18
    important to have that kind of communications chain that's very clear on
  • 02:00:21
    how you do that. It required Florida Power and Light just
  • 02:00:25
    a few years ago to install a complete radio system in the state of Florida
  • 02:00:28
    to ensure that we had communication available to every crew member in the whole state
  • 02:00:32
    in case the phones or anything went down. So communications are
  • 02:00:35
    very important through that. But,
  • 02:00:39
    you know, there's just a tremendous amount of processes that could spend
  • 02:00:43
    a lot of time talking through. But I think they are important
  • 02:00:47
    from the fact that every year, from your dry run exercise you do
  • 02:00:51
    before the storm season, which at many companies can
  • 02:00:55
    take a whole week, where they'll simulate a storm to make sure everybody's on
  • 02:00:58
    the same page that year with any new process changes that took place.
  • 02:01:02
    Everybody knows how to report things individually,
  • 02:01:05
    and that's just a high level summary. But the
  • 02:01:09
    foundation of a lot of that is truly, you know, coordination and
  • 02:01:13
    training and making sure that, you know, everybody. And mobility
  • 02:01:17
    is a key thing too. I mean, you know, setting up these stages,
  • 02:01:20
    every one of them has an exact same template, no matter where you set it
  • 02:01:23
    up, wherever, so that when you go into it, the process that you
  • 02:01:26
    use at any one is going to be the exact same there, where the poles
  • 02:01:30
    are set, where the material set, they look the same everywhere.
  • 02:01:33
    Because when you're in that kind of moment of crisis, people need to,
  • 02:01:37
    you can't learn anymore. You're acting on what you were trained on.
  • 02:01:41
    And so we try to standardize everything we can to
  • 02:01:45
    make decision making simple in the field so that people aren't making things up on
  • 02:01:48
    the fly. It sounds like you've very much taken ownership and you've
  • 02:01:53
    invested upfront in the kind of work
  • 02:01:56
    that's needed to make sure that those are in place. And then you also
  • 02:02:00
    exercise them to make sure that they're work, that they work well,
  • 02:02:03
    and you have kind of like this cycle of continuous improvement
  • 02:02:08
    as you move forward. Mike.
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Cobos thoughts concerning Michael Spoor & Brian Olnick's comments
    02:02:12
    And if I may, I think just for the public at large to kind
  • 02:02:15
    of connect dots here. These two gentlemen
  • 02:02:19
    worked for Florida Power and Light, which is a utility in Florida
  • 02:02:23
    that they summarize again, that they got hit with
  • 02:02:26
    like seven or eight storms in two years, massive hurricanes.
  • 02:02:30
    And so as a result of their experiences
  • 02:02:34
    with these massive hurricanes and storms, the company undertook,
  • 02:02:39
    you know, a series of investments over years to harden
  • 02:02:43
    their system to better respond to storms.
  • 02:02:47
    Now, as you heard on this panel, it's not 100% hurricane proof,
  • 02:02:51
    right? I think the experts here say that you
  • 02:02:54
    can't make it a utility system 100% hurricane
  • 02:02:58
    proof, but you can invest in the system
  • 02:03:01
    over a course of years to harden the system,
  • 02:03:06
    to better be able to withstand or bounce
  • 02:03:09
    back from hurricane or major, major storm.
  • 02:03:13
    And so, as you've heard
  • 02:03:17
    from them, this took several years of investments.
  • 02:03:20
    Right. For them to make. And they are a verdict. They are a utility.
  • 02:03:24
    So ultimately, their investments got passed to their ratepayers
  • 02:03:28
    who had to pay for those investments. And so as
  • 02:03:32
    you sit here today and you think, well, we would really
  • 02:03:36
    like CenterPoint to do the same, that model
  • 02:03:40
    is the same here in Texas, right? We want our utilities to be resilient,
  • 02:03:45
    to be able to keep the lights on after a storm or to be able
  • 02:03:48
    to quickly restore power after a storm.
  • 02:03:51
    And so, but we, we also have a duty
  • 02:03:54
    to make sure that those investments that the company
  • 02:03:58
    makes are just and reasonable and were
  • 02:04:02
    prudently incurred, because at the end of the day,
  • 02:04:05
    whatever you hear on resiliency thats
  • 02:04:08
    borne by the ratepayers of the utility.
  • 02:04:13
    And I wanted to understand from you all, as you spread out your investments
  • 02:04:18
    over a multi year strategic long term strategy,
  • 02:04:22
    how was the response from the ratepayers? I mean, how did you all
  • 02:04:25
    incorporate your customers at FPL into
  • 02:04:29
    this long term strategy? And what
  • 02:04:32
    I mean by incorporate,
  • 02:04:35
    how are your ratepayer impacts taken into consideration?
  • 02:04:41
    So certainly it's an important aspect
  • 02:04:45
    of, of any plan,
  • 02:04:49
    certainly our resiliency plan in terms of just the
  • 02:04:52
    affordability and what customers may ultimately,
  • 02:04:55
    you know, have to, have to pay as part of this effort.
  • 02:04:59
    And that's why I think, and again, I'll just speak for Florida,
  • 02:05:04
    I think it's been, you know, very collaborative. And what
  • 02:05:07
    I mean by that is, you know, even from the early days leading all the
  • 02:05:11
    way up to today, now, I, I think you would see that in Florida,
  • 02:05:15
    the external stakeholders,
  • 02:05:19
    key industrial customers, members of the
  • 02:05:23
    communities and certainly the commission and the elected
  • 02:05:27
    officials, every year the
  • 02:05:30
    plans do get filed. They get filed formally every three
  • 02:05:33
    years, but then adjusted every year. And I think as part of that
  • 02:05:37
    filing, it's really evaluated to say how
  • 02:05:42
    much should we be doing? And that's why,
  • 02:05:46
    again, I know I probably beat the term into the ground,
  • 02:05:49
    but that's why often the company would refer to it as a
  • 02:05:53
    journey because certainly in a perfect
  • 02:05:56
    world, you'd want to do as much as you can right up front.
  • 02:06:00
    But that's not practical for many
  • 02:06:04
    reasons. One is you probably could never get enough people,
  • 02:06:07
    material, just execution to be able to do that.
  • 02:06:11
    But then two, you know, the financial impacts of
  • 02:06:15
    that would be very challenging.
  • 02:06:17
    And so I think just having open lines
  • 02:06:21
    of communication as the plans are put together and each
  • 02:06:24
    year, if there's an adjustment that has to be made of how much,
  • 02:06:29
    then, you know, I think it's important to have that open line
  • 02:06:32
    of communication because those resiliency investments are not
  • 02:06:36
    just an investment from the company, it's an investment by the ratepayers.
  • 02:06:40
    And that is something that we have
  • 02:06:43
    to consider as we look at investments in resiliency.
  • 02:06:46
    Of course, you know, having reliable service
  • 02:06:51
    in your service territory is at the top of mind for us and for the
  • 02:06:54
    people that living in Houston and everywhere else that's hurricane prone.
  • 02:06:58
    And so that's what we have to balance as we look at those costs that
  • 02:07:01
    come before us to make sure that they are investments
  • 02:07:04
    that are going to benefit the
  • 02:07:09
    utilities, ratepayers. Because at the end of the day, it's an
  • 02:07:12
    investment by the company, but it's an investment by the ratepayers and
  • 02:07:17
    I like the idea of long term, not just front load
  • 02:07:21
    and, you know, just, you know,
  • 02:07:24
    a ton at once, because over time,
  • 02:07:29
    utilities should be proactively investing in their systems because
  • 02:07:34
    by law, they have an obligation to
  • 02:07:37
    provide continuous inadequate service to their ratepayers.
  • 02:07:40
    So, you know, these investments are important.
  • 02:07:44
    But I wanted to connect the dots for the broader public sitting here,
  • 02:07:48
    as you sit here and try to connect the dots of, you know, what are
  • 02:07:51
    these gentlemen at this panel saying? What's their experience? Why do
  • 02:07:54
    we have them here today? It's really important to understand
  • 02:07:58
    why we brought them today because Florida Power and Light has made tremendous investments.
  • 02:08:02
    Hurricane prone area. They're sort of the poster child of
  • 02:08:07
    a hardened utility system in the United States, and that's why we brought them here.
  • 02:08:11
    But I want to connect the dots not only from their long term strategy and
  • 02:08:14
    ultimately their collaboration with their ratepayers, but also back to
  • 02:08:19
    what does it mean in Houston,
  • 02:08:22
    and how are those resiliency investments paid for,
  • 02:08:25
    and what does it mean for
  • 02:08:29
    everybody sitting here today that took the time to come here and try to understand
  • 02:08:33
    what the information that's being communicated to y'all are getting today.
  • 02:08:37
    Thank you, Commissioner. It's as
  • 02:08:41
    high as it could be. I could talk louder if I could react to
  • 02:08:45
    that. I think your framing is so important, and I've had the opportunity
  • 02:08:48
    to testify in hearings like this all across
  • 02:08:52
    the country. And unfortunately, it tends to be reactionary,
  • 02:08:56
    not just from the commissions, but a terrible incident happens, Katrina,
  • 02:08:59
    Sandy, you name it, and we need to then or
  • 02:09:02
    the 2005 season. And there's this recognition that
  • 02:09:08
    table stakes to that point, a reliable system
  • 02:09:11
    that had been prudently invested in isn't enough. We have to make it more
  • 02:09:15
    resilient. But to the point you just made about doing it all at once,
  • 02:09:18
    that ultimately becomes a cost to the customer that they can't
  • 02:09:21
    afford to bear, and it still doesn't buy that risk down to zero.
  • 02:09:25
    And so looking at this in a prioritized
  • 02:09:29
    way, what are the most critical customers?
  • 02:09:33
    What are the most critical investments we can make to buy down as much
  • 02:09:37
    risk as possible? How are we doing it based on
  • 02:09:40
    the risk in a region,
  • 02:09:44
    I wouldn't be in South Dakota talking about hurricane preparedness.
  • 02:09:48
    I think thinking about what your risk is not
  • 02:09:52
    just today, but looking over the horizon as extreme
  • 02:09:56
    weather becomes more frequent, more severe, as you see
  • 02:10:00
    things like winter Storm Uri, as you see things
  • 02:10:03
    like Hurricane barrel, what can we be doing here
  • 02:10:07
    in Texas in a cost effective, prudent way to buy down risk
  • 02:10:10
    to do all those things left of boom. And to recognize
  • 02:10:14
    that response and recovery is a part of a resilience
  • 02:10:17
    strategy. And then to the point that Mister
  • 02:10:21
    Spohr made, I completely agree with. It needs to
  • 02:10:24
    be a partnership between the regulated
  • 02:10:28
    entities, the electric companies, the regulators,
  • 02:10:31
    politicians and the general public. And how do we come together as
  • 02:10:35
    a community and decide what is the most cost effective way and what can
  • 02:10:39
    we do to buy down risk that
  • 02:10:44
    we buy down the risk that we need to buy down and accept some of
  • 02:10:47
    the risk that we're just going to have to accept. And there is, there's always
  • 02:10:50
    a trade off there, but there's a way to do that in a very mature
  • 02:10:54
    way. And I think Florida is a great example of it, but there's others across
  • 02:10:57
    the country. Thank you. If I could just. I'll just add one last
  • 02:11:01
    point too. Up until Florida
  • 02:11:04
    power and light decided to go and create a
  • 02:11:08
    hardening plan. And after we made that announcement, all the
  • 02:11:11
    utilities didn't like us because we were doing something that had never been done
  • 02:11:15
    before. Nobody knew what the result would be. And I think back
  • 02:11:19
    during that period of time, we didn't either.
  • 02:11:22
    But we can kind of sit here today. And the reason Mike shared some of
  • 02:11:25
    the results of that presentation is now it's proven
  • 02:11:29
    that resiliency and hardening works
  • 02:11:33
    and what the true value, the financial value of it is.
  • 02:11:36
    And so over the last, you know, several years now, you are seeing more
  • 02:11:40
    utilities start to dive into a resiliency plan. Because I think
  • 02:11:45
    it's an example of one of the first times a large resiliency
  • 02:11:49
    plan was put in place. And they can say, you know what, it does
  • 02:11:52
    work. Sometimes it's okay to be the fast second mover and not
  • 02:11:56
    be the first one because nobody knows how it's going to result. But now
  • 02:11:59
    I think there are more utilities that you're starting to see putting resilient
  • 02:12:03
    plans in because there's an example of the true financial benefits of
  • 02:12:06
    it. Thank you.
  • 02:12:09
    I have a thought. As I'm listening
  • 02:12:13
    to y'all, I'm a huge believer in what Florida Power and Light has done
  • 02:12:16
    over the years and mutual assistance.
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Glotfelty's thoughts concerning Michael Spoor & Bryan Olnick's comments
    02:12:20
    There's second to none. But I'm not sure that the discussions
  • 02:12:23
    that we've had right here are really helping the community understand
  • 02:12:28
    how it's going to change in the future. A solution
  • 02:12:32
    that is five or ten years away doesn't really
  • 02:12:36
    solve much of the concern of what they had with the
  • 02:12:40
    Hurricane Beryl. And I think we
  • 02:12:44
    need to accept that, that the community,
  • 02:12:49
    rightfully so, probably doesn't trust us having discussions with
  • 02:12:53
    the PUC. And you know,
  • 02:12:56
    our utility and the community, we've been
  • 02:13:00
    doing these for years and this is what they got.
  • 02:13:05
    We got to find a different way to do that. And I think that it's
  • 02:13:08
    really important that we include them front and center as opposed to,
  • 02:13:11
    as an afterthought.
  • 02:13:15
    My question, and I don't want you all to answer today, but I'd like CenterPoint,
  • 02:13:19
    I'd like you all to talk to Luisa. But there are two things that you
  • 02:13:23
    all talked about model circuit designs and wind ratings.
  • 02:13:27
    To me. If you look at winter
  • 02:13:31
    or you look at Hurricane Beryl.
  • 02:13:35
    CenterPoint could have had wind ratings or
  • 02:13:39
    their infrastructure circuit design at a high level. But the type
  • 02:13:43
    of vegetation management that fell on these lines
  • 02:13:47
    wasn't going to solve a wind issue.
  • 02:13:50
    So how do you, that may be a building block,
  • 02:13:54
    but thinking about the vegetation piece of it,
  • 02:13:57
    what is the prioritization of those would
  • 02:14:01
    be good to understand. And then secondly, from all
  • 02:14:04
    of you, it would be helpful to me.
  • 02:14:08
    The Houston Resiliency initiative that Centerpoint has put together
  • 02:14:12
    2000 miles of power lines have
  • 02:14:17
    seen new vegetation management trimmings,
  • 02:14:21
    1000 poles, 300 automated devices.
  • 02:14:25
    These are good, but what does this get us?
  • 02:14:29
    How much does this accelerate the
  • 02:14:32
    resiliency that the community is expecting?
  • 02:14:36
    So it would be interesting to understand also
  • 02:14:41
    from centerpoint, it'd be really good to know where are the powerline miles
  • 02:14:45
    that have had vegetation management? Where are the polls that you all have replaced?
  • 02:14:50
    Are they four poles on a circuit or are they the entire
  • 02:14:54
    circuit? But having an understanding of how
  • 02:14:58
    Florida Power and Light did that and what EEI thinks about that,
  • 02:15:01
    I want to get to the community, but having you all's understanding of
  • 02:15:05
    that would be great.
  • 02:15:11
    Any other questions? Just a quick
  • Item 9 - Commissioners questions for Michael Spoor and Bryan Olnick
    02:15:14
    kind of question. I mean, obviously it sounds like on the front end is
  • 02:15:18
    y'all came in Florida Power and Light. I know you're no longer with them.
  • 02:15:21
    But you came to the, on the front end and said this is what we
  • 02:15:24
    want to do and it was approved. Is that correct? Or did you go forth
  • 02:15:28
    and do all these changes and came afterwards
  • 02:15:32
    and asked for the refunds? So we
  • 02:15:35
    did. We filed our initial hardening plan in January of
  • 02:15:39
    2006 with the commission. There was an order issued after
  • 02:15:42
    the hurricanes that all the investor owns had to file a plan.
  • 02:15:45
    And so we filed the plan and then it was approved.
  • 02:15:50
    I think in the beginning we were starting to test again because the concepts
  • 02:15:54
    were new. We were doing a couple pilot projects before I think
  • 02:15:58
    we got full approval. Just to understand if
  • 02:16:02
    it was really, in our minds, going to solve what we were trying to solve.
  • 02:16:06
    But then ultimately, the plan did get approved as part of
  • 02:16:10
    the order that the commission. And was it five year increments?
  • 02:16:13
    Did you go for the full 2030 years at the same time,
  • 02:16:17
    or was it just in stages? It was in increments. I mean,
  • 02:16:21
    we looked at it and said we would file three year plans and
  • 02:16:25
    then every year come in and have a detailed
  • 02:16:29
    plan, like what's going to happen next year. But it was a three year time
  • 02:16:33
    horizon, and I believe to this day now
  • 02:16:37
    it's called the storm protection plan. But I believe there's a, it's now a ten
  • 02:16:40
    year plan that's filed with a detailed one year plan
  • 02:16:43
    as part of the ten year. Okay. And when you were filing those
  • 02:16:47
    three year plans to start, did the company as a whole
  • 02:16:51
    have an idea of what your 20 year, 30 year plan was like? It might
  • 02:16:54
    not have been what you filed, but you had the general concept, the general roadmap
  • 02:16:57
    of what you were working towards? Correct? We did, at a very
  • 02:17:01
    high level. Okay. But again, was it 20 years or 30?
  • 02:17:04
    I mean, it never been done, so. But I would just add,
  • 02:17:08
    too, I think after that 0405 hurricane season, I think
  • 02:17:11
    the governor and the legislature and the commission were
  • 02:17:15
    pretty much where we were, too, that something had to change. And they
  • 02:17:19
    were very open of just trying, allowing us to try something.
  • 02:17:24
    And it took us a few years, as Mike said,
  • 02:17:26
    to kind of figure out the final model that we liked,
  • 02:17:30
    a couple circuits first year, a lot more next year, and then really ramping up.
  • 02:17:36
    So I know Florida Power and Light put together some data in terms of what
  • 02:17:40
    the benefits were for recovery after an event.
  • 02:17:44
    But I want to say that I also saw that there was some data
  • 02:17:48
    that you provided that supported,
  • 02:17:52
    you know, the resiliency efforts as being helpful
  • 02:17:57
    in terms of ongoing operational integrity
  • 02:18:00
    and in terms of ongoing operations. So in
  • 02:18:04
    other words, you prepare for the worst case event. You do your resiliency upgrades,
  • 02:18:08
    but it also helps you in terms of your day to day operations.
  • 02:18:11
    Your day to day operations. And do you have, like some, some back
  • 02:18:15
    of the envelope type numbers that you can share on what you think that is?
  • 02:18:19
    Recall, we're retired. We're not supposed to speak for Florida power and light. You should
  • 02:18:23
    probably ask them for exact numbers, but I can tell you
  • 02:18:26
    it's pretty significant. Yeah, I do believe, yeah. The daily
  • 02:18:30
    reliability has improved for those circuits that
  • 02:18:33
    the company has hardened, I think, and that may
  • 02:18:37
    be part of the filings that they make. So with
  • 02:18:41
    respect to the resiliency plans that you all were filing before the Florida Power
  • 02:18:44
    Service Commission, were those like,
  • 02:18:48
    just, were those like specifically resiliency
  • 02:18:52
    plans that y'all were allowed to file under law, or were they just,
  • 02:18:56
    you know, investments you brought in and sort of a rate case or
  • 02:18:59
    other rate proceeding? It was,
  • 02:19:03
    and again, I'll test my memory, but the initial
  • 02:19:07
    was an order that the commission in Florida
  • 02:19:10
    requested. They opened up a docket on storm resiliency.
  • 02:19:15
    And through a series of workshops,
  • 02:19:20
    industry experts, the universities were engaged
  • 02:19:24
    in the state of Florida. And ultimately, then the
  • 02:19:28
    end result was each investor owned making a plan that they
  • 02:19:31
    had to file. And I would tell you that within the state
  • 02:19:36
    at the time, there were four investor owned utilities. Now there's just three.
  • 02:19:41
    And those plans, of course, are part of public record there.
  • 02:19:45
    They are all slightly different. And then I think that
  • 02:19:48
    goes back to the comment that Brian had made, which is it's based on
  • 02:19:52
    their electric grid and their geography.
  • 02:19:55
    So it is not a one size. I think you'd even find that in the
  • 02:19:58
    state of Florida. But those were actually filed as part of
  • 02:20:01
    that docket that was ordered by the commission. And I think
  • 02:20:05
    I would just add, too, as Mike was saying, I think over the last several
  • 02:20:08
    years, there were, I don't know
  • 02:20:11
    if it's been folded into the annual rate case or I think it's still
  • 02:20:15
    a separate filing, but there's a couple things that have changed, really. So I really
  • 02:20:19
    couldn't speak to that. Probably be best to somebody
  • 02:20:24
    of lower power. And then, Scott. So,
  • 02:20:27
    EEI, national organization that
  • 02:20:31
    I know you all are involved in many, many issues in the electric industry.
  • 02:20:35
    And so with respect to hurricane preparedness
  • 02:20:38
    and the specific issue, it sounds like, you know, as an organization, you gather
  • 02:20:42
    a lot of really great information from across the country. Is that
  • 02:20:46
    information that member utilities, utilities across the
  • 02:20:49
    country can access and engage with Yalon to learn about best practices.
  • 02:20:54
    It is. So in addition to working with all
  • 02:20:58
    the companies when an incident happens and so getting real time sort of support
  • 02:21:02
    for them, you know, helping to coordinate and organize when,
  • 02:21:06
    when storms hit and then also helping to amplify messages and
  • 02:21:09
    work with our government partners in the off season,
  • 02:21:13
    we practice. And so post Superstorm Sandy, we developed
  • 02:21:17
    a new structure. So I mentioned how we went from a regional approach,
  • 02:21:21
    regional mutual assistance groups, still incredibly important. You want the work
  • 02:21:25
    done at the lowest, most local level.
  • 02:21:28
    But to the extent that we have to bring the regions
  • 02:21:32
    together, which in fact, we're doing right now in response to Hurricane
  • 02:21:36
    Helene, we've developed something known as the national response framework
  • 02:21:40
    to help respond and pull resources from all across the country.
  • 02:21:44
    We exercise that twice a year, a tabletop in January with government
  • 02:21:48
    partners and then a functional exercise in May right before the season
  • 02:21:51
    starts. And I cannot emphasize the value of
  • 02:21:54
    exercises enough. You know, there's a, I like to quote both General
  • 02:21:58
    Eisenhower and Mike Tyson. General Eisenhower said,
  • 02:22:01
    there's a plan. You know, plans are useless, but planning is everything.
  • 02:22:04
    And Mike Tyson famously said, everybody's got a plan until they get punched in
  • 02:22:07
    the mouth. And so having those relationships on blue sky
  • 02:22:11
    days really does make it a lot more effective when
  • 02:22:15
    you take that punch. Did you engage with Centerpoint
  • 02:22:18
    during Hurricane Beryl? We did. Okay. Thank you.
  • 02:22:24
    Thank you to each of you for lending us your expertise this morning. It's really
  • 02:22:27
    appreciated. Thank you.
  • 02:22:31
    Our next panel will be, our next panel will be Scott Aaronson again
  • 02:22:35
    with EEI and Scott Smith with Southeastern Electric Exchange.
  • 02:22:45
    So you're stuck with me again.
  • Item 9 - Scott Aaronson on mutual assistance
    02:22:49
    I'll be brief. You've heard from me enough. And I just actually,
  • 02:22:52
    as a great segue, as we were talking about regional mutual assistance
  • 02:22:56
    groups, of which Scott is the leader of, the one
  • 02:23:00
    that probably has the most experience with storms,
  • 02:23:03
    the southeast electric exchange. I tend to look at this from
  • 02:23:06
    a very national perspective. I've had the opportunity to talk to media
  • 02:23:11
    in the area here a lot since Hurricane Beryl.
  • 02:23:15
    And the way that I tend to frame mutual assistance,
  • 02:23:19
    oversimplify. Mutual assistance is this way.
  • 02:23:23
    There are effectively four stages to mutual assistance. By the way, that's what we're going
  • 02:23:27
    to talk about right now, right. Is this kind of, this, this superpower that
  • 02:23:31
    the industry has, there's no other sector that does what we do.
  • 02:23:34
    What we do, which is bringing crews from all over the
  • 02:23:38
    place to help somebody when they need it. And this is
  • 02:23:41
    all hazards. I did mention your traditional mutual assistance and sort of
  • 02:23:44
    the evolution of that. We have material mutual assistance, assistance,
  • 02:23:48
    that sharing of material and equipment if people are running
  • 02:23:51
    out. We have spare transformer equipment programs.
  • 02:23:54
    We have cyber mutual assistance, which I can go into some detail
  • 02:23:58
    on. We even do things like social media mutual assistance,
  • 02:24:01
    which is when a company is overwhelmed, leaders from
  • 02:24:05
    across communications, leaders from across the country will help amplify messages
  • 02:24:09
    so the general public knows what's going on. These are all kinds of
  • 02:24:12
    capabilities that sector has come together on. And again, very unique
  • 02:24:16
    to this sector. While we compete a little bit, for the most
  • 02:24:19
    part, we're not competitive. We operate this, this machine that is the energy grid of
  • 02:24:23
    North America. So this oversimplification of mutual
  • 02:24:27
    assistance. You pre four phases.
  • 02:24:30
    You pre position crews not where the
  • 02:24:34
    impact is going to happen, but near to where the impact is going
  • 02:24:37
    to happen. You access the impacted area,
  • 02:24:41
    you assess damage, and then you restore power.
  • 02:24:44
    Sounds super simple right now. First of all, these things don't
  • 02:24:48
    happen sequentially. They can happen in parallel. We are
  • 02:24:51
    seeing it again right now. Top of mind, hurricane Helene,
  • 02:24:55
    there are, there are areas in western Carolinas that still
  • 02:24:59
    haven't even been accessed. So it sounds
  • 02:25:02
    simple. But even with hurricane, I'm sorry, hurricane barrel,
  • 02:25:07
    there were challenges with access, with these enormous trees
  • 02:25:11
    across major thoroughfares. Getting crews into those
  • 02:25:15
    impacted area to get eyes on the infrastructure
  • 02:25:19
    was not as simple as it sounds. Assessing the damage,
  • 02:25:23
    do I need to reset a whole bunch of poles? That takes more
  • 02:25:27
    time. Do I just simply said, the guy who wears a suit
  • 02:25:31
    and goes to work in an office, do I simply restring the
  • 02:25:34
    wire? Much simpler to do.
  • 02:25:38
    And then that restoration and bringing all of those crews. What kinds of
  • 02:25:42
    that assessment of damage? What kinds of crews do I need? Do I need tree
  • 02:25:46
    crews and vegetation management to be able to get into debris
  • 02:25:50
    removal, to get into those impacted areas? Is this transmission
  • 02:25:53
    and structural damage or is this distribution line working?
  • 02:25:56
    Again, different crews, different people, different expertise,
  • 02:26:00
    all descending on the impacted area?
  • 02:26:03
    Restoration. And I don't have to tell anybody this, especially if you were without power
  • 02:26:06
    for an extended period of time. It is dangerous work.
  • 02:26:09
    It is hot. It is hard to do. These are
  • 02:26:12
    people coming from all over the country. They don't necessarily know
  • 02:26:16
    the system that they are working on, but they
  • 02:26:20
    are coming because it's what this sector does. And so
  • 02:26:24
    the last thing I'll say, again, I kind of borrow from FEMA and
  • 02:26:28
    some really interesting experiences in particular that we had with Hurricane Maria.
  • 02:26:32
    There are phases in the restoration effort. You prioritize
  • 02:26:36
    first. You prioritize life saving. You have to save lives. Again, we are still in
  • 02:26:40
    the midst of that. In parts of the Carolinas, life saving,
  • 02:26:44
    life supporting, and then life sustaining. So life supporting
  • 02:26:49
    is this notion of first responders,
  • 02:26:53
    hospitals, water and wastewater treatment plants,
  • 02:26:56
    maybe gas stations and grocery stores as one order of magnitude
  • 02:26:59
    below that. How do we get the infrastructure
  • 02:27:03
    of a community up and running? Maybe not the individual homes,
  • 02:27:07
    maybe we deploy some cooling centers, things like that, to sustain,
  • 02:27:10
    I'm sorry, to support life during the restoration. And then we
  • 02:27:14
    get to the life sustaining, then we get to the long tail, the blue
  • 02:27:17
    skies, and how do we learn from that impact and harden
  • 02:27:22
    the system going forward? So again, I wanted to oversimplify
  • 02:27:25
    how we think about mutual assistance. It's an extraordinary capability. The sector
  • 02:27:29
    brings to bear 12,000 people dedicated
  • 02:27:32
    to the response to Hurricane barrel. 50,000 committed
  • 02:27:36
    to the Carolinas and Georgia, from 41
  • 02:27:39
    states, the District of Columbia and Canada to Hurricane
  • 02:27:43
    Helene. Right now, again, ten states were
  • 02:27:46
    impacted by Helene. The city of Houston and
  • 02:27:50
    the surrounding area were impacted by barrel.
  • 02:27:54
    That's why you see that difference. 50,000 to 12,000. 12,000 is a lot of people.
  • 02:27:57
    You can only get so many, I was taught a long time ago, you only
  • 02:28:00
    get so many mechanics around the hood of a car. So that was the right
  • 02:28:03
    number. But a lot of challenges associated with
  • 02:28:07
    barrel, certainly a lot of challenges associated with Helene right now.
  • 02:28:10
    But pre position, access, assess, restore, save those
  • 02:28:14
    lives, support life as effectively as we can with prioritization,
  • 02:28:18
    and then sustain life going forward. And with that, I'll turn to the real expert.
  • Item 9 - Scott Smith, Executive Director, Southeastern Electric Exchange on mutual assistance
    02:28:23
    Thanks, Scott. So I'm Scott Smith. I'm Executive
  • 02:28:26
    Director with Southeastern Electric Exchange. I've been with the organization
  • 02:28:30
    since 2011. And prior to that,
  • 02:28:33
    I was at Tampa Electric Company for 25 years. And Mister Spoor,
  • 02:28:37
    Mister Olnick was talking about the work that they did there at that time.
  • 02:28:41
    I cut my teeth on mutual assistance for Tampa Electric Company.
  • 02:28:44
    During 2004 2005, I was
  • 02:28:48
    involved in Tampa Electric Company submittals of their ten
  • 02:28:52
    point hardening plan at that time. And my experience in
  • 02:28:56
    mutual assistance is one reason why I moved to southeastern Electric
  • 02:28:59
    Exchange, because that is one of their missions,
  • 02:29:03
    and that would be coordinating utility response through
  • 02:29:06
    restoration activities on an as needed basis.
  • 02:29:10
    We're an organization that has 52 electric
  • 02:29:14
    operating company members that are in
  • 02:29:17
    21 states and the District of Columbia. So very,
  • 02:29:22
    we're well beyond just the traditional southeastern United
  • 02:29:26
    States. Our organization, we are a best
  • 02:29:29
    practice organization at a regional level. And we were formed at
  • 02:29:33
    the same time as Edison Electric Institute in 1933 because
  • 02:29:37
    the utilities wanted to come together and we share best practices.
  • 02:29:41
    They're different now than they were then, but the
  • 02:29:44
    need for mutual assistance has always been in play,
  • 02:29:49
    I would say. And just talking about mutual assistance,
  • 02:29:52
    it is from a restoration perspective, it is needed
  • 02:29:56
    because all of the 52 companies that are members of
  • 02:29:59
    SCE, they don't have enough line company, line contract,
  • 02:30:03
    line contract vegetation management. They have
  • 02:30:07
    what they need in order to maintain, for blue sky, to keep
  • 02:30:10
    up with these projects and the capital work that's done, done in order to
  • 02:30:14
    make the system up to date and resilient.
  • 02:30:17
    But they don't have enough resources on property. They couldn't have enough resources
  • 02:30:22
    for 50,000 or 12,000 resources in a particular
  • 02:30:26
    area. That's why mutual assistance is so critically important
  • 02:30:30
    and I have the opportunity to lead it for the southeast through
  • 02:30:34
    the process. Speaking of the best practice
  • 02:30:38
    exchange, we have 25 different utility committees
  • 02:30:42
    that come together a couple of times a year
  • 02:30:46
    and they talk about opportunities for improvement with substation
  • 02:30:50
    transmission, overhead distribution, underground network.
  • 02:30:54
    We just added a vegetation management working group and these
  • 02:30:58
    are professional subject matter experts that come together and they are sharing
  • 02:31:03
    information and best practices during their process.
  • 02:31:07
    One of our committees is the mutual assistance committee.
  • 02:31:10
    They meet twice a year, but they meet very
  • 02:31:13
    frequently during the year in response to the
  • 02:31:17
    challenges with weather and impacts on the system.
  • 02:31:21
    I would say that this mutual assistance process is very
  • 02:31:26
    time tested and been in play for a long time.
  • 02:31:31
    I would say we are one of seven regions within the country
  • 02:31:35
    that come together in response to a
  • 02:31:38
    restoration plan. Helene,
  • 02:31:41
    it took us eight days to source the workforce needed
  • 02:31:45
    that is still underway through the restoration process.
  • 02:31:49
    Very significant. And we've had to cascade and
  • 02:31:53
    work through and pursue the help that's needed
  • 02:31:57
    nationally. Almost all states are actually represented
  • 02:32:01
    at this point in time. What I
  • 02:32:05
    would say is mutual assistance. It's not just distribution
  • 02:32:08
    transmission. It is going to include skill sets as
  • 02:32:12
    vegetation management, damage assessors, substation workers,
  • 02:32:16
    network workers, management teams to help manage
  • 02:32:20
    that huge workforce that has been invited into
  • 02:32:24
    respective area for the restoration process. There are
  • 02:32:28
    often times when specialized equipment is needed. The city of Houston
  • 02:32:32
    has had some high water events here where they needed to bring
  • 02:32:35
    high water equipment, and that comes from the industry because
  • 02:32:38
    it doesn't make sense to again invest in things that would hardly ever
  • 02:32:42
    be in use or have the staff in order to do that.
  • 02:32:45
    Scott had alluded to mutual assistance for materials that was established
  • 02:32:50
    primarily in 2020 with Hurricane Laura.
  • 02:32:54
    And we used it again that following year for Rita.
  • 02:32:58
    And we've had to activate it for Helene just because the needs are
  • 02:33:01
    so great, well beyond the scope of a single utility
  • 02:33:05
    and their supply chain channels that help them with their blue sky
  • 02:33:09
    operations.
  • 02:33:12
    How does mutual assistance work?
  • 02:33:15
    There is a leader of the process within a region,
  • 02:33:19
    and I again, am the leader in the southeast. And so
  • 02:33:23
    a utility that is concerned for an oncoming
  • 02:33:26
    event or they're actually responding
  • 02:33:30
    to one that in real time, a duratio, a tornado,
  • 02:33:33
    something that wasn't necessarily forecast,
  • 02:33:35
    but they will contact the leader of that region.
  • 02:33:38
    I again am on point for Southeastern Electricity Exchange and
  • 02:33:43
    I'm working with that requesting company and really trying to
  • 02:33:47
    understand what they need and when they need it. And within two
  • 02:33:50
    to 3 hours, we will have a
  • 02:33:53
    storm call established and all of those companies that
  • 02:33:57
    are part of our footprint will come to assist that
  • 02:34:00
    requesting company. We have a platform that EEI
  • 02:34:04
    provides to the utility industry, user secured,
  • 02:34:08
    web based, and a requesting company will enter their
  • 02:34:12
    requests for the resources needed and the
  • 02:34:15
    skill sets that they're looking for. And then all of
  • 02:34:19
    the responding companies that are willing to support will enter their
  • 02:34:23
    resources they have available and when they will be ready to mobilize.
  • 02:34:27
    Mutual assistance is a voluntary process and
  • 02:34:31
    it is often run in parallel with the requesting company
  • 02:34:35
    and their resource acquisition teams, pulling in
  • 02:34:39
    non investor owned utility resources from
  • 02:34:43
    the industry, the community, various contractor groups they are.
  • 02:34:47
    So they're going to be sourcing help that they need in
  • 02:34:51
    parallel with the investor and utility process
  • 02:34:55
    for mutual assistance. And that is always the case.
  • 02:35:00
    So we'll have a mutual assistance call. We've got resources
  • 02:35:04
    that are made available and then I facilitate when there's two or more
  • 02:35:08
    companies, and that's often the case. And that certainly was the case with Helene.
  • 02:35:12
    We've got four states that have responses
  • 02:35:15
    underway right now still, and I will facilitate
  • 02:35:20
    agreements and effectively matching who's going wherever.
  • 02:35:24
    Have efficiency in mind. So you're not driving through states en
  • 02:35:28
    route to another location. But we work that
  • 02:35:31
    as efficiently as we can possibly do.
  • 02:35:36
    We work until the needs are met.
  • 02:35:40
    Like I said, we've been underway eight days out of ten
  • 02:35:43
    with Helene and we finally got the resources they need and
  • 02:35:46
    now we're working on the material. As they've done their damage assessment,
  • 02:35:50
    they've identified requirements that are well beyond their ability to
  • 02:35:54
    provide for themselves. So the mutual assistance community nationally
  • 02:35:59
    is really in play and really is required
  • 02:36:03
    in order to work through these large events, I would say,
  • 02:36:07
    and I have the pleasure of working with Scott as we are working on
  • 02:36:11
    unity of messaging and effort.
  • 02:36:14
    The industry, unlike anything I've ever been involved in,
  • 02:36:17
    where the electric utility industry, they're willing to respond on
  • 02:36:21
    a request basis to help one another until the lights
  • 02:36:25
    are back on, however that may happen.
  • 02:36:29
    We are already having pre discussions about the storm that
  • 02:36:32
    the National Weather Service talked about earlier today.
  • 02:36:36
    And we've had other opportunities since Burl, as we've worked through our hurricane
  • 02:36:40
    season thus far, are, I would say,
  • 02:36:43
    the other six regional groups. There's a Texas mutual assistance group,
  • 02:36:47
    so I am one of the seven representatives across
  • 02:36:51
    the nation. And we work very closely together as
  • 02:36:54
    we are responding to events on an as needed basis.
  • 02:36:58
    Relationships are really important across the mutual assistance committee
  • 02:37:02
    within SCE. I would expect that the five
  • 02:37:06
    investor and utilities that work in the state of Texas, they have me
  • 02:37:10
    and their contacts. And again, from a relationship
  • 02:37:13
    perspective, being able to reach out and ask for help
  • 02:37:17
    in advance of storms or in response to something that just
  • 02:37:20
    happened that's beyond the local capacity is
  • 02:37:25
    just critically important. Again, our committee meets twice
  • 02:37:28
    a year. The mutual assistance committee meets and we talk debrief about storms,
  • 02:37:33
    just as you all are doing here in a public forum, and look
  • 02:37:36
    for opportunities to improve the process.
  • 02:37:39
    The mutual assistance process, it's been in play for many years.
  • 02:37:43
    Even though that's been the case, we are always continuing to try
  • 02:37:47
    to improve what we do in order to be more efficient and safe
  • 02:37:51
    and meeting the needs of the responders and most especially
  • 02:37:54
    in response to the communities that are being impacted with us.
  • 02:38:00
    That's really all I have to say about mutual assistance for
  • 02:38:03
    Southeastern Electric exchange and would be happy to
  • 02:38:07
    receive any questions. Thank you to both of you for being here.
  • 02:38:10
    Again. Just real quick, before we get into questions.
  • 02:38:14
    When we did run of show this part, it was great.
  • 02:38:17
    Conversations lasted a little longer than we thought. So I think we'll
  • 02:38:20
    pivot after this and go into public comment. I don't want your,
  • 02:38:24
    we have some 50 people signed up to speak. I don't want them to have
  • 02:38:27
    to sit through what I imagine will be a long conversation with CenterPoint unless they
  • 02:38:30
    want to. So if it's okay with everybody, we'll do public comment after this and
  • 02:38:34
    then go to CenterPoint at the end. Does that work? Okay.
  • 02:38:37
    Commissioners, questions for this panel?
  • 02:38:43
    I would ask where in the mutual assistance are
  • 02:38:47
    there avenues for improvement? What are the areas that
  • 02:38:51
    you're looking at to improve based upon the
  • 02:38:54
    experience that we had with winter storm barrel? I'm sorry,
  • 02:38:57
    with Hurricane Beryl, we've had so many of them.
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Glotfelty's questions for Scott Smith & Scott Aaronson on mutual assistance
    02:39:03
    I would say that we have not had an opportunity to debrief on
  • 02:39:06
    barrel as a committee, nor have we.
  • 02:39:10
    For Debbie or Francine or hermine at this time.
  • 02:39:15
    I would say we, the communications
  • 02:39:19
    is something that has improved over time. As we are
  • 02:39:23
    activating, we've got other communication mechanisms where I'm
  • 02:39:26
    communicating out to the operators. Hey, we have an all hands on
  • 02:39:30
    deck call that needs to be responded to within
  • 02:39:33
    2 hours and pulling them in. SCE has
  • 02:39:36
    a mutual assistance logistics committee and they meet and they're
  • 02:39:40
    talking about all of the logistics requirements
  • 02:39:44
    for lodging, meals, laundry material,
  • 02:39:48
    and working toward improvements there. From that
  • 02:39:52
    perspective, all of the utilities in Texas are
  • 02:39:56
    involved in our committee and they're continuously
  • 02:39:59
    exchanging information as a committee with one another and peer to peer.
  • 02:40:03
    Yeah, I'll add to that. And I would always sort of,
  • 02:40:07
    to the operational folks, I do think that we can always
  • 02:40:11
    be better from an efficiency standpoint. And what I mean by efficiency
  • 02:40:14
    is both getting crews into theater as quickly as possible
  • 02:40:18
    and then the actual efficiency of the work. There's some really interesting examples. Companies across
  • 02:40:22
    the country, Florida and Power and Light being one of them, but not the only
  • 02:40:25
    one, who have really tightened
  • 02:40:29
    up their lay down yards, their tent,
  • 02:40:33
    their staging sites, their ability to reduce windshield
  • 02:40:36
    time so the crews are close to where the work is. It's actually a leading
  • 02:40:39
    practice coming out of the pandemic. We used to have far fewer staging
  • 02:40:43
    sites, but because of the pandemic, we didn't want to get everybody sick all at
  • 02:40:47
    the same time. So we diffused them, decentralized them a little bit. Really interesting
  • 02:40:50
    example. So all of these are ways that there's constant improvements
  • 02:40:54
    for how you can get people closer to the work and
  • 02:40:57
    you can be better coordinated and more efficient. And I don't want
  • 02:41:01
    to miss the opportunity to keep talking about communication, blue sky
  • 02:41:05
    communication, before events happen. Coordination with local emergency
  • 02:41:08
    managers, local first responders and hospitals,
  • 02:41:12
    finding those high priority customers so that
  • 02:41:15
    they can be prioritized when the storm or any incident
  • 02:41:19
    happens. And then the value of industry
  • 02:41:23
    and government at all levels, speaking with one voice so that the public
  • 02:41:28
    knows what to expect, can take care of themselves
  • 02:41:32
    and can, and we can provide those things
  • 02:41:36
    that help to support and sustain life while the
  • 02:41:39
    really complicated work of emergency power restoration
  • 02:41:43
    with thousands of people from all over North America are
  • 02:41:47
    doing what they do in the field. I would say
  • 02:41:50
    the other piece of this, this is, is that the plans the companies
  • 02:41:55
    have, they get improved on with their own lessons learned,
  • 02:41:58
    and then those of other companies that have had to respond to
  • 02:42:02
    other events. It's impossible, I would think, for those plans
  • 02:42:05
    to cover every single possible thing that will happen. No two
  • 02:42:09
    storms are the same. The impacts vary greatly,
  • 02:42:12
    size, speed, everything, location. One thing that
  • 02:42:16
    is really important, important, I think, for us, is that as
  • 02:42:20
    needs arise because of the communication that is
  • 02:42:24
    ongoing within the industry, we support one another
  • 02:42:28
    and we help problem solve during events. So an
  • 02:42:31
    impacted company is asking for help through se? Or,
  • 02:42:35
    through EEI, and with your public private sector connections.
  • 02:42:38
    We work through issues one at a
  • 02:42:42
    time as need beef versus those things.
  • 02:42:45
    They just are unplanned situations that are having to
  • 02:42:49
    be resolved in the moment. One more quick
  • 02:42:52
    question, and that is we had some unfortunate experiences
  • 02:42:57
    here where linemen who
  • 02:43:00
    arrived through the mutual assistance programs were threatened by members of the
  • 02:43:03
    community or their trucks were stopped on the highways. And obviously
  • 02:43:08
    that's not a something that we want
  • 02:43:12
    to ever happen. These linemen, of course, are risking their lives to help
  • 02:43:16
    the communities get back up. Have you all heard of that happening in other places
  • 02:43:20
    or is this just something that began to happen here or.
  • 02:43:25
    Tell me a little bit about that. So thank you for raising that.
  • 02:43:29
    First of all, look, nothing will slow down power restoration
  • 02:43:33
    more than the
  • 02:43:36
    responders being threatened and us having to do security
  • 02:43:40
    around all of these restoration sites.
  • 02:43:44
    That said, back to, I understand how frustrated the community was. Is this
  • 02:43:48
    happening? Unfortunately, it's happening with increasing. It's increasingly
  • 02:43:52
    happening. We're seeing it with more storms and more restorations.
  • 02:43:56
    It's a relatively new phenomenon. And this goes back to
  • 02:43:59
    unity of message. We would really appreciate leaders,
  • 02:44:03
    political leaders, commissions like you amplifying,
  • 02:44:07
    hey, stay away from these folks. They're out there risking their
  • 02:44:10
    own lives to get your life back to normal as quickly as possible.
  • 02:44:14
    We understand the frustration, but let them do their job.
  • 02:44:17
    And yeah, like I said, I appreciate you raising that because it was
  • 02:44:21
    particularly eye opening set of events in Hurricane
  • 02:44:24
    Beryl's response and it's been a topic of
  • 02:44:27
    discussion for the current hurricane in the Carolinas.
  • 02:44:31
    I would say that Tampa Electric company sent resources
  • 02:44:34
    to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrane. We had a
  • 02:44:38
    security force traveling with our responders.
  • 02:44:42
    So that is just a company decision position.
  • 02:44:45
    But it's probably dependent on the event and the
  • 02:44:49
    length of the time and the level of frustration perhaps
  • 02:44:52
    that those that are waiting for power to get turned back on would be on.
  • 02:44:56
    But security embedded security teams
  • 02:45:00
    that utilities have sometimes will travel with
  • 02:45:03
    a responding company.
  • 02:45:07
    Thank you, gentlemen, both for being here.
  • 02:45:13
    All right, Luisa. If we want to start with public testimony.
  • 02:45:17
    So for the public comment, I'm going to call up four people
  • 02:45:21
    at a time for these seats here. And then we can go from
  • 02:45:24
    right to left and remarks will be about
  • 02:45:28
    three minutes each. So we'll start with Dolores
  • 02:45:31
    McGregor, Mitch Mayon, Nick Nicoletti, and Phyllis
  • 02:45:35
    Bailey.
  • Item 1 - Public comment for matters that are under the Commission’s jurisdiction, but not
    specifically posted on this agenda
    02:46:00
    Hello. Good morning. Commissioners, Public
  • 02:46:04
    Utility. I want
  • 02:46:09
    to bring you out. First of all, I wasn't going to speak on this,
  • 02:46:13
    but since this was the last thing that I heard about the violence
  • 02:46:17
    that's here in Houston when it comes to the poor
  • 02:46:21
    men. Well, I'm just an ordinary
  • 02:46:25
    citizen that lives here in the thick water area.
  • 02:46:29
    It's a low income area. We feel
  • 02:46:34
    left out. We feel like we
  • 02:46:38
    not wanted when it comes to our own lives,
  • 02:46:41
    we not in control of it. And that is horrible.
  • 02:46:45
    If you ever to live a life being a poor person and
  • 02:46:49
    feel like what involves you,
  • 02:46:53
    nothing you can do about it. I feel like
  • 02:46:57
    that centerpoint need to start working more closely
  • 02:47:00
    with just ordinary citizens that live in ordinary
  • 02:47:05
    communities. They can get
  • 02:47:09
    volunteers. Why not we help
  • 02:47:12
    with the situation? Why can't we help solve it
  • 02:47:16
    along with Centerpoint? Because it really affects us
  • 02:47:21
    than the people that run center point. And that is
  • 02:47:24
    something that, in the United States of America,
  • 02:47:28
    they take for granted to me, they own citizens.
  • 02:47:32
    Maybe if we could work with all these companies that,
  • 02:47:36
    you know, provide services to us,
  • 02:47:40
    maybe this would be a better country, maybe won't be
  • 02:47:43
    so much crime. You know why? Because we have something to think about,
  • 02:47:47
    and we will have something to do, because we all know it's too
  • 02:47:51
    many people to have a job for everyone in this
  • 02:47:55
    country. So why not put people to be
  • 02:47:58
    volunteers? I mean, that's what I would do.
  • 02:48:02
    And you won't have to worry about the linemen's get attacked.
  • 02:48:06
    You wouldn't have to worry about, you know, people complaining all the
  • 02:48:10
    time. Cause they'd be right there in the workforce just
  • 02:48:14
    volunteering, though. We don't mind helping
  • 02:48:17
    our country. Nobody mind helping where
  • 02:48:21
    they live at. So I just say maybe
  • 02:48:25
    they need to come up with some new, innovative ideas. We still
  • 02:48:29
    live in the 20th century,
  • 02:48:31
    25 years later. So,
  • 02:48:34
    I mean, I suggest that to, you know,
  • 02:48:38
    the commissioners, and I also address that to
  • 02:48:41
    all the companies that is responsible for providing
  • 02:48:46
    services to us. Now, I myself had
  • 02:48:49
    came to talk about the fact that
  • 02:48:54
    when the hurricane came,
  • 02:48:57
    I tried to call centerpoint for
  • 02:49:02
    three straight days, and I never did get
  • 02:49:05
    to talk to anyone. I called my electricity company.
  • 02:49:10
    I called them by five days, nobody ever
  • 02:49:14
    got on the telephone to tell me anything. I was in
  • 02:49:17
    the dark, not only when it came to light, but I was
  • 02:49:20
    in the dark when it came to me, just thinking about what next
  • 02:49:25
    step I'm going to do, because, you know why? Nobody educated
  • 02:49:29
    me. I really think that y'all need to go into the schools,
  • 02:49:33
    start at an early age, and start educating us about
  • 02:49:37
    what we need to do when we have a situation like
  • 02:49:40
    that. Emergencies. You need to start early.
  • 02:49:44
    Don't wait till somebody get old and they get so,
  • 02:49:47
    you know, decrevant in the mind that you can't tell them nothing.
  • 02:49:51
    Little babies. You can teach them. We can have such a beautiful
  • 02:49:55
    country if we just, come on,
  • 02:49:58
    do something new than what we've been doing before.
  • 02:50:02
    And that's why I think, look at me. I'm here testifying.
  • 02:50:07
    That would be wonderful, you know,
  • 02:50:10
    if we realize that, you know, people, even if they
  • 02:50:13
    disabled. They worthy to do something.
  • 02:50:16
    Really. I wish I'd go back to the drawing board
  • 02:50:20
    and really, you know, think about, I represent
  • 02:50:24
    hundreds and hundreds, maybe even thousands of people that
  • 02:50:28
    couldn't come here today, but I represent
  • 02:50:31
    them. So I just hope that you take this in consideration
  • 02:50:35
    to really listen to us and we speak today. Thank you.
  • 02:50:40
    Thank you. Thank you. Good job.
  • 02:50:46
    Thank you, baby. I'm sorry, I have to go, but it was nice
  • 02:50:50
    to meet all you all. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.
  • 02:50:59
    Good evening. My name is Mitch Mayonn. I represent
  • 02:51:02
    the IBEW International Brotherhood of Electrical workers.
  • 02:51:06
    Local union 716.
  • 02:51:09
    I represent the local union, IBEW local
  • 02:51:13
    union 716. I'm with the inside construction side
  • 02:51:16
    of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
  • 02:51:20
    I work at our union hall as an organizer and I teach at our JTC.
  • 02:51:25
    Kind of just because Miss Dolores was speaking on the lineman.
  • 02:51:30
    Want to thank local union 66, our brothers over
  • 02:51:33
    there that are the linemen that were out there doing the work.
  • 02:51:37
    It's kind of obvious that a lot of confusion gets
  • 02:51:41
    in place when it comes to the levels of who's
  • 02:51:46
    doing the work and who makes the decisions. The linemen's
  • 02:51:49
    are simply the ones trying to get the power back on.
  • 02:51:53
    The inside construction also assist in
  • 02:51:56
    trying to get power back up. I was tasked
  • 02:51:59
    with helping with a lot of volunteer projects going
  • 02:52:03
    out. I'm an electrician by trade, but we were out there cutting trees,
  • 02:52:08
    removing debris, so the linemen could get to some of these properties.
  • 02:52:12
    So I understand the frustration within the community,
  • 02:52:15
    especially when you're working hand in hand with them and trying to
  • 02:52:19
    get their power back on. So thank you again, Local 66,
  • 02:52:23
    for dealing with that and trying to work through those
  • 02:52:26
    struggles, especially while some of their own families were out of power
  • 02:52:30
    as well. I was kind of asked today
  • 02:52:34
    to speak on the importance of union labor
  • 02:52:39
    in providing that skilled training
  • 02:52:43
    and stuff that we provide in the community.
  • 02:52:46
    When using union labor,
  • 02:52:51
    you get safer working conditions, fair wages,
  • 02:52:55
    health and welfare, pensions, and retirement education
  • 02:52:59
    and training within that trade.
  • 02:53:02
    That allows some of the stuff in the community that they're not
  • 02:53:06
    receiving. They feel left out because they don't have those opportunities.
  • 02:53:10
    And when you use skilled labor and union labor, that allows some
  • 02:53:14
    of those inner city communities to educate
  • 02:53:18
    themselves and work in that trade and provide for themselves, and that's
  • 02:53:21
    why they feel left out. It creates that financial stability
  • 02:53:26
    and be able to afford some of those generators
  • 02:53:29
    and stuff that they cannot. So I just kind of wanted
  • 02:53:33
    to touch on that briefly and thank y'all for being here to
  • 02:53:36
    hear them out, but understand they are frustrated
  • 02:53:39
    for a reason because they're not really fully understanding,
  • 02:53:43
    hey, Centerpoint. Yes, they make some of the decisions,
  • 02:53:47
    but those linemen are simply out there just trying to get the power restored.
  • 02:53:51
    So it's important to also make them aware that,
  • 02:53:54
    hey, centerpoint, or specifically the
  • 02:53:58
    linemen, they don't make those decisions at the political
  • 02:54:02
    level. You all have that understanding. So it's important make
  • 02:54:06
    the community understand, hey, yes, the linemen are out there working,
  • 02:54:10
    and they represent a certain part of it, but the elected officials
  • 02:54:14
    are the one who make those decisions that affect the more
  • 02:54:18
    long term. So thank you all for hearing that out, and I appreciate
  • 02:54:21
    it if you all take that into consideration in the future. Thank you
  • 02:54:25
    for being here in your comments today. Can I
  • 02:54:29
    say something real quick, sir? I did reach out to ibew
  • 02:54:32
    716 to try to get some input from them after
  • 02:54:37
    the storm. I hadn't. I sent an email. I didn't hear anything back
  • 02:54:40
    from them, but I was proactive in the fact that I wanted to hear what
  • 02:54:44
    y'all's experiences were. And I still do hope we can create a dialogue to understand
  • 02:54:48
    that. Thank you. I'll make sure to give you my contact info.
  • 02:54:51
    I'm not sure who you emailed, but I'll make sure you get
  • 02:54:55
    in the right direction. Thank you.
  • 02:54:59
    Yes, I'm Nick Nicoletti. I do electrical consulting design.
  • 02:55:03
    I wanted to really talk about day to day operations at Centerpoint.
  • 02:55:08
    They have a website where you put in an address,
  • 02:55:11
    and from that address, you can find out who your power consultant is.
  • 02:55:15
    Except when you call that consultant, they don't typically
  • 02:55:19
    answer the phone, they don't answer their emails. You may call them for days,
  • 02:55:23
    weeks before you ever get a response from them.
  • 02:55:27
    Working on several projects right now, and literally, they're just non responsive.
  • 02:55:33
    I'm electrician for nearly 50 years, been a master for 40,
  • 02:55:36
    over 40. And yeah, the reliability
  • 02:55:41
    with Centerpoint didn't start during winter. Storm barrel. I have
  • 02:55:44
    a client right now where the Centerpoint
  • 02:55:48
    pole is leaning and pulling the bus weatherhead,
  • 02:55:51
    which is a large piece of electrical equipment for a
  • 02:55:55
    strip center multiple tenant,
  • 02:55:58
    and they've yet to guy the pole, do anything
  • 02:56:02
    to straighten the pole up. The weatherhead's still being pulled off the wall,
  • 02:56:06
    and they've had weeks now to do something, and you can't
  • 02:56:09
    get them out there to do anything. And now they
  • 02:56:13
    want the customer to pay for all the expense of the repair,
  • 02:56:16
    repair, and upgrade of the whole electrical system
  • 02:56:20
    to the current standards. Even though the initial
  • 02:56:24
    event was caused by their pole pulling the service off the wall.
  • 02:56:29
    Second, you have
  • 02:56:32
    a crew that comes out, a lot of times you'll work out a deal with
  • 02:56:35
    a consultant. You make the arrangements and what you
  • 02:56:38
    can do and how you're going to do it and what you're going to do.
  • 02:56:40
    And then the crew will come out and I just totally refuse to do anything
  • 02:56:44
    and say the consultant doesn't know what they're talking about. They don't know
  • 02:56:47
    what they're doing. They don't have any idea what they're doing. You know,
  • 02:56:51
    we can't do that, even though you've already made that agreement with the consultant,
  • 02:56:55
    worked it out.
  • 02:56:58
    Third, crews will hook up installations in one location and
  • 02:57:02
    use that same exact design somewhere else, and another
  • 02:57:05
    crew won't hook it up. So they're not standardized on
  • 02:57:08
    what they'll do next.
  • 02:57:11
    They have standards they don't follow.
  • 02:57:14
    And so, for example, you'll tell them it's in your standards, you have to do
  • 02:57:18
    this. And they'll say, well, I don't know, I can't. I have to check and
  • 02:57:21
    see if I can do that or not. And then it takes weeks to get
  • 02:57:24
    back to you to find out if they're going to do that or not.
  • 02:57:27
    I deal with the city and centerpoint. The city
  • 02:57:30
    is a cakewalk in the permitting process compared to dealing with Centerpoint.
  • 02:57:35
    Getting power hooked up to your building.
  • 02:57:39
    They changed the standards. They're doing it right now.
  • 02:57:43
    BP just had two electric EV charging
  • 02:57:46
    stations put in and they lowered their standards. There used
  • 02:57:49
    to be 3500 kVA transformers on a
  • 02:57:53
    pole. They lowered the standards to 3167 kVA transformers.
  • 02:57:57
    Well, now their center point has allowed
  • 02:58:00
    the EV charging stations to put in three, two fifties. But it's
  • 02:58:04
    not in their standards that you can do that. So you don't know what you
  • 02:58:07
    can and what you can't do on a regular basis. And you can't get ahold
  • 02:58:10
    of anybody at Centerpoint to give you a good answer of what you can and
  • 02:58:13
    what you can't do. This is day to day. This is not just
  • 02:58:17
    winter storm barrel. This is what we deal with day to day in the industry.
  • 02:58:21
    They don't, they don't consult with the groups that are stakeholders,
  • 02:58:25
    the IBEW, Texas Electrical Safety association and National
  • 02:58:30
    association of Electrical Inspectors. There's a whole bunch
  • 02:58:33
    of stakeholders, the IEC, in this industry,
  • 02:58:37
    and they don't get with us and find out,
  • 02:58:40
    you know, what we can do, what works best for the customer.
  • 02:58:44
    Their change of standards, for example, they used to give out meter cans they
  • 02:58:48
    stopped doing that. They transferred that cost to the customer.
  • 02:58:51
    Well, that's fine, except I didn't see anything on a rate reduction
  • 02:58:55
    that now that the customer has to buy those meter cans,
  • 02:58:58
    where's the savings to the customer?
  • 02:59:01
    So all this kind of stuff, I had mount transformers when
  • 02:59:05
    there were 500 on a pole. You could do that out back
  • 02:59:09
    of a building and they would pay for that. That was the initial service
  • 02:59:13
    to the customer, and that was free of charge. Now you got to put a
  • 02:59:16
    pad mount transformer in at many thousands of dollars higher cost.
  • 02:59:20
    And that cost goes with the customer.
  • 02:59:24
    So then they don't grandfather anything
  • 02:59:28
    in. So you get into a situation where something has happened.
  • 02:59:32
    Instead of just being able to do a repair, they want you to rebuild the
  • 02:59:35
    entire service. This one is leaning, literally,
  • 02:59:38
    there's a 22 foot wire way with multiple services
  • 02:59:42
    on it. And then there's another 14 foot wire way down the building
  • 02:59:46
    from that. They want the customer to rebuild all of those services because
  • 02:59:50
    their pole pulls the weatherhead off the wall at
  • 02:59:54
    their cost.
  • 02:59:58
    And then there's clients waiting weeks and weeks to get power
  • 03:00:02
    even though they've finished their buildings. It's all done. It's all hooked up.
  • 03:00:05
    They can't get any. We can't get Centerpoint to get out there to hook it
  • 03:00:08
    up. So just wanted to let you know that the day to day
  • 03:00:12
    dealings with Centerpoint, then you had a storm on top of that.
  • 03:00:16
    It's way out of control. But even the day to day,
  • 03:00:19
    it's very, very difficult to deal with Centerpoint. Thank you.
  • 03:00:23
    Thank you for being here, sir.
  • 03:00:26
    The next four are Ed Allen, Michelle Athela Blackwell,
  • 03:00:31
    Bruce Ganman, and Patrick Devine.
  • 03:00:52
    Thank you for the privilege of being here this morning. I appreciate the opportunity to
  • 03:00:55
    speak to you all. My name is Ed Allen. I'm the business manager and financial
  • 03:00:57
    secretary for IBW Local 66. I have the primary responsibility
  • 03:01:02
    for representing all the employees that work at Centerpoint and all
  • 03:01:05
    the contract employees that work on their property every day. It's a privilege
  • 03:01:09
    to represent more than 4800 utility workers all across the state.
  • 03:01:13
    And I couldn't be more proud of the effort they made
  • 03:01:17
    during Hurricane Barrel and the derecho as well.
  • 03:01:21
    I do want to offer my sympathy for all the loss
  • 03:01:24
    of life. It's tragic and everybody at local 66 is heartbroken
  • 03:01:29
    anytime somebody loses their life, including our own members that lose their life
  • 03:01:32
    in the exercise of their craft. So I apologize to all
  • 03:01:36
    them. I'm sorry for their loss of life. I wish there was something I could
  • 03:01:39
    do. I think the legislature needs to make. First thing they can do is make
  • 03:01:44
    elder care facilities have onsite generation. So elder care facilities
  • 03:01:47
    have, have that in place because I think it's imperative.
  • 03:01:52
    I do want to give some context to the restoration effort.
  • 03:01:56
    Centerpoint energy had about 2.3 million meter off.
  • 03:01:59
    They restored that in about twelve days. Energy had about 252,000
  • 03:02:04
    meters off. They got that back on in eleven days. Texas,
  • 03:02:07
    New Mexico, who we also represent, had 116,000
  • 03:02:11
    meters off. That was back on in about ten days.
  • 03:02:14
    And I know everybody wants it to get it back on quicker and faster,
  • 03:02:17
    and I understand all that, but it's a very dangerous
  • 03:02:21
    job. It takes a lot of time. And anytime you bring
  • 03:02:25
    14,000 people into your area,
  • 03:02:28
    the most organized folks in the world, it's like herding cats.
  • 03:02:31
    Okay. I heard the gentleman from Florida power and light earlier.
  • 03:02:35
    I personally went to Florida power and light three times in 2004 as an employee
  • 03:02:39
    of Centerpoint energy, working on storm restoration, mutual assistance.
  • 03:02:43
    I know all about that stuff. And we
  • 03:02:46
    were staying. We stayed in a parking lot in
  • 03:02:50
    a shopping center in Fort Myers, Florida for two days because it takes time for
  • 03:02:54
    them to wrap their mind around all that and get their hands around it,
  • 03:02:57
    find you a place to stay. And when we did, we were staying
  • 03:03:00
    in Sarasota, which was an hour drive from our trucks.
  • 03:03:03
    So I hear them talking about making all that stuff better, and I think that's
  • 03:03:06
    great. Centerpoint's got some work to do, there's no doubt about it.
  • 03:03:10
    And nobody takes them to tasks more every day than we do.
  • 03:03:13
    Local 66 holds them accountable every day. Their communication is horrible
  • 03:03:17
    and needs to be better. It's never been good. I hired on
  • 03:03:20
    at HLMP in 1982. It wasn't good then.
  • 03:03:23
    Okay? So hopefully they'll get that better. Vegetation management,
  • 03:03:27
    they need to do. They need to be more aggressive and more frequent.
  • 03:03:31
    I would like to see a co op strategy involved,
  • 03:03:34
    but I know that's probably not likely on an investor owned
  • 03:03:37
    utility. If you ever look at a co op easement, it's 20 foot
  • 03:03:42
    from the ground to the skyd, okay? Investor owned utilities are
  • 03:03:46
    like a v. It's so many feet on the ground and it goes up to
  • 03:03:49
    a wider swath up around the wire.
  • 03:03:52
    I'd like to see them be more aggressive about that and get more done.
  • 03:03:58
    I am going to meet with them soon, in the next two weeks to talk
  • 03:04:00
    about hiring. When they tell you that they have a thousand
  • 03:04:04
    line skills, I know what that means. Okay. I understand that language,
  • 03:04:08
    but that doesn't mean linemen, okay, there's probably 7800
  • 03:04:12
    linemen on the system today. At Centerpoint
  • 03:04:15
    Energy, you can add another 800 to thousand contractors that work
  • 03:04:19
    on the property every day, but they
  • 03:04:23
    need to hire more folks in house. What does that get you?
  • 03:04:26
    Well, what happens when, like Hurricane Helene has hit the
  • 03:04:29
    east coast over there, right? Florida and up North Carolina. South Carolina.
  • 03:04:33
    Do you know what a lot of contract employees do? They quit.
  • 03:04:37
    They quit their jobs here in Houston and they lie, they get signed on with
  • 03:04:41
    the mutual assistance company and they haul butt over
  • 03:04:44
    there to make money because that's how they feed their families.
  • 03:04:47
    And utility employees don't do that, okay? They're committed
  • 03:04:51
    to the utility, so they stay here. And the more, the more
  • 03:04:54
    contract employees you use, the more susceptible you are
  • 03:04:57
    to having people leave that do the everyday work.
  • 03:05:00
    The other problem you've got is when I hired on, we did about 90%
  • 03:05:04
    of the work. We do about 10% of it now in house at center
  • 03:05:08
    Point. The problem that is, is you
  • 03:05:11
    lose the craft that you, that you train
  • 03:05:16
    on. And if you're not doing that work every day, every day, every day,
  • 03:05:19
    well, you lose that skill. And so when you do have a hurricane come,
  • 03:05:23
    you may not be as skillful as you were, as we were 40
  • 03:05:28
    years ago when I started. Okay? So it's imperative that they
  • 03:05:31
    hire more people. I'll give you some contrast. When Hurricane Alicia hit
  • 03:05:35
    in 1983, we probably had less than 800,000 meters on the system.
  • 03:05:39
    We probably had twelve or 1300 linemen working at Centerpoint Energy. We had
  • 03:05:43
    very little mutual assistance help come in during Hurricane Alicia.
  • 03:05:46
    Okay? Today you got 2.8 million meter
  • 03:05:50
    on Centerpoint's property, and you got seven
  • 03:05:54
    or 800 linemen on their system every day working for them.
  • 03:05:59
    To me, I mean, if you've got 1.2 million
  • 03:06:02
    poles in the ground today, distribution poles in the ground for
  • 03:06:06
    2.8 million people, how many think you had in the ground for 800,000?
  • 03:06:10
    You do the math. You know, you don't have to be a mathematician to
  • 03:06:13
    figure that out. So they need more people.
  • 03:06:18
    I will say that I don't think the grid is.
  • 03:06:22
    I don't think it lacks resiliency. Look,
  • 03:06:25
    1.2 million poles, 3094 went down, that's 271%.
  • 03:06:31
    I'm sorry, I know people will disagree with me here. That's pretty resilient.
  • 03:06:35
    Okay, that's not bad. They talk
  • 03:06:38
    about composite poles and all that. Okay, that's fine.
  • 03:06:41
    I don't have any experience working with fiberglass. I did wood, a little bit
  • 03:06:45
    of metal. A little bit of concrete, but you're
  • 03:06:49
    not going to get away from impact.
  • 03:06:52
    Okay? Composite poles will be fine for wind,
  • 03:06:56
    but the bulk of the problem with barrel was impact.
  • 03:06:59
    It was trees falling, crashing through lines, landing on poles,
  • 03:07:03
    whatever. It doesn't matter what they're made out of when that
  • 03:07:06
    happens, okay? When an 80 foot tall oak tree,
  • 03:07:09
    three, four foot around, crashes through a 600 circuit,
  • 03:07:13
    it's going to rip all the stuff down. Okay? So I don't
  • 03:07:17
    know that composite poles are going to be that great when it
  • 03:07:20
    comes to impact. Okay. So I'm interested to see how
  • 03:07:24
    all that pans out, but I would
  • 03:07:28
    ask you this, if they get reimbursed for capital spending
  • 03:07:32
    and a fiberglass pole costs five times as much as a wood pole,
  • 03:07:36
    is that going to pass your prudency test? Lieutenant Governor Patrick
  • 03:07:40
    was talking about earlier? Do you want to spend five times more
  • 03:07:43
    for a pole? To do what?
  • 03:07:46
    To still fall when a tree falls through it.
  • 03:07:49
    I don't know. Maybe targeting some of these areas and stuff.
  • 03:07:53
    I think that's all great, but I don't necessarily think that composite poles
  • 03:07:56
    are going to be the panacea that everybody thinks it's going to be. When you
  • 03:07:59
    have an impact event where trees are falling through wire and crashing through poles.
  • 03:08:04
    Okay? I still think, you know,
  • 03:08:08
    everything could be made better, but I think the restoration effort
  • 03:08:11
    was actually a herculean effort by the members of my local, aided by
  • 03:08:15
    thousands of utility workers all across the country, some of them union,
  • 03:08:19
    some of them non union. We appreciated all the help.
  • 03:08:21
    Okay. And regards to the violence
  • 03:08:25
    issue, again, I've been all over the United States on
  • 03:08:29
    mutual assistance. This is the first time I've ever seen it,
  • 03:08:32
    okay. I've never seen anybody do it. And to be
  • 03:08:35
    fair, it was a very small percentage of folks.
  • 03:08:39
    I was born and raised in the Houston, Texas area, and most of
  • 03:08:42
    the folks here are incredibly generous and gracious with their patience,
  • 03:08:46
    and I couldn't be more grateful to them for that. But it is a concern
  • 03:08:49
    for me and the people that I represent. It's bad enough that you got
  • 03:08:53
    a dangerous job in front of you. Now you gotta worry about people behind you
  • 03:08:56
    and what they're doing behind you, too. And so I appreciate the opportunity
  • 03:09:00
    to speak to you here today and give you, share you
  • 03:09:03
    some views from my members. I look forward to working with any of you all
  • 03:09:07
    that want to work with us. I'm happy our members are the experts when it
  • 03:09:10
    comes to grid resiliency. They know what they can do and they know what it
  • 03:09:13
    takes so anything we can do to aid in that help,
  • 03:09:18
    I'm happy to comply. So thanks very much for your time this morning. Thank you,
  • 03:09:21
    sir. I think I actually reached out. Not to local
  • 03:09:26
    716, you reached out to us. I think I did. Okay, well, I have
  • 03:09:30
    to find out where that went because it didn't come to me because I would
  • 03:09:32
    have replied to you, sir. Well, we still want to build that discussion.
  • 03:09:36
    Well, I appreciate that. I look forward to speaking with you.
  • 03:09:42
    First off, thank you for coming down to Houston for your meeting. We appreciate it.
  • 03:09:46
    It's my understanding that the purpose of today's meeting is to talk about Centerpoint
  • 03:09:50
    point energy and how they handle the aftermath of Hurricane
  • 03:09:54
    Burrow with the average person. That would be me.
  • 03:09:57
    What I want to share with you is something that probably is happening to
  • 03:10:01
    a lot of other people. It's frustrating, it makes you
  • 03:10:04
    angry, and it falls under a lack of communication.
  • 03:10:09
    I live in a small community in northwest Harris county.
  • 03:10:12
    I'm on the waterboard, and our responsibility is to make sure
  • 03:10:16
    our residents have water. During hurricane barrel,
  • 03:10:20
    the neighbor's tree fell down, and when they did it, it knocked out the
  • 03:10:23
    power lines to our water plant. A few days
  • 03:10:27
    later, a contractor came out to re hook the wires.
  • 03:10:30
    When he re hooked the wires, he hooked them up wrong. It burned
  • 03:10:34
    up a bunch of our components. So I filed a
  • 03:10:38
    claim with Centerpoint. At Centerpoint, when you file a
  • 03:10:41
    claim, you can't talk to a human being. You have to
  • 03:10:45
    use a form. There's a phone number that you can call, but that phone number
  • 03:10:48
    leads you back to the form. So I
  • 03:10:52
    did all that. I filled out the form. I uploaded my documents.
  • 03:10:55
    I sent it to them. And when you hint, when you, when you hit the
  • 03:11:00
    send button, that's it. There's no.
  • 03:11:03
    There's no confirmation. There's no anything that
  • 03:11:08
    happened on August 28. Today is.
  • 03:11:13
    Today is October 4. I have yet to hear back
  • 03:11:16
    from Centerpoint energy if they even received the email,
  • 03:11:21
    period. It's that simple.
  • 03:11:25
    If it's happened to me, it's probably happened to a lot of other people.
  • 03:11:33
    Thank you, sir.
  • 03:11:41
    I'm sorry. I'm just going to have to stand up. I feel like I see
  • 03:11:44
    a room full of people, and I feel like if I'm just facing this way,
  • 03:11:46
    I feel like I'm ignoring everybody. I'm using my Toastmaster skills.
  • 03:11:50
    My twin sister is getting on me saying, don't embarrass me now. Show,
  • 03:11:53
    you know, make them proud. So my name is Miss Blackwell,
  • 03:11:57
    and I live in the near north side and I live in this apartment complex.
  • 03:12:01
    I wanted to share my story, and I think the person was saying, do you
  • 03:12:03
    want to share a story? Yes, I sure do. I love telling stories. So think
  • 03:12:07
    back to my experience from Hurricane Harvey, my apartment
  • 03:12:11
    complex. The water was rising up high, and here it is, Hurricane barrel.
  • 03:12:14
    The water was rising up high, and then next thing you know,
  • 03:12:17
    through all this rain, the electricity was going out.
  • 03:12:22
    Next thing you know, for three consecutive days, I didn't have any electricity.
  • 03:12:26
    I was there alone. I couldn't get a hold of my twin sister. And there
  • 03:12:29
    I am just wondering what's gonna happen to me when the water was rising up
  • 03:12:33
    high, I didn't have nowhere. I didn't know where I was gonna go or what
  • 03:12:36
    I was gonna do. I was packing up my stuff, but go where?
  • 03:12:39
    I really didn't know go where. And then next thing I know, on day four,
  • 03:12:43
    the electricity was going on and off for an hour.
  • 03:12:47
    2 hours later is off, on, off, on, off. And before all
  • 03:12:51
    this came up, my twin sister took me shopping and I bought some of my
  • 03:12:55
    favorite items. Well, when this happened, I had to throw away
  • 03:12:58
    items out my refrigerator. So guess what? Of all the items I
  • 03:13:02
    threw out, I was really hurt and upset. I had to throw out my jar
  • 03:13:05
    of hellman's mayonnaise. That was my favorite. I could live with eridan's to
  • 03:13:09
    throw out, but not my jar of hellman's mayonnaise. And then I feel like,
  • 03:13:12
    oh, I know this is a problem now. So as I'm just going
  • 03:13:16
    through it, I just feel like I would love for something to be better.
  • 03:13:20
    As far as when these storms or things are hitting, I just don't know if
  • 03:13:24
    the response time could be a little bit faster. Do y'all have a backup for,
  • 03:13:28
    you know, when things are going to hit? You know, they say there's a
  • 03:13:32
    backup there or something, but it was just days on end of
  • 03:13:36
    no electricity, I was hot. It was just frustrating and it
  • 03:13:40
    was just really a difficult time. But I know there's others who went through
  • 03:13:43
    it for longer days. I felt like I only went through it for about seven
  • 03:13:47
    days, but I know other people was longer. But I feel like I would like
  • 03:13:50
    to see more improvements, more changes, something more
  • 03:13:53
    response time, dealing with all this with the utilities and stuff.
  • 03:13:57
    Thank you. Thank you.
  • 03:14:01
    So I'll speak as an average person as well. I don't
  • 03:14:05
    live in the city of Houston. I actually live in Cyprus. So I was involved
  • 03:14:09
    in the De Racho in May, which actually hit a
  • 03:14:12
    mile from my home. So I saw friends homes destroyed and
  • 03:14:15
    the community center hit in my neighborhood and then obviously affected
  • 03:14:19
    by Hurricane barrel. I would just say this. I know one
  • 03:14:23
    of the council folks spoke about the, you know,
  • 03:14:26
    the upgrades that Centerpoint needs to take is passed on to us,
  • 03:14:30
    the ratepayers and the taxpayers. I don't.
  • 03:14:33
    I think most of us, and I don't want to piss off anybody here or
  • 03:14:37
    be attacked. I don't think anyone really in general has a problem paying
  • 03:14:41
    for more if they know there's going to be improvement. But if I'm continuing
  • 03:14:45
    to pay increased rates year over
  • 03:14:48
    year, year over year to Centerpoint, but I don't see changes,
  • 03:14:52
    that's insanity. I'm paying you more to
  • 03:14:55
    give me the same level of substandard service.
  • 03:14:59
    How does that work? I can only imagine if I went to my job every
  • 03:15:02
    day with tools that didn't do the
  • 03:15:06
    job and my boss kept me on, man, this is the greatest job ever.
  • 03:15:10
    I can screw up and still get paid. That's kind of how I feel in
  • 03:15:13
    this situation. And I'm assuming people out here. Sorry, not looking
  • 03:15:17
    at you as well. I'm assuming a lot of people out here have this same
  • 03:15:20
    emotion. We don't mind paying more if we're going to get
  • 03:15:24
    better service. I don't
  • 03:15:28
    want to continue paying higher rates for what I feel. We're putting band
  • 03:15:31
    aids on situations. There's someone in the corner that is bleeding from
  • 03:15:34
    the head and we continue to put band aids on it. Oh, yep. You're going
  • 03:15:37
    to have to pay a 19 cent rate surcharge on that. The person isn't getting
  • 03:15:40
    better. The system isn't getting better. I think we want to see changes.
  • 03:15:44
    We want to see improvement. That's all I have to say.
  • 03:15:47
    Thank you, sir.
  • 03:15:54
    The next four are Hermon Ibanez, Jonathan Glass,
  • 03:15:58
    Christina Vetrano and Ruth Avila.
  • 03:16:16
    So my name is Hermon Ivanyes. I'm with Houston climate movement.
  • 03:16:20
    I also have worked in the industry developing power plants
  • 03:16:25
    not only in the United States, but internationally. One of
  • 03:16:28
    the things that you guys asked about the Florida light people
  • 03:16:32
    that I wanted to comment on was they
  • 03:16:36
    are in a regulated marketplace and they all go all the way from
  • 03:16:40
    the transmission large transmission lines down to the distribution
  • 03:16:45
    lines. That's not what we have here in Texas. And so
  • 03:16:48
    we're talking about Centerpoint has the distribution
  • 03:16:52
    lines and some of the transmission
  • 03:16:56
    lines, and we have other companies involved.
  • 03:16:59
    The last thing, the other comment that I'd like to make,
  • 03:17:02
    especially you didn't ask how much a
  • 03:17:08
    cents per kilowatt change that
  • 03:17:11
    big transformation they did in Florida.
  • 03:17:15
    That's one of the questions that you guys and people here want to know.
  • 03:17:19
    So I wanted to talk to you about essentially
  • 03:17:25
    Centerpoint having monies to
  • 03:17:29
    weatherize homes, but they're not using it in individual
  • 03:17:33
    homes. They're doing it to do waterless
  • 03:17:39
    or tankless water heaters and stuff like
  • 03:17:42
    that. They're not going to individual homes. It takes about seven
  • 03:17:46
    to $10,000 to put more insulation, switch out
  • 03:17:50
    the windows, and put an air conditioning unit
  • 03:17:53
    in some of these older homes.
  • 03:17:57
    How come they're not doing that? And that is actually going to help
  • 03:18:00
    with all the resiliency that you want
  • 03:18:05
    in the system. So that's my comment. Thank you.
  • 03:18:10
    Hi, my name is Jonathan Glass and I just had
  • 03:18:14
    a few comments and then some questions also,
  • 03:18:17
    if you could answer questions. You know,
  • 03:18:20
    the puck's mission, according to the mission statement, is to protect.
  • 03:18:24
    Yeah, the puck's mission statement is to protect customers,
  • 03:18:28
    promote competition, and ensure high quality infrastructure.
  • 03:18:31
    And I heard a lot about that today, that hopefully the infrastructure
  • 03:18:34
    is going to improve back a few days
  • 03:18:38
    after the hurricane. On July
  • 03:18:41
    11, the Washington Post did a story and
  • 03:18:45
    talked to Darren Carroll. I don't know if he's here or
  • 03:18:49
    not, but anyway,
  • 03:18:53
    he said, Darren Carroll said, and I quote, our system
  • 03:18:56
    is in great shape as he's the company
  • 03:19:00
    senior vice president for operations. As it relates to this storm,
  • 03:19:03
    it actually operated as designed.
  • 03:19:07
    Well, I'm sitting at home for eleven days with no
  • 03:19:11
    power, so I think it needs to be redesigned.
  • 03:19:17
    So my questions are also
  • 03:19:22
    in the same story. It said Centerpoint presented us regulators
  • 03:19:26
    with you guys, I guess, with a 2 billion resiliency
  • 03:19:30
    plan, but I haven't heard anything about
  • 03:19:33
    how that's going on right now, what's going on with it.
  • 03:19:37
    And then the other thing, the other question, the last question.
  • 03:19:41
    So these upgrades need to be signed
  • 03:19:44
    off by you guys. And I
  • 03:19:48
    know it's going to take years to complete, but has there been
  • 03:19:51
    any agreement and sign off and is it in progress right now?
  • 03:19:56
    So, sir, what I'll say is, yeah, so after legislation was
  • 03:20:00
    passed last session, utilities can now file resiliency plans with us.
  • 03:20:03
    Centerpoint did file a resiliency plan that will go
  • 03:20:07
    through our process. I believe, you know, that plan may
  • 03:20:10
    have actually been withdrawn so that they could make
  • 03:20:13
    sure that any efforts they were making in that filed plan would
  • 03:20:17
    meet the expectations following barrel. So we expect them to
  • 03:20:21
    file an updated resiliency plan for our evaluation.
  • 03:20:24
    Okay. I know it's going to take a long time to do what
  • 03:20:28
    Florida power and light did. So I appreciate that. And that's, I think
  • 03:20:32
    that's the path we need to go so we're not stuck with
  • 03:20:36
    this situation in the future. Thank you, sir.
  • 03:20:40
    Hi, my name is Christina Vetrano. I'm the CEO
  • 03:20:44
    at Ronald McDonald House charities, Greater Houston. And I
  • 03:20:48
    wanted to come today to really tell a story of how the mobile
  • 03:20:51
    generation helped us through Hurricane
  • 03:20:55
    barrel. Without Centerpoint's energy critical
  • 03:20:59
    intervention immediately after Hurricane Burrow,
  • 03:21:02
    Ron McDonough House charities would have evacuated 70 families
  • 03:21:06
    staying at our Holcomb House facility to hospitals
  • 03:21:10
    and nearby hotels. We serve families of seriously ill
  • 03:21:14
    children who are being treated at the Texas Medical center hospitals.
  • 03:21:18
    Our families come to us from all over Texas, the United
  • 03:21:21
    States, and the globe for highly specialized medical care
  • 03:21:25
    inside the largest medical center in the world.
  • 03:21:28
    Relocating these children and their families, whose health is
  • 03:21:32
    exceedingly fragile, is the least optimal option in an
  • 03:21:35
    emergency. When Hurricane Beryl arrived in
  • 03:21:39
    Houston, Holcomb House lost power at approximately 06:00
  • 03:21:42
    a.m. on Monday, July 8. The facility's
  • 03:21:47
    existing backup generator would not support our expansive air conditioning
  • 03:21:51
    requirements or the ovens and stoves in the kitchen our families use
  • 03:21:54
    for their daily meals. Additionally,
  • 03:21:57
    our 24 hours diesel fuel supply from
  • 03:22:00
    our vendor. We had a difficult time communicating with them
  • 03:22:04
    in order to get to get more diesel. Our team continued
  • 03:22:08
    to formulate a safe evacuation plan for families.
  • 03:22:11
    On the evening of Monday, July 8, Centerpoint Energy notified us
  • 03:22:15
    that a mobile generator would be deployed to Holcomb House
  • 03:22:19
    with help from two other vendors that are
  • 03:22:22
    really important to us, Bellows Construction Corporation
  • 03:22:26
    and Fisk Electric. The generator was connected at 10:30
  • 03:22:30
    p.m. it was a really big relief for us that we did not
  • 03:22:34
    have to evacuate those families. We certainly had a plan,
  • 03:22:38
    but being able to shelter in place was hugely beneficial
  • 03:22:41
    for them. And so for us, we're really thankful
  • 03:22:45
    for Centerpoint's due diligence to help us with that.
  • 03:22:49
    Power was restored to Holcomb House in the afternoon of Wednesday,
  • 03:22:52
    July 10, and Centerpoint Energy returned to disconnect
  • 03:22:56
    the equipment, ensure power was running reliably, and then deployed
  • 03:22:59
    the generator to another facility.
  • 03:23:04
    Prior to Ronald McDonald House, I worked with Red
  • 03:23:07
    Cross national headquarters for 14 years. I've responded to disasters
  • 03:23:11
    for 911, for Hurricane Rita, for Hurricane Katrina,
  • 03:23:15
    and every single disaster is different.
  • 03:23:18
    And I know that it's easy for us to on the back
  • 03:23:22
    end, we have hindsight of 2020 on what should have been done,
  • 03:23:26
    but it's tough. And so to me, I know
  • 03:23:30
    on the side of Ronald McDonald House. There's more things that we can do differently
  • 03:23:33
    next time to respond on better. We can do a better job with the
  • 03:23:37
    vendors that we do work with. We're reevaluating
  • 03:23:41
    how we're handling our generator. And so my expectation from Centerpoint
  • 03:23:46
    is that we really understand that they learn and that
  • 03:23:49
    they're going to do better and they're going to give us a good sense
  • 03:23:52
    of how we go forward. But that, to me,
  • 03:23:55
    is what's most important is to figure out what the plan is going
  • 03:23:59
    forward. I know that we have a lot to learn, but in the end,
  • 03:24:02
    we appreciate what Centerpoint did for Ronald McDonald House very much,
  • 03:24:06
    and we appreciate them as a corporate partner. Thank you,
  • 03:24:09
    ma'am. Can I ask one question real quick? How did they know you needed
  • 03:24:13
    a generator? Did you reach out to them? We reached out to them. We gave
  • 03:24:16
    them an update. I mean, really, we were just letting them know, making sure we
  • 03:24:20
    have no power. We had an evacuation plan in place, but that was
  • 03:24:24
    not what we wanted to do. Evacuating the families to
  • 03:24:27
    hotels and into the hospitals, certainly complicated, but we
  • 03:24:31
    would have certainly done it. So they were able to assess our
  • 03:24:34
    area because also what's important is these large mobile
  • 03:24:38
    generators that are coming out. You do have to have enough space for them in
  • 03:24:42
    order for them to be able to deliver them. And then also we
  • 03:24:45
    needed to provide an electrician in order to be able to make this all
  • 03:24:49
    happen. So, I mean, it takes multiple parties. So, like, for example,
  • 03:24:52
    when I was hearing about the.
  • 03:24:56
    The elderly homes and that they need it, you know,
  • 03:24:59
    I want them to have them. But also there's got to be some really
  • 03:25:03
    key pre planning to make sure that they have space
  • 03:25:07
    for them and they understand the steps it would take to actually set
  • 03:25:10
    them up. I mean, we were needing to find an electrician at 1030 at night,
  • 03:25:14
    and we were able to do that. And we're very fortunate based on our relationships,
  • 03:25:18
    but you've got to be ready for those things.
  • 03:25:24
    Hi, my name is Anita Guevara.
  • 03:25:29
    I'm sitting with Ruth.
  • 03:25:32
    Hamila left, so I took her place.
  • 03:25:35
    But I live in the northeast area,
  • 03:25:39
    in Lakewood area, and I have
  • 03:25:44
    this disabled son that uses
  • 03:25:47
    a CPAP. We were out of lights for
  • 03:25:51
    a total of four days. We had difficulty
  • 03:25:55
    with him. I also have an 85
  • 03:25:59
    year old sister that is bedridden
  • 03:26:03
    as a hospital bed that I couldn't help.
  • 03:26:07
    I couldn't manage it. I couldn't
  • 03:26:11
    lift it adjusted for her.
  • 03:26:16
    So I had four total of four days without
  • 03:26:20
    moving her bed up and down at different levels
  • 03:26:25
    for her head, you know, or her feet. So I
  • 03:26:29
    had a very difficult time during that time
  • 03:26:33
    and with no power. So that's about
  • 03:26:38
    the worst part of my story. Everything else was
  • 03:26:42
    a little bit easier, except word about
  • 03:26:46
    my son with no CPAP and my sister
  • 03:26:50
    with a flat bed, supposed to be.
  • 03:26:54
    It's a breathable bed, and she
  • 03:26:59
    was flat on forest, practically flat
  • 03:27:05
    on the iron bed. So it
  • 03:27:09
    was very difficult for me during those terms.
  • 03:27:13
    Thank you, ma'am. Thank you for sharing your story,
  • 03:27:18
    and we are sorry for what you, your son,
  • 03:27:21
    your sister had to endure during the hurricane.
  • 03:27:24
    Thank you. Thank you for being here.
  • 03:27:30
    The next four are Blanca Guzman, Michael Adico,
  • 03:27:34
    Bill Kelly and Maria Silva,
  • 03:28:11
    PUC commissioners. My name is Bill Kelly.
  • 03:28:14
    Like most Houstonians, I lost power for a week after Hurricane Beryl.
  • 03:28:18
    But unlike most Houstonians, I spent that time knowing exactly how Centerpoint
  • 03:28:22
    had avoided accountability and lost their focus on reliability.
  • 03:28:26
    For the past four legislative sessions, I represented the city of Houston before the Texas
  • 03:28:30
    legislature on behalf of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.
  • 03:28:34
    One of the first things I learned with Mayor Turner is when the lieutenant governor
  • 03:28:37
    agrees with you, it's best to just shut up. So I'm going to allow the
  • 03:28:40
    lieutenant governor's comments on the $800 million in largely
  • 03:28:44
    unused generators to go by the side. But to say
  • 03:28:48
    the only level of government that opposed that
  • 03:28:52
    reimbursement for 800 million were local government officials
  • 03:28:56
    because they knew. Unfortunately, your predecessors at the PUC approved
  • 03:29:00
    it over that initial court rejection. In the
  • 03:29:04
    first governmental action post hurricane barrel, Centerpoint lost
  • 03:29:07
    its request to withdraw its rape case, with the administrative law judge
  • 03:29:11
    saying the company, quote, has given no explanation for
  • 03:29:15
    why it can't pursue the Greater Houston Resiliency initiative and its
  • 03:29:18
    rate case at the same time. They,
  • 03:29:21
    Centerpoint have appealed that case up to this body,
  • 03:29:25
    and they must, and they must like their odds, especially given how the
  • 03:29:29
    PUC reversed the generator recovery cost decision before you.
  • 03:29:33
    If you have not already reviewed the case, filing would know that consumer groups,
  • 03:29:36
    the city of Houston and other local government municipalities believe Centerpoint
  • 03:29:40
    is already overcharging customers and have argued that a withdrawal
  • 03:29:44
    would deny them the opportunity to force the company to make rate
  • 03:29:48
    decreases through settlement negotiations.
  • 03:29:51
    Specifically, using 2024 as a test year
  • 03:29:54
    could result in even higher rate increases given Centerpoint's
  • 03:29:57
    infrastructure spending post barrel. As the Texas Consumer alliance has said,
  • 03:30:01
    given the evidence, consumers could see some rate relief now
  • 03:30:05
    rather than waiting for another year and a half, which would be the case if
  • 03:30:08
    we wait till 2025 to start a rate case. You, the PUC,
  • 03:30:14
    are charged by the legislature with the responsibility in making
  • 03:30:17
    this and other important decisions regarding the accessibility
  • 03:30:21
    and dependability of our electric grid. Given the regrets,
  • 03:30:25
    embarrassment and finger pointing that the public has seen regarding the
  • 03:30:28
    generator reimbursement decision, I am glad you are holding this hearing
  • 03:30:32
    here in Houston. If the first thing that you do is
  • 03:30:36
    again rule for centerpoint over ratepayers and
  • 03:30:39
    other local governments here in Greater Houston,
  • 03:30:42
    you are proving this board isnt that watchdog that we need you to be.
  • 03:30:46
    I struggle to see how, given the poor performance and absolutely
  • 03:30:50
    inexcusable communication by our for profit TDU,
  • 03:30:54
    a full discovery and rate hearing over this
  • 03:30:58
    case that could very well lower rates for ratepayers could
  • 03:31:01
    not move forward. That just isn't right.
  • 03:31:04
    Literally, that's the least this board can do.
  • 03:31:07
    The overall resiliency plan enabled by House Bill 2025 that you
  • 03:31:11
    alluded to earlier, mister chairman, is even more concerning
  • 03:31:15
    establishing a new avenue for transmission and distribution
  • 03:31:19
    utilities to increase rates by directly sending the resiliency
  • 03:31:22
    plan to the PUC for appropriately approval completely avoids the accountability
  • 03:31:26
    to consumers and to local governments. While the
  • 03:31:30
    $800 million in generator costs that I and my fellow ratepayers will be
  • 03:31:33
    on the hook for, thanks to the reversal by the earlier PUC made headlines.
  • 03:31:38
    The resiliency plans from Centerpoint are almost six times
  • 03:31:41
    that amount. The 5 billion with the b
  • 03:31:45
    is increased costs that should concern everyone, especially rate
  • 03:31:48
    payers. Given their extensive lobbying efforts to pass House
  • 03:31:52
    Bill 25 55. Why would Centerpoint put all of that effort
  • 03:31:55
    into avoiding the transparency and accountability that comes
  • 03:31:59
    with a traditional rate hearing? Well, maybe they don't want
  • 03:32:02
    to answer resiliency questions. According to an August 25
  • 03:32:05
    article in Texas monthly, after attending a centerpoint hosted open
  • 03:32:09
    house at the city of Houston's West Gray Multi service center,
  • 03:32:12
    Centerpoint CEO Jason Wells said, several of the ideas they brought up
  • 03:32:16
    were things we advocated for when we testified at the Texas house. But there
  • 03:32:19
    were also other ideas, such as neighborhood cooling centers that I
  • 03:32:23
    hadn't heard before. He hadn't heard of
  • 03:32:27
    neighborhood cooling centers. Maybe it's because I worked for Mayor
  • 03:32:30
    Turner, who has been dealing with electric issues since deregulation
  • 03:32:33
    happened. But neighborhood cooling centers have been part of local
  • 03:32:36
    government's response to extreme weather events and now power outages
  • 03:32:41
    since at least the early two thousands when I worked for Bill White.
  • 03:32:45
    So you're telling me the same company that bungled barrel right
  • 03:32:48
    after they snuck 800 million for largely unused generators
  • 03:32:52
    added to my bill now gets to write a $5
  • 03:32:55
    billion resiliency plan and the CEO didn't know about neighborhood
  • 03:32:59
    cooling centers. I do not envy the heavy responsibility
  • 03:33:03
    that your body has in this mission. There are not
  • 03:33:07
    easy answers to difficult questions. But I cannot sit back and watch the same
  • 03:33:11
    company that worked the legislature so hard last session
  • 03:33:15
    to limit their own accountability and submit a $5 billion
  • 03:33:18
    plan to a body that just reversed a decision on that $800 million
  • 03:33:22
    in generators and then pretend it's all going to just turn out okay.
  • 03:33:27
    At a minimum, any resiliency plan submitted by Centerpoint
  • 03:33:30
    should have multiple hearings at the local level before $1
  • 03:33:34
    of ratepayer money is raised. Local governments like the
  • 03:33:38
    city of Houston and smaller municipalities should be at the table
  • 03:33:41
    and leading those discussions about how and where those investments are made.
  • 03:33:45
    A local vote of approval, again, for this $5
  • 03:33:49
    billion plan should accompany a submission
  • 03:33:52
    to the PUC because here's the truth of the matter, when the
  • 03:33:56
    power goes out, it's the locals that have to respond,
  • 03:34:00
    whether it's a senior center, an apartment complex,
  • 03:34:03
    or overall public safety. To quote Mayor John Whitmeyer,
  • 03:34:07
    everything we do depends on electricity and only
  • 03:34:11
    local governments. Those first responders, police,
  • 03:34:14
    fire, health department, have the direct experience of where
  • 03:34:18
    that help is needed. This knowledge and experience at the local
  • 03:34:22
    level is juxtaposed with the failure to communicate,
  • 03:34:25
    indicative of a company that's looking to better serve the themselves than the
  • 03:34:29
    public. I urge the PUC to consider these actions,
  • 03:34:33
    both allowing the rate hearing to move forward and requiring
  • 03:34:36
    local government approval for any resiliency plan submissions as
  • 03:34:40
    actions that show this body has learned from past failures.
  • 03:34:44
    Greater accountability, local responsibility and
  • 03:34:48
    full transparency in decision making would be one of the few good results
  • 03:34:52
    of Hurricane barrel. Without reform, the status quo
  • 03:34:55
    will undoubtedly produce the same results based on how this
  • 03:34:59
    investor owned utility has operated. Thank you.
  • 03:35:03
    Thank you for being here.
  • 03:35:10
    I'll call a few names again just to make sure folks heard them.
  • 03:35:13
    Blanca Guzman Michael Adico and Maria
  • 03:35:17
    Silva Julio
  • 03:35:24
    McCall. Farrow Woods Veronica Pina
  • 03:35:28
    and Diane Reese my
  • 03:35:55
    name is Diane Reese and I'm a small business owner.
  • 03:35:59
    I do HR consulting or human resources consulting and so
  • 03:36:04
    one of the things I actually advise organizations on is performance
  • 03:36:08
    measures. Every business
  • 03:36:11
    or organization ultimately knows that its ultimate job is to deliver on
  • 03:36:15
    its mission and goals or its
  • 03:36:19
    business objectives. And what I'm here to
  • 03:36:23
    suggest is neither the PUC nor Centerpoint are
  • 03:36:27
    meeting their organizational objectives.
  • 03:36:31
    As a personal story, our household chose after winter
  • 03:36:35
    storm URI to invest in an auxiliary generator.
  • 03:36:39
    My husband has a health that is threatening in extreme
  • 03:36:43
    weather that decision is also driven by
  • 03:36:48
    that I cannot operate my business without power.
  • 03:36:53
    So our soap,
  • 03:37:06
    so called business, this economic miracle here in Texas is
  • 03:37:10
    driven by electricity. As a result
  • 03:37:14
    of that decision, we now have an additional $65
  • 03:37:17
    a month in operating costs. Following the
  • 03:37:21
    storms of this year. We opened our home because of our
  • 03:37:25
    ability to pay for those additional operating costs
  • 03:37:29
    to community members who did not have the means to add that cost
  • 03:37:33
    to their operating plans and needed their physical health needs met.
  • 03:37:39
    And for me, that is what you and Centerpoint forget.
  • 03:37:42
    You talk about ensuring competition choice reliable
  • 03:37:46
    electric services for Texans. Your metrics focus on
  • 03:37:50
    competitive rates, but you fail to account for the additional cost burden
  • 03:37:55
    not reflected in a utility bill and
  • 03:38:00
    that also indicate the center point is not doing their job.
  • 03:38:05
    I hear story after story of friends adding power to their
  • 03:38:08
    homes or auxiliary power to their homes.
  • 03:38:12
    They now have additional cost to their operating budgets.
  • 03:38:16
    Once again, the burden is placed on consumers and the public for
  • 03:38:20
    Centerpoint's lack of preparation. For years you
  • 03:38:26
    are charged with the mission of ensuring competitive rates.
  • 03:38:30
    Centerpoint talks about their rate of return,
  • 03:38:36
    but no one is talking about the additional cost burdens
  • 03:38:39
    that is shifted to the consumers.
  • 03:38:44
    Debt is not reflected in electricity bills or whether or
  • 03:38:48
    not we've got effective rates. As Hurricane
  • 03:38:51
    Helene's catastrophic destruction unfolds and
  • 03:38:55
    we see the power of these
  • 03:38:59
    intense storms,
  • 03:39:03
    it should be a warning to all Texans. We know hurricanes
  • 03:39:07
    and we understand their intensity, but in the last three
  • 03:39:11
    years now, not just barrel,
  • 03:39:14
    Centerpoint's performance clearly demonstrates we are not prepared.
  • 03:39:20
    We can learn from past mistakes and investments, but your
  • 03:39:24
    investigation must also shift to focus on how much all of us
  • 03:39:29
    have as a burden from this utility and
  • 03:39:34
    make sure that the public is better prepared.
  • 03:39:37
    Thank you. Thank you ma'am.
  • 03:39:42
    Good afternoon. My name is Fred Woods. I am a
  • 03:39:45
    community leader and activist in northeast Houston. I'm also the president of
  • 03:39:49
    Northwood Manor Civic Club. Northwood Manor subdivision is
  • 03:39:53
    comprised was established in 1959 and is
  • 03:39:56
    comprised of approximately 2000 homes or
  • 03:39:59
    lots. It's located in east Little York homestead
  • 03:40:03
    super neighborhood within the northeast Houston.
  • 03:40:06
    Northeast Houstone encompasses the least resilient
  • 03:40:10
    communities in all of Houston. We continue to be
  • 03:40:14
    the worst impacted by named and unnamed storms
  • 03:40:18
    alike. Many haven't fully recovered from Hurricane
  • 03:40:21
    Harvey and the storms have not ceased nor have any two storms
  • 03:40:25
    affected us in the same way. The effects have
  • 03:40:30
    been made worse by the lack of any of the nearly 2 billion in federal
  • 03:40:33
    Harvey Aidan to address these issues before there ever was
  • 03:40:37
    a hurricane burrow. Regarding Hurricane burrow,
  • 03:40:40
    we were without power on average for over a week, which was similar
  • 03:40:45
    during Harvey. However, instead of flooding, this was
  • 03:40:48
    largely due to downed trees.
  • 03:40:51
    A lot of the blame has fallen on Centerpoint.
  • 03:40:54
    There are more factors than any one entity can
  • 03:40:58
    account for or predict for the effects of a
  • 03:41:01
    storm. There was a lack of coordinated emergency
  • 03:41:05
    preparedness, response, relief and
  • 03:41:09
    recovery between our governmental entities.
  • 03:41:12
    But this isn't a time for pointing fingers.
  • 03:41:15
    It's a time to come together, listen and learn
  • 03:41:19
    what's missing, what didn't go as planned, and what can be done
  • 03:41:22
    differently. To be in a better position for next time,
  • 03:41:26
    we need more accurate communication pertaining to power restoration.
  • 03:41:31
    We need a better ongoing dialogue with various communities to
  • 03:41:35
    identify and address issues, to improve relationships,
  • 03:41:39
    and to ensure we don't continue down the same path.
  • 03:41:42
    We need additional legislation to improve vegetation
  • 03:41:46
    management. Simply trimming around the lines is ineffective
  • 03:41:50
    and causes significant risk to communities in other ways
  • 03:41:54
    that resulted in blocked streets and do not prevent impact
  • 03:41:59
    or downlines from high winds.
  • 03:42:02
    Centerpoint has outlined a number of improvements from
  • 03:42:07
    more robust poles that can withstand higher wind speed
  • 03:42:10
    to trip savers that would not require a person to physically be
  • 03:42:14
    on site to reconnect the power. We are
  • 03:42:17
    still missing the data that clearly outlines what the impact
  • 03:42:21
    would have been if these improvements were in place beforehand.
  • 03:42:27
    How many would have retained power simply, it is also
  • 03:42:31
    not clear if my community's experience and loss of power or
  • 03:42:35
    timing for restoration was similar to other communities.
  • 03:42:38
    Are we being treated fairly when the lights go out?
  • 03:42:42
    Where is the priority for areas that are affected more often
  • 03:42:45
    or worse when these improvements are rolled out?
  • 03:42:50
    Ten senior citizens from my community and I took the initiative to attend
  • 03:42:53
    a centerpoint open house and were granted an opportunity
  • 03:42:57
    to have a dialogue with Jason, Mister Wells and
  • 03:43:00
    other Centerpoint employees. They appeared empathetic
  • 03:43:03
    and apologetic. They realized that they could do
  • 03:43:07
    better. There has been an ongoing dialogue between
  • 03:43:10
    us since that time and thats part of what has been missing.
  • 03:43:16
    Plan with us, not just for us.
  • 03:43:19
    Make space and accommodations for the least of these to
  • 03:43:23
    bring awareness to their lived experience through disasters and
  • 03:43:27
    address their concerns. I'm confident we can do better
  • 03:43:30
    next time if we start and continue to work together.
  • 03:43:35
    I strongly disagree with Lieutenant Governor Patrick's assessment.
  • 03:43:40
    There is blame on more than just centerpoint for people's deaths
  • 03:43:44
    due to the temperature. There were no cooling
  • 03:43:47
    centers or places of refuge set up prior to these storms,
  • 03:43:51
    which has been a norm, not an exception. It has
  • 03:43:54
    repeatedly been brought to the attention of our elected officials that backup generators
  • 03:43:58
    were needed. As we know, the power goes out for prolonged lengths of time
  • 03:44:03
    that are often unpredictable during severe storms.
  • 03:44:06
    Where is the money to invest in and
  • 03:44:10
    reinforce Houston and Harris County's resiliency?
  • 03:44:14
    Stop the blame game. Focus on the issues
  • 03:44:17
    and the corrective actions. We need
  • 03:44:21
    a robust and flexible plan that can address
  • 03:44:24
    the diverse challenges we face in the midst of a storm.
  • 03:44:29
    If not the least resilient people in Houston and Harris county
  • 03:44:33
    will continue to suffer and pay the ultimate price.
  • 03:44:37
    I thank the commission for coming to Houston. I invite
  • 03:44:40
    each of you to come out and meet the people where they're at.
  • 03:44:44
    Not everyone has the ability or the courage to speak before
  • 03:44:48
    you in this setting, whether in Austin or here. Today,
  • 03:44:51
    Mayor Whitmire, Judge Hidalgo, former at large city council
  • 03:44:54
    member Amanda Edwards and others at city hall visited my community to see the
  • 03:44:59
    devastation and desperation after barrel. I have yet to see
  • 03:45:03
    our governor or lieutenant governor visit the less affluent
  • 03:45:06
    areas of Houston before a storm, and certainly not afterwards.
  • 03:45:11
    Jason Wells will be in my community next week.
  • 03:45:14
    People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
  • 03:45:18
    I encourage you to make your decision. Be a part of
  • 03:45:22
    the solution and not a part of the problem or controversy.
  • 03:45:26
    Thank you for your time and consideration.
  • 03:45:29
    Thank you, sir.
  • 03:45:37
    Do I need to push this? Thank you.
  • 03:45:41
    My name is Veronica Pina. I have grown
  • 03:45:45
    up here in the Houston area, lived in the same
  • 03:45:49
    neighborhood, city of Houston city limits, Fort Bend county.
  • 03:45:54
    And we know growing
  • 03:45:58
    up on the Gulf coast, you know,
  • 03:46:01
    we take care of our neighborhoods, our blocks,
  • 03:46:05
    before we're going to, before we
  • 03:46:09
    get any assistance. It's going to be up to us to help
  • 03:46:13
    our own neighbors, our own streets,
  • 03:46:17
    clear trees and take care of whatever we
  • 03:46:21
    can safely. I had a
  • 03:46:24
    career personally in mechanical engineering.
  • 03:46:29
    I am now current. I stepped away from oil
  • 03:46:33
    and gas when the fracking projects
  • 03:46:37
    were just too much for me to ethically
  • 03:46:43
    continue to work with.
  • 03:46:46
    Fossil fuel and coal burning
  • 03:46:50
    power plants were just violating
  • 03:46:57
    their regulations from the EPA.
  • 03:47:00
    And so I decided to take a couple years
  • 03:47:04
    and process what was my,
  • 03:47:07
    what could I, how could I finish my career? So I
  • 03:47:12
    joined Fort Bend county environmental organization.
  • 03:47:16
    And for the last two and a half years,
  • 03:47:20
    three years, I've learned that even
  • 03:47:24
    though I grew up in Fort Bend county, the number four polluter
  • 03:47:30
    coal plant, WA Parish,
  • 03:47:33
    is in our county.
  • 03:47:36
    178 deaths are attributed to that pollution
  • 03:47:40
    from that per year to that plant.
  • 03:47:45
    And as we know, it's not just air quality that is
  • 03:47:49
    affected, it's the lake that
  • 03:47:52
    those coal that, that wa parish sits on.
  • 03:47:57
    And it's not. It's something
  • 03:48:01
    that is hidden. But the profits are there, that NRG
  • 03:48:06
    profits for example, in,
  • 03:48:09
    during winter Storm Yuri, people were
  • 03:48:13
    dying. And NRG had every
  • 03:48:17
    building in downtown Houston on.
  • 03:48:23
    It was obviously the investment of showing
  • 03:48:27
    the investors that they
  • 03:48:30
    could still charge
  • 03:48:35
    and create product.
  • 03:48:39
    But meanwhile people were dying.
  • 03:48:44
    These are the things that we can now expose and educate
  • 03:48:48
    the public. The public is not taking
  • 03:48:52
    just random, well, we're working on this or we're
  • 03:48:56
    assessing these projects.
  • 03:49:00
    We're going to make changes to our local governments,
  • 03:49:03
    to our county government and municipalities.
  • 03:49:10
    People are uniting and asking us to help them
  • 03:49:13
    organize. And that's our goal
  • 03:49:17
    at the end of the day is to raise the people's voice.
  • 03:49:22
    Public utilities, ERCOT,
  • 03:49:26
    NRG are all about
  • 03:49:30
    allowing violations and
  • 03:49:34
    then fines being pennies on the dollar to
  • 03:49:39
    people like that are making $500 billion in profits.
  • 03:49:46
    Electric companies are allowed to because
  • 03:49:50
    the fines are so small.
  • 03:49:53
    They don't mind being written up or
  • 03:49:56
    even writing a letter during barrel
  • 03:50:02
    that they were going to directly
  • 03:50:06
    to the Department of Energy that they planned to burn
  • 03:50:10
    off just because
  • 03:50:14
    they had the opportunity to continue
  • 03:50:18
    to keep their machines running. It's all
  • 03:50:21
    about profit over people. And the people are tired of it.
  • 03:50:25
    Your agencies and your appointments by the governor
  • 03:50:30
    are not impressing the people. And it's nothing
  • 03:50:34
    personal against any of you.
  • 03:50:37
    But things are changing. And the voice of the
  • 03:50:41
    people, we're all standing up
  • 03:50:44
    now. We take care of ourselves
  • 03:50:48
    because like Whitmire made it worse. I mean,
  • 03:50:52
    at least with the previous mayor, we prepared before,
  • 03:50:57
    like all of these agencies that we trust to
  • 03:51:02
    protect us or help think about
  • 03:51:05
    being prepared for storms. That's all we're trying to
  • 03:51:09
    ask for today. Stop putting profit over people and
  • 03:51:13
    allowing these electric companies to
  • 03:51:18
    just keep doing the same thing that they've been doing.
  • 03:51:21
    And you know,
  • 03:51:26
    that's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you for being here for
  • 03:51:35
    our Jeremy Guerra, Hailey Schultz,
  • 03:51:38
    Don Conger and Felix Cisneros.
  • 03:51:57
    Guess I'll go.
  • 03:52:00
    It should be on. It'll go on. It should be on when you speak into
  • 03:52:04
    it, really. Oh, sorry about that. Good afternoon,
  • 03:52:08
    y'all. Thank you so much for coming to Houston
  • 03:52:11
    to hear from the community members. Sorry we lost about half the
  • 03:52:15
    room, but thank you for adjusting the schedule
  • 03:52:18
    to prioritize the communities.
  • 03:52:21
    My name is Haley Schultz and I am a Houston organizer with public
  • 03:52:25
    citizen. And I am a resident in Fort Bend county, just southwest
  • 03:52:29
    of Harris county. I'm not going to walk through my personal
  • 03:52:33
    story with Beryl. Me losing power,
  • 03:52:36
    hosting family and friends for a week,
  • 03:52:40
    losing childcare for a week, losing mature trees and
  • 03:52:44
    referring to the Whataburger app to look at outages
  • 03:52:47
    across the city. But I will provide some insight
  • 03:52:51
    to my mental state after the continuous
  • 03:52:55
    storms that barrage the Texas coast.
  • 03:52:59
    As a texan born and raised on the coast, I am weary,
  • 03:53:03
    I'm tired, I'm disappointed and I'm disgusted.
  • 03:53:08
    As Texans living on the coast, we know and expect hurricane
  • 03:53:12
    seasons are going to be anywhere from like a light storm
  • 03:53:16
    to catastrophic.
  • 03:53:19
    But as mentioned earlier, they are getting stronger and more frequent,
  • 03:53:23
    and it is unforgivable that this is the best Texas has to
  • 03:53:27
    offer in resiliency. I've heard stories
  • 03:53:30
    from friends in Brazoria, Harris, Fort Bend county,
  • 03:53:33
    you know, Liberty counties where FEMA assistance was denied,
  • 03:53:38
    power didn't return for over ten days or people needing
  • 03:53:42
    not just the power, but clean food and clean water. The stories
  • 03:53:46
    that I heard sound like they come from a third world country
  • 03:53:51
    and yet Houston is the energy capital of the world. But Centerpoint
  • 03:53:55
    didn't have the foresight to protect that energy,
  • 03:53:58
    to protect their customers and ultimately protect
  • 03:54:01
    our lives. And no, their idea of being
  • 03:54:05
    proactive was an $800 million lease of useless generators
  • 03:54:09
    that weren't even mobile.
  • 03:54:12
    When we're addressing what the PUC can do for Texans to prevent
  • 03:54:16
    this from happening again, because barrel and worse will happen again,
  • 03:54:20
    we can look at some of your current limitations.
  • 03:54:24
    The PUC currently lacks authority to make sure local utilities are maintaining
  • 03:54:28
    their electric infrastructure. HB 25 55
  • 03:54:32
    allows local transmission and distribution utilities to file
  • 03:54:36
    a resiliency plan with the PUC, which you review and
  • 03:54:40
    authorize cost recovery of reasonable investments in resilience,
  • 03:54:44
    but it doesn't guarantee every local utility will make that investment.
  • 03:54:48
    The PUC also lacks authority to conduct local inspections,
  • 03:54:52
    as highlighted by the House select committee on the panhandle wildfires.
  • 03:54:56
    In that report back from February earlier this year, that committee
  • 03:54:59
    requested that the PUC consider if they had authority to make sure
  • 03:55:03
    local utilities are maintaining their poles and wires. With that being
  • 03:55:07
    said, the PUC should also review whether it has the authority to
  • 03:55:11
    make sure local authorities take steps to ensure resilience of their electric infrastructure
  • 03:55:15
    for severe storms and hurricanes as well. Both of
  • 03:55:19
    those reviews of agency authority should be done in time to make
  • 03:55:22
    actionable recommendations for the upcoming 89th legislature.
  • 03:55:27
    Also, the Texas Energy Fund has funds available for backup
  • 03:55:31
    power for nursing homes, schools and hospitals. The PUC has
  • 03:55:35
    not set up the rules for those monies yet, so another demand
  • 03:55:38
    would be to start the rules making for that money that's already been
  • 03:55:42
    approved and would directly benefit at risk communities.
  • 03:55:45
    Thank you so much for your time today. And again, thank you for coming to
  • 03:55:48
    Houston. Thank you for being here.
  • 03:55:52
    Can you hear me? Do I have to? It's on.
  • 03:55:55
    Speak up, please. Okay, so my name is Carmen Cavezza,
  • 03:55:59
    and can I. You guys not hear me more?
  • 03:56:04
    Speak up. Okay. Can you guys hear me? Yes.
  • 03:56:07
    Okay, thank you. First,
  • 03:56:11
    I want to recognize all the people that left. We have over 35
  • 03:56:15
    people who were not able to wait any longer. So I really
  • 03:56:18
    appreciate that you guys move up the agenda, but I also want to
  • 03:56:23
    make an observation that you guys put the
  • 03:56:26
    senator, the lieutenant, and all these important people
  • 03:56:29
    first. We were put at the end
  • 03:56:33
    of the agenda. And I think at one point you guys have to recognize
  • 03:56:37
    that and see that we can put a senator and then a
  • 03:56:40
    couple of community members, and then another senator,
  • 03:56:43
    lieutenant, and then a couple of community members because we
  • 03:56:46
    are impacted the most. And so I'm not
  • 03:56:49
    gonna tell all their stories. It's not for me to share their stories.
  • 03:56:53
    But some of those stories are heartbreaking because my organization,
  • 03:56:57
    the community, the Coalition for Environment, Equity and
  • 03:57:00
    Resilience, is one of the first ones helping the northeast Houston.
  • 03:57:05
    So those stories are really powerful, and I don't feel like
  • 03:57:08
    sharing those with you because they prepare for days when
  • 03:57:12
    we find out that you guys were coming. They want you
  • 03:57:15
    to know their personal stories. But I will tell you how it
  • 03:57:18
    was affected. First, I thought that I would be one
  • 03:57:22
    day without electricity. And to me,
  • 03:57:25
    I'm one of those that Senator Muller referred to that I have a well.
  • 03:57:29
    So for me, having no electricity is having no water. So when
  • 03:57:32
    I find out that I will be without electricity and water for three
  • 03:57:36
    weeks, and that was the estimate time that they gave
  • 03:57:39
    me, we invest in a generator, but we didn't have the money
  • 03:57:43
    to buy a big generator that we can power both.
  • 03:57:46
    So we have to be kind of switching back and forth into having water.
  • 03:57:49
    Water or having electricity. And that's very difficult.
  • 03:57:53
    And, you know, for me, that's kind of personal, that I was
  • 03:57:56
    able to buy a generator, but not all the people that I
  • 03:58:00
    work with are able to buy a generator. We still help in one
  • 03:58:03
    residence that the refrigerator got busted with these
  • 03:58:07
    power outages. And right now, still,
  • 03:58:10
    how many weeks, how many months after this, he still doesn't have
  • 03:58:13
    a refrigerator. They're relying on ice, putting an ice
  • 03:58:17
    chest and bringing ice every day. So the people that we
  • 03:58:21
    work with are the most vulnerable in the northeast,
  • 03:58:24
    and those are the ones that they need more assistance.
  • 03:58:27
    So they told me what they would like to see from PUC and
  • 03:58:31
    through you to put some regulation for Centerpoint,
  • 03:58:35
    they want PUC forces Centerpoint to roll back their
  • 03:58:39
    utility rate hike or offer customers a discounted
  • 03:58:43
    rate where they prove the reliability.
  • 03:58:48
    So for them, the way they explain to us is like,
  • 03:58:52
    why they want to increase the rate when they're not reliable.
  • 03:58:56
    How about if they put that rate on the side right now till
  • 03:59:00
    they prove us that they're going to be able to keep our lights on?
  • 03:59:03
    So that's one of the things that was very important for them.
  • 03:59:07
    They want them to place a moratorium, all scheduled
  • 03:59:11
    rate increases or discussions.
  • 03:59:15
    These people live day by day. They don't have a
  • 03:59:18
    lot of savings. So for them, an increase for
  • 03:59:22
    other people would be okay. For them, it's really choosing from
  • 03:59:25
    buying more medication or paying something for the kids or
  • 03:59:29
    paying electricity. And they also would like
  • 03:59:33
    to puccinous pull back the contract and any rate of
  • 03:59:36
    return for the 800 million for the
  • 03:59:40
    generator. So they want center point.
  • 03:59:44
    They want Centerpoint to understand that this was a waste of
  • 03:59:47
    money and they don't want to pay for that. And the
  • 03:59:51
    last thing that they told me is PUC should allow
  • 03:59:55
    for direct community involvement in the oversight of center point,
  • 03:59:59
    not just community feedback. So they will really be at
  • 04:00:03
    the table with you guys in regulating.
  • 04:00:07
    And that was very important. They are really willing to learn and
  • 04:00:11
    to pay attention and to participate in the same table that you guys
  • 04:00:15
    are. Because before Yuri, they don't even
  • 04:00:19
    know that you guys existed. So it's been up to us
  • 04:00:22
    to educate. Who is busy? Who is this other ERCOT? Who is
  • 04:00:26
    responsible for these outages?
  • 04:00:29
    So I would really like you to consider that and put a community
  • 04:00:32
    advisory board as part of these kind of regulations that
  • 04:00:36
    it will be very beneficial to hear directly from them what is needed.
  • 04:00:40
    Thank you. Thank you. Ma'am,
  • 04:00:50
    can you hear me? Yes. All right. Good afternoon.
  • 04:00:53
    My name is Danny Asbury. L so,
  • 04:00:57
    to the Houston community, esteemed members of the Public Utility Commission,
  • 04:01:01
    senators, councilmen, and representative of the governor's office,
  • 04:01:05
    I'm Danasbury L. Representing Solel International
  • 04:01:08
    found@solelint.org.
  • 04:01:12
    and I'm here to present a groundbreaking grassroots
  • 04:01:16
    disaster preparedness plan for Houston and Harris county.
  • 04:01:20
    I'll open up the military model quote that
  • 04:01:24
    says, take initiative and execute.
  • 04:01:28
    As a veteran of the US Navy, I've had the unique experience
  • 04:01:32
    of ensuring the safety and resiliency of entire
  • 04:01:35
    naval ships, essentially floating cities.
  • 04:01:39
    The background, well, this background has given me invaluable
  • 04:01:43
    insights on comprehensive of disaster preparedness and
  • 04:01:46
    response strategies which I've applied to our
  • 04:01:50
    plan for Houston. First, I want to acknowledge.
  • 04:01:54
    While Centerpoint Energy's initial response to public concerns weren't
  • 04:01:58
    ideal, they have since demonstrated a willingness
  • 04:02:02
    to listen to grassroots organizations like ours.
  • 04:02:07
    We were surprised that they reached out to us,
  • 04:02:10
    showing a commitment to improving our community's resilience.
  • 04:02:14
    This is an unprecedented step in
  • 04:02:17
    an opportunity for Centerpoint to set the pace for others in the road
  • 04:02:21
    to redemption.
  • 04:02:24
    They've even been listening to us and have been mobilizing the
  • 04:02:28
    Northwood manor area. As I stated
  • 04:02:32
    on the record at the city of Houston City Council's
  • 04:02:36
    meeting in July, Centerpoint is the first
  • 04:02:40
    utility of its kind to take such a collaborative approach.
  • 04:02:45
    However, it's important to note that the challenges we face
  • 04:02:48
    during disasters aren't solely the responsibility of
  • 04:02:52
    Centerpoint. Various communications companies and politics
  • 04:02:56
    also played a crucial role in our community's resilience and
  • 04:03:00
    response capabilities at that time.
  • 04:03:03
    We need a coordinated effort from all stakeholders to truly
  • 04:03:07
    make a difference, much like how different
  • 04:03:10
    departments on naval ships work in harmony to ensure overall
  • 04:03:14
    safety. Our twelve step
  • 04:03:18
    plan is a comprehensive, innovative and community focused
  • 04:03:22
    plan drawing parallels to the multifaceted approach that we
  • 04:03:25
    use in the military. Let me highlight some of the
  • 04:03:29
    key components.
  • 04:03:33
    We're starting a scalable pilot program in Northwood Manor,
  • 04:03:36
    an area that has historically been hit by disasters.
  • 04:03:39
    This targeted approach is similar to how we test new systems
  • 04:03:44
    on naval ships, and it will allow us to refine our strategies
  • 04:03:47
    before broader implementation.
  • 04:03:51
    We're also introducing an augmented reality disaster preparedness
  • 04:03:54
    system and self reporting apps that can identify almost
  • 04:03:58
    areas of disaster happenings. This system will provide real time
  • 04:04:02
    storm tracking,
  • 04:04:05
    innovative evacuation routes, and post storm recovery
  • 04:04:09
    resources. We're proposing community power stations,
  • 04:04:13
    decentralized renewable energy facilities integrated
  • 04:04:17
    with smart grid technologies almost like many
  • 04:04:21
    microgrids. This mirror, but this mirrors the
  • 04:04:25
    redundant power systems that we use on ships
  • 04:04:29
    to ensure continuous operations even in crisis situations.
  • 04:04:34
    Our NASA inspired community resource hubs are akin to various specialized
  • 04:04:39
    compartments, and we've included
  • 04:04:42
    urban forestry and food security initiatives ensuring
  • 04:04:48
    local resilience and resource availability.
  • 04:04:51
    Our comprehensive education and outreach program,
  • 04:04:54
    including the Community corresponding program, is inspired
  • 04:04:58
    by rigorous training and clear
  • 04:05:01
    chain of communication we maintain in the military.
  • 04:05:06
    The digital Resiliency network parallels
  • 04:05:10
    advanced communication systems that keep communities connected
  • 04:05:14
    and informed, and this plan represents an opportunity
  • 04:05:18
    for Houston to become a national leader in urban resilience and
  • 04:05:22
    disaster preparedness, much like how our naval ships set the standard
  • 04:05:25
    for maritime safety and operational readiness,
  • 04:05:31
    the will to relieve the paradox of Houston
  • 04:05:34
    being the energy capital of the world but the least resilient
  • 04:05:38
    rests in our hands by working together I
  • 04:05:42
    invite you,
  • 04:05:43
    Puchenne, any other utility
  • 04:05:46
    company, communication companies like at and
  • 04:05:50
    T Comcast, all of those people and
  • 04:05:53
    citizens, we can create a more resilient, prepared and
  • 04:05:57
    connected Houston. This collaborative approach,
  • 04:06:01
    which I've been working so, which I
  • 04:06:06
    have seen work effectively in the military operations,
  • 04:06:10
    is crucial for success. Currently,
  • 04:06:14
    Centerpoint has committed to breaking corporate tradition
  • 04:06:18
    and are in discussions in putting power back into the hands of the
  • 04:06:22
    people by deputizing the people and setting
  • 04:06:25
    a low standard for how neighborhoods, I'm sorry. And setting
  • 04:06:29
    a new standard for how neighborhoods prepare and
  • 04:06:33
    respond to disasters.
  • 04:06:36
    Centerpoint and other companies involved
  • 04:06:40
    understand that they have a unique opportunity to lead this charge,
  • 04:06:43
    transforming their public image and truly serving the Houston
  • 04:06:47
    community. At this point, the blame is over,
  • 04:06:51
    and now it's time to mitigate and solve the problem.
  • 04:06:54
    I'm used to solving problems.
  • 04:06:58
    I know what it's like to be in the situation. I'm a Houstonian, too.
  • 04:07:01
    I've been in this situation. However,
  • 04:07:04
    during this time, when I've seen people on the news fight with each other day
  • 04:07:08
    in and day out, our organization came up
  • 04:07:11
    with a plan. We have people on our staff that are currently working
  • 04:07:14
    at NASA. We have people who are veterans. We have people
  • 04:07:18
    who understand horticulture. We have people who understand fabrication,
  • 04:07:22
    physics, all of that.
  • 04:07:25
    And so at this point, why do we ask for PUC's
  • 04:07:29
    help in legislature? These are some of the things
  • 04:07:32
    that Centerpoint cannot do. They can't make major
  • 04:07:37
    infrastructure decisions or investments without regulatory
  • 04:07:40
    approval. But also, this is the thing that got me.
  • 04:07:44
    They can't create long term plans, such as a 20
  • 04:07:48
    year resilience plan, without involving the
  • 04:07:53
    public Utility Commission and other stakeholders.
  • 04:07:57
    So I know some people have been calling for,
  • 04:07:59
    I've heard some people calling for the dismissal of
  • 04:08:03
    Centerpoint's CEO. But instead of doing that,
  • 04:08:07
    we should consider that this is an experience that can be transformed
  • 04:08:11
    into an opportunity for improvement. I encourage our leaders to
  • 04:08:16
    engage more openly with the community, as you have started
  • 04:08:20
    in this process, to listen to our concerns and
  • 04:08:23
    to implement changes. And I stress, implement changes
  • 04:08:27
    that will enhance our response in future crisis. By allowing
  • 04:08:31
    our leaders to grow from this experience, we can build a
  • 04:08:36
    stronger, more resilient organization that
  • 04:08:40
    prioritizes the needs of its customer. In this case,
  • 04:08:44
    iron sharpens iron. So I like to say thank
  • 04:08:47
    you for your time and consideration. I'm happy to answer any questions you may
  • 04:08:51
    have about our proposal, drawing from both my military
  • 04:08:55
    experience and our comprehensive planning for Houston's
  • 04:08:59
    future resilience. Thank you for being here, and thank you
  • 04:09:02
    for your naval service to our country.
  • 04:09:07
    Thank you. Each.
  • 04:09:15
    The next four are Jerry Strickland, Sammy Beg,
  • 04:09:19
    Julie Muscarelli and Maria. Welcome.
  • 04:09:41
    Alright. My name is Jerry Strickland. I'm a waterboard director up in the spring
  • 04:09:45
    area 77388. Been a director for 41
  • 04:09:48
    years. I'm 82 years old. That just
  • 04:09:53
    lets you know that when you get to be 82 and you have to get
  • 04:09:56
    up at 10:00 at night and go out and pour gasoline in the generator
  • 04:10:01
    so it'll run till the next morning to 09:00 and you do it about four
  • 04:10:04
    times a day and the damn generator would have weighs 100 and some pounds
  • 04:10:08
    and the gasoline weighs 45 or 50. It's tough on us.
  • 04:10:12
    You've already heard all those stories. You know what's happening. You know what
  • 04:10:15
    happened. The problem is how we gonna fix this.
  • 04:10:20
    It's pretty obvious that centerpoint made a bad decision somewhere along not
  • 04:10:24
    to trim the trees on a routine basis.
  • 04:10:27
    And now 75 or 80% of the barrel was vegetation
  • 04:10:32
    related outages. They made a bad decision.
  • 04:10:37
    I don't think you should be overhauling our
  • 04:10:41
    system because somebody made a dumbass decision
  • 04:10:44
    down the line somewhere that cost these guys a lot of money.
  • 04:10:48
    And believe me, I don't have any love lost for Centerpoint.
  • 04:10:51
    At my house in right at two years,
  • 04:10:55
    we had over 150 outages. And I told
  • 04:10:58
    you you about it. Several complaints were written
  • 04:11:02
    to you guys about that. What we got back was
  • 04:11:05
    an email saying, well, it's been forwarded. It was forwarded to Centerpoint and
  • 04:11:09
    somebody may or may not call us on it. Your system there
  • 04:11:13
    failed you. The outages were there,
  • 04:11:16
    you knew about it and you didn't do anything about it.
  • 04:11:20
    You got to do better on that, guys. You're our watchdog
  • 04:11:24
    supposedly. We tell you guys, we're just
  • 04:11:28
    innocent citizens out here. We don't have the horsepower that these
  • 04:11:32
    guys sit in Centerpoint. We don't contribute $400,000
  • 04:11:36
    to your campaigns. You know, we didn't pick you out of the air.
  • 04:11:40
    You got to help us out. We're the people getting messed over here.
  • 04:11:45
    I'll get off into the boonies there.
  • 04:11:49
    Please overhaul your system so that when somebody sends
  • 04:11:53
    something into you, it gets one of you guys attention.
  • 04:11:57
    Especially when you get 1400 of them or 2000 of
  • 04:12:00
    them. You gotta listen better. To what?
  • 04:12:03
    If you're gonna be our watchdog, be our watchdog. Don't sleep,
  • 04:12:07
    okay? All right.
  • 04:12:13
    As a waterboard director, our reliability with Centerpoint
  • 04:12:17
    has been worse than some fourth world country we've
  • 04:12:21
    had to spend over a million dollars putting generators on everything we have.
  • 04:12:25
    Fortunately, we have two water plants. We have generators on each one of
  • 04:12:29
    those. We have a generator on the sewer plant. We have a generator on our
  • 04:12:32
    offices. We have a generator on the rec facilities that we have there.
  • 04:12:35
    We have two portable generators we drag around the lift stations. If you know
  • 04:12:39
    what a lift station is in a sewer system, it's gravity fed,
  • 04:12:42
    it's off our, it doesn't have any power. We put plugs on it so we
  • 04:12:46
    can plug a generator on it, pump that lift station down. We kept water
  • 04:12:50
    and sewer going and we'll keep doing that. It cost us 140
  • 04:12:54
    something thousand dollars to pick up barrel debris,
  • 04:12:57
    trees and stuff. We took that. That's not
  • 04:13:01
    the. That's not some neighbor's problem. County was going to take months
  • 04:13:04
    to get there.
  • 04:13:09
    You guys need to do a better job helping us. That's all I'm asking you
  • 04:13:12
    to do. Do it. Listen to what we're.
  • 04:13:15
    There's a lot of stories. You're going to hear the story over and over.
  • 04:13:17
    They already heard them all. Hell, we've heard them. All right. So thanks anyway.
  • 04:13:20
    Appreciate it. Thank you, sir.
  • 04:13:26
    Good afternoon and thank you for
  • 04:13:29
    being here. My name is Sami Beg. I'm a student at Rice University and
  • 04:13:32
    an intern with environment Texas. I'm a lifelong resident of Houston,
  • 04:13:36
    and I've experienced many blackouts recently.
  • 04:13:39
    During Hurricane barrel, our power went in and out,
  • 04:13:43
    and I was very lucky to have a backup power at my
  • 04:13:46
    home. But seeing my sister scramble to take care of my
  • 04:13:50
    niece in the aftermath of the hurricane has given me insight into the impacts that
  • 04:13:54
    repeated power outages can have.
  • 04:13:57
    My sister's in laws also had the roof burst open when
  • 04:14:01
    a tree fell on it. And on top of that, she's nursing, so all the
  • 04:14:05
    milk that she had stocked and frozen for her baby almost
  • 04:14:09
    melted and spoiled. We were very lucky
  • 04:14:12
    we had backup power and could care for her. But so many families
  • 04:14:16
    do not have that privilege. According to Texas A and M researchers,
  • 04:14:20
    an estimated 100 people died due to the extreme heat during barrel.
  • 04:14:25
    While Houston has always experienced hurricanes and flooding, scientists are
  • 04:14:29
    overwhelmingly clear that burning fossil fuels is
  • 04:14:32
    making extreme weather more frequent, more severe,
  • 04:14:35
    and more deadly and destructive. So it's critical that we
  • 04:14:39
    build an electric grid that is both more resilient
  • 04:14:42
    to extreme weather, but also one that doesn't make the problem worse by cooking
  • 04:14:46
    our climate. One way that we can achieve both of these
  • 04:14:50
    goals is through greater use of clean, distributed energy
  • 04:14:53
    resources like rooftop solar batteries.
  • 04:14:58
    Rooftop solar and batteries. While the PUC has taken some baby
  • 04:15:01
    steps in this direction. It's clear that there needs to
  • 04:15:05
    be more done. For example, last year the legislature
  • 04:15:09
    made what was called the Texas power promise a
  • 04:15:13
    part of the Texas Energy fund. The legislature appropriated 1.8
  • 04:15:17
    billion for backup power at critical infrastructure like nursing
  • 04:15:21
    homes and water treatment plants, but none of that money has been spent
  • 04:15:25
    yet. That sounds like a broken promise to me. We really
  • 04:15:29
    could have used that power during barrel power outages.
  • 04:15:33
    In addition, as part of their energy efficiency filing earlier this
  • 04:15:37
    year, Centerpoint proposed creating a pilot program to provide
  • 04:15:40
    rebates to customers to install batteries in their homes.
  • 04:15:44
    That is a great idea. This would provide backup
  • 04:15:47
    power for folks during emergency and push power onto the grid at peak
  • 04:15:51
    demand during non emergencies after barrel. You would
  • 04:15:55
    think Centerpoint would have redoubled their efforts on this front,
  • 04:15:58
    but instead they've abandoned plans for the pilot altogether.
  • 04:16:03
    Finally, the advanced distributed energy resources a
  • 04:16:07
    der pilot is allowing Texans to share electricity from
  • 04:16:11
    their home solar and battery systems to the grid
  • 04:16:15
    and get rewarded for their contribution. This additional revenue is
  • 04:16:19
    helping make the economics of home batteries more likely to pencil
  • 04:16:22
    out. We should put this program on steroids and
  • 04:16:25
    work to get to make batteries in people's
  • 04:16:29
    homes easier and more possible. Thank you.
  • 04:16:32
    Thank you. My name is Maria.
  • 04:16:36
    Welcome. I'm going to have to read
  • 04:16:39
    because I don't speak well in public.
  • 04:16:43
    Centerpoint wants to raise rates. That's why we're all
  • 04:16:46
    here. I think history is important. We've all heard how people
  • 04:16:50
    who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.
  • 04:16:53
    So to begin, the facts are Centerpoint has 2.7
  • 04:16:57
    million customers in the Houston area. That is
  • 04:17:00
    half of their national business. It is the only
  • 04:17:03
    investor owned utility company in Texas. In 2019,
  • 04:17:08
    Centerpoint bought Vectren in Indiana, Ohio for
  • 04:17:12
    $6 billion for $6 billion.
  • 04:17:17
    In 2020, investor pressure on hedge fund Elliott management
  • 04:17:21
    to increase profit led to Centerpoint deprioritizing
  • 04:17:26
    routine maintenance like tree trimming by 30%
  • 04:17:29
    sometime after that. In 2020,
  • 04:17:32
    Centerpoint's former CEO said.
  • 04:17:35
    I think the upshot is it's going to be a great outcome not
  • 04:17:39
    only for Centerpoint, but our customers and more importantly,
  • 04:17:44
    our investors, our shareholders. Also.
  • 04:17:48
    In 2020, Centerpoint's CEO took home
  • 04:17:51
    37.8 million in salary,
  • 04:17:54
    stock and other benefits, including a private jet and a driver.
  • 04:17:59
    Because at $37.8 million, you obviously can't
  • 04:18:02
    drive your own car or take a public plane.
  • 04:18:09
    His salary was about around 380 times the salary
  • 04:18:13
    of a standard Centerpoint employee salary.
  • 04:18:17
    His successor, whatever his name is, I didn't write it down
  • 04:18:21
    makes between $16 to $17 million.
  • 04:18:25
    Then in 2021, the big freeze hits, and Centerpoint
  • 04:18:29
    responded by collaborating with a convict.
  • 04:18:32
    They collaborated with a convict to spend
  • 04:18:36
    800 million on generators so big the permit
  • 04:18:40
    to move them takes five days to secure.
  • 04:18:44
    I couldn't find a figure on how much Centerpoint spends
  • 04:18:47
    on lobbyists, but I'm certain it's in the millions because they've been
  • 04:18:51
    able to pass so much self serving
  • 04:18:55
    legislation. It's hard for me to speak about
  • 04:18:58
    this subject without getting emotional. I know the majority of
  • 04:19:02
    the comments today have focused on the destruction of barrel,
  • 04:19:07
    a category one hurricane,
  • 04:19:10
    but my personal disaster began in May.
  • 04:19:14
    On May 16, the dedechoe,
  • 04:19:18
    a huge limb fell on my two
  • 04:19:21
    year old roof and rolled onto my utility room,
  • 04:19:26
    putting out my hot water heater.
  • 04:19:30
    David Tillman gave us the only notice we received. He said,
  • 04:19:34
    if you're outside, you should probably take cover now. Then the
  • 04:19:38
    lights went out. The lights stayed out for eight days.
  • 04:19:43
    I lost $300 in food. My car
  • 04:19:46
    was ruined from having to put a hundred pound Rottweiler in it
  • 04:19:50
    to cool off a few times a day and to keep me safe at night
  • 04:19:54
    as I slept in my car even though the lights
  • 04:19:58
    came back on. I haven't had hot water in the home where I
  • 04:20:01
    live since May. My son and I have
  • 04:20:08
    to shower next door at my mom's house. The stress
  • 04:20:12
    of losing my bed, bedroom and a week's worth of electricity
  • 04:20:17
    made me physically sick. I'm told the cortisol in my system
  • 04:20:21
    is too much for my kidneys, and I recently completed the third
  • 04:20:25
    round of antibiotics from recurring kidney infections.
  • 04:20:29
    I lost my $60,000 a year job.
  • 04:20:33
    I'm a paralegal by trade. I'm not stupid.
  • 04:20:37
    Along with my health insurance. I'm telling you today,
  • 04:20:41
    it's hard not to lose your mind after spending the night in
  • 04:20:44
    bent top hospital because you're too sick to work and
  • 04:20:48
    keep your health insurance. Then in July,
  • 04:20:51
    barrel hit again. My power went out,
  • 04:20:55
    but the backlash from the de retro was so strong,
  • 04:20:58
    instead of eight days, my power was only out for seven days.
  • 04:21:02
    I lost $300 in food again. I now
  • 04:21:05
    have $84 to my name. I owe about
  • 04:21:09
    $600. That has to be paid by October 15
  • 04:21:13
    or my electricity will be disconnected. My house
  • 04:21:17
    won't sell. I tried.
  • 04:21:20
    So I'm asking today for accountability.
  • 04:21:23
    Do you have hot water? Do you have a bed and the
  • 04:21:26
    bedroom you're used to? Do you have a five month
  • 04:21:30
    old hole in your roof? How much was your bonus last
  • 04:21:34
    year? Have you ever considered giving it back.
  • 04:21:39
    I read an article last night that Centerpoint has been overpaid
  • 04:21:42
    by $100 million. How dare you
  • 04:21:46
    ask for more when we haven't received adequate service since
  • 04:21:49
    2021. I personally believe personally
  • 04:21:54
    believe Centerpoint should be fired and Texas put
  • 04:21:57
    on the federal grid with federal oversight.
  • 04:22:00
    Centerpoint being in charge of both gas and electric infrastructure
  • 04:22:05
    is a monopoly.
  • 04:22:08
    I believe Centerpoint is counting on a weary public hooked
  • 04:22:12
    on Facebook and Instagram to leave them in charge so the
  • 04:22:16
    status quo will continue. And I am
  • 04:22:19
    aware of the separation of church and state.
  • 04:22:22
    But I will remind y'all, the bible says the road to hell
  • 04:22:26
    is broad and crowded. Please take the narrow
  • 04:22:30
    path of the righteous and deny centerpoint the rate increase
  • 04:22:34
    and make them repay the 800 million they stole.
  • 04:22:39
    Thank you. Thank you for sharing your story.
  • 04:22:52
    Ursula Bonilla, Maria Silva,
  • 04:22:55
    Chris Jenkins and Regina Johnson good
  • 04:23:38
    afternoon all. My name is Regina. Regina Johnson.
  • 04:23:42
    I come to you as a homeowner,
  • 04:23:48
    as a homeowners association president,
  • 04:23:53
    an active member of West street recovery of
  • 04:23:58
    NAC, and also a grandmother
  • 04:24:04
    that has brought her grandchildren here to experience.
  • 04:24:12
    One of the things that we experience in the northeast
  • 04:24:16
    is poverty filled homeowners,
  • 04:24:21
    low income once more.
  • 04:24:25
    We work every day and
  • 04:24:29
    it doesn't ever seem to be enough.
  • 04:24:33
    We come to you asking to
  • 04:24:40
    help the communities, to see
  • 04:24:45
    the areas where the needs are.
  • 04:24:48
    I wanted to give a few suggestions.
  • 04:24:53
    I have been a hub house.
  • 04:25:00
    I pretty much house a hub house. A hub house is
  • 04:25:04
    used to, and I'll give you a definition of it,
  • 04:25:07
    hub houses are an emergency refuge created by
  • 04:25:11
    neighbors to help with disaster recovery
  • 04:25:14
    and low income communities of color.
  • 04:25:19
    Mostly in northeast Houston, there are
  • 04:25:23
    stocked with supplies like medical supplies,
  • 04:25:26
    tools, generators, and some
  • 04:25:29
    have solar panels and backup batteries to operate off
  • 04:25:33
    the grid during power outages. Have you guys
  • 04:25:37
    ever considered maybe offering a plan of
  • 04:25:41
    solar batteries for those that have health
  • 04:25:45
    issues, for those that are bedridden,
  • 04:25:50
    for those that CPAP's or whatever ailments?
  • 04:25:57
    I for one, once the hurricane was
  • 04:26:03
    in our area, once the tornadoes were in our area,
  • 04:26:07
    we go into our disaster recovery.
  • 04:26:12
    We go into disaster mode.
  • 04:26:16
    We're there. We're the front lines of the community. We are
  • 04:26:20
    the ones that are going out and making sure that
  • 04:26:24
    every one of my 240 plus homeowners
  • 04:26:28
    have what's needed. Maybe they do not
  • 04:26:32
    have electricity, but if I can supply them with a relief,
  • 04:26:36
    if I can supply them with those solar batteries to assist them
  • 04:26:40
    during the needs, I have
  • 04:26:44
    that opportunity. I'm asking you to go into the communities
  • 04:26:48
    to seek, listen to what their responses
  • 04:26:52
    are. Yes, you're going to probably hear a lot of things, good and bad,
  • 04:26:55
    but if you have a way of listening
  • 04:27:02
    and assisting them,
  • 04:27:06
    that matters. So I come
  • 04:27:10
    to you as this grandmother that's speaking
  • 04:27:14
    in front of this committee for
  • 04:27:18
    my grandchildren that are the future that will one day take over
  • 04:27:22
    my home and that hub house,
  • 04:27:25
    that you help the community,
  • 04:27:30
    help them, listen to them,
  • 04:27:33
    and support them. Every penny matters.
  • 04:27:38
    In a low income area. When the cost
  • 04:27:42
    of milk and bread goes up,
  • 04:27:45
    the cost of electricity,
  • 04:27:48
    I'll just tell you. For instance, my electricity bill was 125
  • 04:27:52
    January 2024. It's now $390.
  • 04:27:59
    So what do I have to do? I have to make decisions.
  • 04:28:04
    Groceries are a light bill, and I'll leave it at that.
  • 04:28:08
    Thank you. Thank you.
  • 04:28:15
    Next are Andy Escobar, Arlie Gallindo,
  • 04:28:18
    Dolores Magruder, and Anita Guevara.
  • 04:28:35
    Howdy all. My name is Andy Escobar, and I'm really thankful
  • 04:28:38
    to have you all here. I'm born and raised houstonian,
  • 04:28:42
    and I'm here representing seer,
  • 04:28:45
    like some of my colleagues before the Coalition for Environment,
  • 04:28:48
    equity and resilience. And I really want to
  • 04:28:52
    emphasize first and foremost that we've
  • 04:28:57
    heard a lot of the real human experiences of what these power outages
  • 04:29:01
    have entailed for us. And I think it's important for us
  • 04:29:04
    to get real and recognize that electricity is
  • 04:29:08
    a human right, that we've heard the stories of energy
  • 04:29:11
    poverty in our community. And let alone when disasters strike,
  • 04:29:16
    people shouldn't have to be fearful of whether or not their electricity is going to
  • 04:29:19
    be on. And one of the things that
  • 04:29:23
    is really critical for us to remember is that electricity is a human right
  • 04:29:27
    in the energy capital of the world. There is no excuse for us
  • 04:29:30
    to be dealing with these outages. I remember after Hurricane
  • 04:29:34
    Ike and the power coming back after about a week,
  • 04:29:38
    but that time period, there wasn't this sense of anguish
  • 04:29:43
    or fear like there was this time around.
  • 04:29:46
    And I don't know specifically what it is that,
  • 04:29:49
    you know, made something different from 2008 to
  • 04:29:53
    2024. But what I can tell you is that we've
  • 04:29:56
    been paying more and more and that things aren't getting better. Right.
  • 04:30:00
    As we've heard all throughout today that Centerpoint isn't a reliable
  • 04:30:04
    industry partner for us. And I've never heard of monopolies
  • 04:30:08
    that are good. Right. There was a quote from Houston Chronicle
  • 04:30:12
    that says Centerpoint has a monopoly on Houston's network of poles and
  • 04:30:16
    wires, meaning it faces no pressure from
  • 04:30:19
    competition to acting customers best interests. It's the duty
  • 04:30:23
    of the PUC of you folks that we're so happy to have here
  • 04:30:26
    in Houston to regulate in lieu of this competition.
  • 04:30:30
    We're tired, y'all. We're so tired.
  • 04:30:33
    People don't want to feel unsafe in their homes. And I really want
  • 04:30:37
    to, to just share some recommendations that we want to
  • 04:30:41
    offer y'all. First and foremost, you should begin
  • 04:30:44
    the rulemaking immediately on the backup power packages that
  • 04:30:48
    were approved for up to $1.8 billion by voters in this
  • 04:30:52
    room and begin issuing grants and loans to protect the vulnerable communities
  • 04:30:56
    that we've talked about, senior homes, homes where
  • 04:31:00
    people are, you know, connected to medical devices.
  • 04:31:03
    These are the homes that we need to prioritize. We need to begin a
  • 04:31:07
    new energy efficiency rulemaking to require utilities
  • 04:31:11
    to spend more and meet higher goals for energy efficiency
  • 04:31:15
    programs, particularly for low income residents like the folks of northeast
  • 04:31:18
    Houston, the commissioners themselves,
  • 04:31:21
    y'all made a promise after rejecting a Sierra club
  • 04:31:25
    petition for rulemaking to open up a
  • 04:31:28
    rulemaking. And I have a committee publicly to improve the energy efficient programs
  • 04:31:33
    required of all the utilities in Texas, including Centerpoint.
  • 04:31:37
    But y'all have yet to do that. Some two years later. Of the states that
  • 04:31:40
    have a required energy efficient goal, Texas is dead last
  • 04:31:43
    on achievements. That's embarrassing. How can we call ourselves
  • 04:31:47
    the energy capital of the world and we don't have reliable energy?
  • 04:31:51
    Lastly, I just want to share that, you know,
  • 04:31:55
    generators are a band aid, right? We've also heard of the
  • 04:31:58
    damage that some generators can cause people's homes when they don't properly know how
  • 04:32:01
    to use them. We need to focus on energy efficiency,
  • 04:32:05
    home retrofits, clean energy solutions.
  • 04:32:09
    Everyone in this building, everyone across this state, stands to benefit
  • 04:32:13
    from home weatherization and home energy efficiency standards that
  • 04:32:16
    we can all, you know, work towards and
  • 04:32:19
    build a better future for all of us. One last thing, too.
  • 04:32:23
    Centerpoint has energy efficiency programs.
  • 04:32:27
    But oftentimes what we found is that if a homeowner doesn't have central air
  • 04:32:30
    conditioning, they don't qualify or they're not prioritized.
  • 04:32:35
    Right. There's a lot of households where there are no air conditioning
  • 04:32:38
    or central heating, and that is egregious as well. So it's
  • 04:32:42
    time to get to the 2024 year and make
  • 04:32:45
    our homes look livable and safe. Thank you.
  • 04:32:48
    Thank you for being here.
  • 04:32:56
    Hola, mi nombres. Pilar Fuentes, Resido and El Barrio second
  • 04:33:00
    ward Yotamien fuy impactada por el uracan barrel.
  • 04:33:05
    If you didn't understand me, I said my name is Pilar Fuentes. I reside in
  • 04:33:08
    Second Ward and I was also impacted by Hurricane Barrel.
  • 04:33:11
    But I'm not here to talk about my poor woes. I'm actually here to talk
  • 04:33:15
    about the media actions that we can do to improve communication strategies in
  • 04:33:19
    these community meetings. First and foremost,
  • 04:33:23
    language interpretation. At these meetings,
  • 04:33:26
    there are over 140 languages spoken in Harris
  • 04:33:30
    county, with the most common being Spanish,
  • 04:33:32
    Vietnamese, Chinese and Arabic. Working with the county,
  • 04:33:36
    I know that we have tools and resources, such as master ward,
  • 04:33:40
    which is a contracted individual, to help with these translations.
  • 04:33:44
    I highly recommend that when we do any of these
  • 04:33:48
    meetings moving forward, that all the flyers and
  • 04:33:51
    assistants in these rooms are, you know,
  • 04:33:55
    meeting everyone's language needs.
  • 04:33:59
    The other thing in the flyer, the meeting said
  • 04:34:03
    it was nine, but it didn't say till
  • 04:34:06
    when. And then there was an agenda that was later released. However,
  • 04:34:10
    it wasn't necessarily engaging for a general
  • 04:34:14
    public. I highly recommend that if we are going to have another
  • 04:34:17
    meeting like this, we start off with a type of icebreaker question,
  • 04:34:21
    an opportunity for people to kind of get to know what you all,
  • 04:34:24
    who you all are and for you all to meet other people in a much
  • 04:34:27
    more organic matter in order for people
  • 04:34:31
    to be engaged. Because as we see, it's kind of difficult to keep people
  • 04:34:35
    here till 05:00 p.m. the other
  • 04:34:38
    thing that I recommend is to have
  • 04:34:42
    it as a tabling event. I saw that the beginning of the session, it was
  • 04:34:45
    a lot of q and A and learning about all the different
  • 04:34:49
    players and this kind of work, and I would have greatly appreciated the
  • 04:34:52
    opportunity to individually meet with some of these actors in a kind of,
  • 04:34:57
    yeah, a tabling of it rather than a q and a where I had to
  • 04:35:00
    listen to a lecture, more or less the
  • 04:35:05
    changing of the public comments not cool. 09:00 a.m.
  • 04:35:09
    02:00 p.m. 11:00 a.m. i feel like I'm being given the
  • 04:35:13
    runaround, and it's also not being mindful and respectful of people who have
  • 04:35:17
    jobs and other activities outside of this. I mean,
  • 04:35:20
    you're already asking the public to come and to speak on their
  • 04:35:24
    issues and the ways that you all can improve. And it's not
  • 04:35:28
    necessarily mindful of people's time to change
  • 04:35:32
    when they are able to provide that feedback.
  • 04:35:38
    Lastly, I highly recommend interagency collaboration
  • 04:35:42
    on these community meetings. Harris county has four pretty
  • 04:35:46
    and I can't speak on the cities, but I'm sure they also have community,
  • 04:35:50
    community liaisons who are direct connectors with the people
  • 04:35:54
    in these communities who activate and mobilize
  • 04:35:57
    individuals to come out to these kind of spaces. So to include
  • 04:36:01
    us into those conversations, as well as the language interpretation. So to
  • 04:36:05
    include not just the county judge, but the specific departments that
  • 04:36:09
    are dealing with the community into the. To support
  • 04:36:13
    you all, since you all are not necessarily familiarized
  • 04:36:16
    with our community, would be extremely
  • 04:36:20
    advantageous for you all, as well as local government and
  • 04:36:26
    cultural improvements, because this is a community workshop.
  • 04:36:30
    Coffee would have been nice. Ship leaves donuts. I do event planning myself
  • 04:36:36
    for 1550 people. You could get some donuts and some
  • 04:36:40
    coffee for $100. It's off of Ellen Boulevard up
  • 04:36:44
    north. It's not far, actually from here. It's 15 minutes away. And again,
  • 04:36:48
    a really easy way to keep people engaged and to kind of change
  • 04:36:51
    the atmosphere of the space. It's a cultural
  • 04:36:56
    issue. Right. And lastly, I really,
  • 04:37:00
    I dislike speaking on the way that people present themselves. I always
  • 04:37:04
    want to make sure that everyone, everyone is feeling the most confident and comfortable.
  • 04:37:07
    That being said, it is a Saturday, and we met
  • 04:37:11
    here at 09:00 a.m. and it's okay to, like, wear a polo and,
  • 04:37:15
    like, something more casual because people don't necessarily feel
  • 04:37:19
    connected and there's not necessarily an interpersonal relationship
  • 04:37:23
    when we don't necessarily look the same. And I feel like we're all
  • 04:37:27
    Texans. We all have a shared goal, and it's important for that to be
  • 04:37:30
    reflected in the way that we present to ourselves and ultimately
  • 04:37:34
    carry out these community meetings. And those are kind of my
  • 04:37:38
    two cent and immediate actions that could be easily implemented.
  • 04:37:42
    So, yeah, thank you.
  • 04:37:50
    Maria Acevedo, Jaime Lawson,
  • 04:37:53
    Scott Hobart, and Rita Robles.
  • 04:37:56
    It.
  • 04:38:31
    Okay, who's going first? My name is Rob
  • 04:38:34
    Hubert. I live in Houston Heights and I came in
  • 04:38:38
    for a couple of specific reasons since executive
  • 04:38:42
    management is here to see how I kind of
  • 04:38:46
    gather. What's happening to Centerpoint is
  • 04:38:50
    just a fast deterioration with the public
  • 04:38:55
    losing all faith in its reliability and
  • 04:38:59
    some of the press issues about executive corruption and
  • 04:39:03
    double dipping and buying generators that
  • 04:39:07
    were put into the raid base, but nobody seemed to know that happened.
  • 04:39:11
    And then it is embarrassing when you have relatives
  • 04:39:15
    in other parts of the country, and people have talked about this today,
  • 04:39:18
    where we're the energy capital of the world, but our
  • 04:39:22
    electric grid is a joke and that's
  • 04:39:26
    hard to maintain your pride
  • 04:39:29
    in the city and the state when things have deteriorated
  • 04:39:34
    to where they are today. And I'll give you an example.
  • 04:39:38
    I've lived in my house in the heights for 30 years,
  • 04:39:42
    and Centerpoint has never trimmed
  • 04:39:47
    the trees in 30 years. Along the utility lines in
  • 04:39:51
    the alley behind our house, we had outages
  • 04:39:55
    even before the derecho. And you talked about using
  • 04:39:59
    only 10% of your people for hands on
  • 04:40:03
    repair work on the lines, and then 90% from
  • 04:40:07
    outside Centerpoint.
  • 04:40:10
    And to me, that's another deterioration of management's
  • 04:40:16
    interaction with its customers,
  • 04:40:19
    because we had a situation where we
  • 04:40:23
    had a transformer go down. The guys come out
  • 04:40:26
    in this spotless center
  • 04:40:30
    point truck. There was probably
  • 04:40:34
    eight or ten of them. They looked at the transformer, started the
  • 04:40:38
    truck, and started to leave. And we
  • 04:40:41
    were down there saying, you know, we've got some elderly people that have medical
  • 04:40:45
    devices. They need electricity, and we don't have any. Can you help us?
  • 04:40:49
    And they said, no, we're going to call
  • 04:40:53
    a third party contractor in to fix it.
  • 04:40:57
    And we said, can you tell us a timeline? And they said, no,
  • 04:40:59
    we'll call whoever's on the call list.
  • 04:41:03
    So we're shuffling around the elderly, trying to keep them
  • 04:41:07
    cool with their medical conditions and
  • 04:41:11
    working as a community, trying to do what we need to do to be with
  • 04:41:14
    them and to take care of them. And what happened was
  • 04:41:19
    four days later, here come in a utility
  • 04:41:23
    vehicle from Oklahoma, and they
  • 04:41:26
    were a subcontractor call out contractor for
  • 04:41:30
    Centerpoint. And we said, what took so long?
  • 04:41:33
    And they said, well, this happens every time we get called.
  • 04:41:37
    We're in Oklahoma working. Centerpoint is more of a
  • 04:41:41
    gas distribution company than they are an electrical company.
  • 04:41:45
    And so we were on a job, and we were busy
  • 04:41:48
    for two to three, three days. So here we are.
  • 04:41:52
    And I said, and do you think you're charging more for your services
  • 04:41:57
    than, say, Centerpoint would do if they had used their own people?
  • 04:42:01
    And I'm trying to figure out with the PUC and how this works of
  • 04:42:05
    how you can kind of do things and raise costs without.
  • 04:42:09
    Is it approved or not approved? And they said, we see this all over.
  • 04:42:15
    Every time we get called out, customers like you are asking questions,
  • 04:42:19
    and they're good questions because we are much higher because we have
  • 04:42:22
    travel time, we have, you know, fixed rates,
  • 04:42:26
    that type of thing. So that's
  • 04:42:31
    one point I wanted to bring up about that. What I can see a
  • 04:42:34
    company in real trouble. You're losing faith
  • 04:42:39
    of the masses. And then you hear these stories about generators
  • 04:42:43
    and should they ever have been in the rate base, and they weren't even asked
  • 04:42:46
    if they were put in the rate base either. And me personally,
  • 04:42:51
    I have just lost faith in the reliability of the system. I'm a
  • 04:42:54
    civil engineer, and companies like this
  • 04:42:58
    don't stay around forever when there's a lack of accountability
  • 04:43:01
    and connection with the customers, in my opinion.
  • 04:43:05
    But to give you example, I've lived in my house 30 years.
  • 04:43:09
    The utility lines have never. The trees have never been trimmed.
  • 04:43:13
    Never. Not one time. So we had an
  • 04:43:17
    outage due to a transformer
  • 04:43:21
    fell on the ground. It took us four days to get power
  • 04:43:25
    for just one transformer on the ground. That those guys that came
  • 04:43:28
    in the truck had a transformer on the truck,
  • 04:43:31
    but they were too lazy to get up on the pole, and we
  • 04:43:35
    had to wait four days for electricity. That's unexcusable.
  • 04:43:39
    There's no accountability when you see that those people are completely freelancing
  • 04:43:44
    and doing their own thing out there and not looking after
  • 04:43:48
    the customer. We pay everyone's bills.
  • 04:43:51
    We're the customer. And for them to just leave us for four
  • 04:43:55
    days and wait for these people, people to come in from Oklahoma,
  • 04:43:59
    that it took 3 hours to fix the problem,
  • 04:44:02
    that is unexcusable. That is unreliability.
  • 04:44:06
    And that means the public is
  • 04:44:10
    no longer your customer. When you feel that way and
  • 04:44:13
    treat your customers like that, particularly with the elderly and all these
  • 04:44:17
    people that have died in their homes, and 3 hours later
  • 04:44:21
    the power comes on. How do you explain that to people's families?
  • 04:44:26
    When they almost made it, they almost lived,
  • 04:44:29
    but they didn't because they didn't have the power.
  • 04:44:32
    And I don't understand why issues like
  • 04:44:36
    manslaughter and things like that are not being brought up in the court system.
  • 04:44:40
    But the problem I have is a simple problem. And I
  • 04:44:44
    brought this piece of paper here to get the lines trimmed.
  • 04:44:47
    After 30 years vegetation.
  • 04:44:51
    Every box on this form that they put,
  • 04:44:55
    they gave me and put on the door is a no.
  • 04:44:59
    It says, I'll give you an example. The first thing on the
  • 04:45:02
    sheet, and this is where the disconnect is and where this resentment
  • 04:45:06
    is just exploding between the customer
  • 04:45:10
    and the company. The first thing on the sheet
  • 04:45:14
    says, we were unable to access
  • 04:45:17
    your property, inspect your concern because of this,
  • 04:45:20
    a lock gate or whatever, we can't help you.
  • 04:45:25
    The one that really kills me, it says the trees in question are
  • 04:45:29
    in. This is the box that they checked. So I don't think they
  • 04:45:32
    ever came out. The trees in question are in
  • 04:45:36
    cable tv or phone wires
  • 04:45:41
    and do not pose a threat to center point
  • 04:45:44
    electrical surface. When you can see, I have my phone.
  • 04:45:48
    These voltage lines run right through the trees. They've run through
  • 04:45:52
    the trees for 30 years. And all this
  • 04:45:55
    is, is a no, we're not going to come and help you. This is inexcusable.
  • 04:46:00
    Something as simple as trim the trees after
  • 04:46:03
    30 years and you cannot do it.
  • 04:46:08
    What are the problems at Centerpoint? That there is no accountability
  • 04:46:13
    for just basic services, much less all these people that
  • 04:46:16
    died. And so then I get a
  • 04:46:20
    from. So we said, we told Centerpoint,
  • 04:46:24
    either you come and help us or we'll call channel two and talk to Amy
  • 04:46:28
    Grant and get it on tv. This is the only were
  • 04:46:32
    desperate with these elderly people and they
  • 04:46:35
    don't care whether you have electricity or not. So here
  • 04:46:39
    is from Tree LLC and I. And I
  • 04:46:43
    have another question after this. Tree LLC is a subcontractor
  • 04:46:47
    for tree trimming, I assume. Okay, so it
  • 04:46:51
    goes through all here and says we're going to do a ten
  • 04:46:55
    four work order number, whatever. But on the back
  • 04:46:59
    there's some notes, I guess from the guy that put
  • 04:47:02
    together sheet was it says address 7402 electrical
  • 04:47:06
    lines and true electrical lines and trees. Trees burning.
  • 04:47:12
    That's what's written on the back of it. Meaning that they were somewhere else in
  • 04:47:15
    the neighborhood and their lines were running through there and there was a fire.
  • 04:47:20
    And so I was here. It's just
  • 04:47:23
    like, it's so embarrassing to talk to
  • 04:47:27
    your relatives across the country when you live in Houston that is supposedly
  • 04:47:31
    a city of entrepreneurials and innovation
  • 04:47:35
    and whatever. But our electrical system is just a standing
  • 04:47:39
    joke. Something has to happen. The PUC needs
  • 04:47:42
    to get involved. Do they get ERCOT involved and try to bring
  • 04:47:46
    in utility power from somewhere else? Because we're at the end of grid
  • 04:47:50
    system. But it's just disappointing
  • 04:47:53
    to hear all of this bad news about potential corruption among the executives,
  • 04:47:58
    whether it should have been the base or whatever. And when you this
  • 04:48:01
    continues and all these people die and everything,
  • 04:48:04
    I don't see how you can set up it with a straight face. To think
  • 04:48:08
    that you have public respect, customer respect. It's hard to
  • 04:48:12
    believe this has to change some way. I don't know how you change
  • 04:48:16
    it, but just after 30 years, to get the trees cut in
  • 04:48:19
    the alley, to have reliable electricity, you get a form.
  • 04:48:23
    That's all these no's. We're not going to do it. We're not going to do
  • 04:48:26
    it. And something has to be
  • 04:48:30
    done with the PUC or something. Something has to change because
  • 04:48:34
    this is not good for all of us. And all of these people that
  • 04:48:37
    died. What do you tell them, their families, about the
  • 04:48:41
    unreliability of the grid? This is not right and
  • 04:48:45
    something has to be changed. And if the
  • 04:48:49
    PUC, do we get law enforcement involved? Do we get
  • 04:48:53
    the smartest attorneys from whatever did ambulance
  • 04:48:56
    chase you or whatever, you have to do something because what you're
  • 04:49:00
    doing isn't working. You're losing the public trust.
  • 04:49:04
    And if I can't even get my trees trimmed after 30 years,
  • 04:49:07
    what's next? Next. Thank you.
  • 04:49:11
    Thank you, sir.
  • 04:49:15
    All right. Good afternoon. My name is Scott Hubert, I believe.
  • 04:49:19
    Same last name, two b's, one b.
  • 04:49:22
    This gentleman is. I'll give him precedence, but thank you all for being here.
  • 04:49:26
    I know it's a late day. You've been very patient with your
  • 04:49:29
    time. I'm very appreciative for that. I learned
  • 04:49:32
    about this mediaev short notice, but somehow I wrote 42 pages of
  • 04:49:36
    notes, so I'll try to not ramble and be as concise as possible.
  • 04:49:42
    I live on the north side of Houston. Lifelong Houstonian.
  • 04:49:45
    I guess I should open with how to y'all. But a lifelong Houstonian.
  • 04:49:49
    I've been on the north side of Houston my entire life. Back.
  • 04:49:52
    Go back to the days of HLMP, when the old green trucks were rolling around
  • 04:49:57
    and when the power generation or the power transmission company didn't
  • 04:50:01
    care so much about what their trucks look like, but cared more about the power
  • 04:50:04
    getting to the homes. I also have a different perspective in that I am in
  • 04:50:08
    the AEC construction industry. I'm a consultant. I'm actually an accountant,
  • 04:50:12
    so I have that perspective watching some of the people that I consult
  • 04:50:16
    work with Centerpoint. I also have a wife who is a nurse practitioner
  • 04:50:19
    at one of the ers in Houston, one of the major ers. And I'll
  • 04:50:23
    start with her perspective. Even though she's not here, she's actually at work today.
  • 04:50:27
    She's been a nurse practitioner in the trauma unit for 25
  • 04:50:31
    years, thereabouts, and she spoke.
  • 04:50:34
    When you ask her, what are the hardest challenges you have had in
  • 04:50:38
    those years, she doesn't
  • 04:50:41
    say Covid. She doesn't say a
  • 04:50:46
    gunshot wound or a major accident or a major casualty event.
  • 04:50:50
    She speaks of Yuri and Beryl. Those were the
  • 04:50:54
    two hardest times in her life, and Yuri almost
  • 04:50:58
    made her change her career. That was how drastic it was.
  • 04:51:04
    She saw more devastation and more emotion in those two events,
  • 04:51:08
    maybe because of her personal experience or maybe where she was at, but she was
  • 04:51:10
    in the trauma unit for both those events, and she said, by far,
  • 04:51:14
    those are the two that will always remain in her mind. So with
  • 04:51:18
    that being said, and speaking of ERCOT, this last in Beryl,
  • 04:51:22
    her hospital, which is actually on the Guester strip,
  • 04:51:26
    a major part of city center I ten Beltway, eight area,
  • 04:51:30
    they actually lost power, and the redundancies failed. They were
  • 04:51:34
    handbagging patients for about an hour and a half is what I understand.
  • 04:51:37
    Now. That was offside from her unit. They downstairs, they were trying to
  • 04:51:40
    just keep triage going and keep people going.
  • 04:51:43
    But I can't imagine a handbag a patient for that long. Now that,
  • 04:51:47
    that goes not to center point, that goes more to the hospital
  • 04:51:51
    staff. And there probably was just an issue there.
  • 04:51:54
    And I must speak too. I mean, part of my, some of my comments here
  • 04:51:58
    are not so much about barrel or Uri, because those
  • 04:52:01
    are natural disasters. Those are some very hard to plan for.
  • 04:52:04
    Very, very, a lot of variances, a lot of different possible
  • 04:52:09
    events. I get that. But I'm a transition
  • 04:52:12
    now to my personal experience within the community going
  • 04:52:16
    back many years. I am not just a community member,
  • 04:52:20
    but I'm also in the HOA for two hoas, civic associations.
  • 04:52:23
    I'm very committed. I love Houston. I love our community. I love
  • 04:52:27
    my neighbors. I just love, have a passion
  • 04:52:31
    for this place. I have a passion for Texas. Not going to ever leave.
  • 04:52:36
    So being part of the civic association over the years, we have been
  • 04:52:40
    fighting centerpoint for about five to seven years now.
  • 04:52:44
    That's probably an understatement for the length. It's definitely
  • 04:52:47
    five years. I think it's a bit longer.
  • 04:52:50
    My house have a three car garage, and one bay of my three car garage
  • 04:52:53
    is filled with generators and ac units. I have 13
  • 04:52:57
    generators at this point. I have eight ac
  • 04:53:02
    units that are mobile ac units, roll type or window ac units.
  • 04:53:06
    That is so that I can provide for my neighbors, not for
  • 04:53:09
    a natural event like Uri or barrel. That is because we have outages
  • 04:53:13
    at least once a month, if not two, three, four times a month.
  • 04:53:17
    Constant, constant outages.
  • 04:53:20
    I'm rolling those generators out. I can tell you we have protracted
  • 04:53:24
    outages is at least once a month. I say protracted
  • 04:53:27
    more than two or 3 hours at a time. We have looked to you and
  • 04:53:31
    your team. We have repeatedly,
  • 04:53:35
    people in our neighborhood, we have a whole group within our neighborhood, a whole Facebook
  • 04:53:37
    page dedicated to Centerpoint and PUC. And I can tell
  • 04:53:41
    you probably about 30% of our neighbors, which is a pretty profound amount
  • 04:53:44
    to get that much involvement. Very hard to do that 30%,
  • 04:53:48
    I would guess have contact to reach out to your team and
  • 04:53:52
    say, hey, PUC, you're the watchdog. Please help us. And what
  • 04:53:56
    happens in every case is that your team kicks that back
  • 04:53:59
    to Centerpoint. And Centerpoint just feeds us excuses and
  • 04:54:03
    they feed us some redundant Dear John
  • 04:54:06
    letter, we're working on it. We're going to get back to you,
  • 04:54:10
    I will say that that five year term or seven years or whatever it
  • 04:54:13
    may be, is very close and consistent. Was with when
  • 04:54:18
    Centerpoint stopped trimming the lines. We are north Houston has a lot of
  • 04:54:22
    its unincorporated Harris county has a lot of trees
  • 04:54:25
    that five to seven years. Thankfully it doesn't go back 30 years like this gentleman,
  • 04:54:29
    but it goes back that time. And that's when the power started going in and
  • 04:54:32
    out. I have several servers, I'm a consultant, I have several servers
  • 04:54:36
    for clients in my home office. I have a power conditioner.
  • 04:54:40
    When I'm working that power conditioner, if there's a voltage, a drop
  • 04:54:44
    from the 60 hz or wherever it is, and I'm not an engineer
  • 04:54:48
    by any stretch, but when things change, a light lights up and it makes a
  • 04:54:51
    small buzzer sound, that buzzer is constantly going
  • 04:54:55
    off. I mean, it is just
  • 04:54:58
    constant. The frustration is not only
  • 04:55:02
    the outages and the disruptions and the loss of
  • 04:55:05
    food and productivity and the inconveniences.
  • 04:55:10
    It's also the fact that we're not getting good
  • 04:55:13
    answers from Centerpoint. We had,
  • 04:55:17
    before I go there, we're not getting answers.
  • 04:55:21
    We talked at Centerpoint through your team, and I'm not,
  • 04:55:25
    I don't want to be disingenuous and say you're not helping, you are,
  • 04:55:29
    but there's a disconnect. We go to your team, they send us to Centerpoint,
  • 04:55:32
    we say, what was the outage this time? It's always the same,
  • 04:55:35
    3200 people every single time. Some buried, some above ground
  • 04:55:38
    line. So what do we all have in common with these 3200
  • 04:55:42
    people that go out? Oh, it was, it was a, it was
  • 04:55:46
    a, it was a bad storm or a tree on the line or. We've got
  • 04:55:49
    lists, I've got emails here with lists and lists and lists of things.
  • 04:55:52
    I'll take some. Tree fell. Tree fell. Reclosure operated.
  • 04:55:56
    Reclosure, strong wind, reclosure operated.
  • 04:56:00
    They never coincide with anything that's going on. The reclosure I
  • 04:56:03
    can't attest to, but I can tell you when they tell us there's a bad
  • 04:56:05
    storm. The other day we had an outage for four and a half, 5 hours.
  • 04:56:10
    It was a bright sunny day. No wind and no wind.
  • 04:56:14
    90 degrees, 92 degrees. It was a four, but three and a half, four hour
  • 04:56:18
    outage. Their response was it was a
  • 04:56:21
    severe weather. That's the kind of response we.
  • 04:56:25
    There was no severe weather that day. I can attest to that.
  • 04:56:30
    If there was some accountability, there was some communication or some,
  • 04:56:33
    hey, it's going to get better, give us hope, come out, trim the lines,
  • 04:56:37
    trim the trees. I think our community would feel
  • 04:56:40
    better, but we don't have any help. We can't buy into
  • 04:56:43
    anything centerpoint tells us any longer, and we're having trouble buying into
  • 04:56:47
    what the puc tells us now because we don't feel like we're getting any results
  • 04:56:51
    from going to you. We feel helpless out there. We feel like we're
  • 04:56:54
    on an island, and it's just very,
  • 04:56:57
    very, very hard. I would love to get rid of the 1213 generators.
  • 04:57:01
    I'd love to get rid, I'd love to get the space back in my garage.
  • 04:57:04
    But I'll tell you, those things are going to keep being loaned out and keep
  • 04:57:06
    going in and out because we don't have anything else. Another instance,
  • 04:57:12
    we have a high voltage line that keeps going down. And on the last
  • 04:57:16
    event, it actually caught one of my investment homes, several homes in the neighborhood
  • 04:57:20
    that I'm blessed to be in that position. The power line went
  • 04:57:23
    down. The high voltage went down. It touched the tree as it went down,
  • 04:57:26
    is what I'm told. The tree kind of caught fire. My tenant called
  • 04:57:30
    me, said, there's a line down. Oh, my gosh. I said, get out. I'll be
  • 04:57:32
    over in a second. I rushed over. Centerpoint came out.
  • 04:57:37
    This is after, it was after the, I believe it was the June,
  • 04:57:40
    it would have been the June 2023 storm, which affected only spring.
  • 04:57:43
    And we had about 60 miles per hour gusts, about a 1 hour storm.
  • 04:57:47
    Nothing huge. Not the dyke, Derek, go.
  • 04:57:51
    The crews were out working, and these were Centerpoint crews.
  • 04:57:55
    The line, they had reconnected the line.
  • 04:57:59
    The team had reconnected the line and the
  • 04:58:04
    tree had touched it. And I'm trying to remember the order of events here.
  • 04:58:07
    Forgive me. Let me reorganize here.
  • 04:58:11
    The centerpoint guy, I'm there with him, starts yelling at
  • 04:58:14
    the dispatcher, saying, charlie, we're tired of falling. We are tired of
  • 04:58:18
    these fires. We're chasing the fire department around. That was how disorganized
  • 04:58:22
    Centerpoint was with this remediation for this event.
  • 04:58:26
    They were chasing firefighters around, putting out fires because they kept energizing
  • 04:58:29
    the lines before the linemen were ready. These were Centerpoint crews.
  • 04:58:33
    Now, on that topic, I will tell you, most of the
  • 04:58:36
    time, we don't see Centerpoint lineman. We see north Houston pole,
  • 04:58:39
    we see tiger construction. We see all these other
  • 04:58:43
    different contractors. We very rarely, in an event, ever see Centerpoint.
  • 04:58:48
    We don't see Centerpoint trucks. They got beautiful trucks. They spend a lot of money
  • 04:58:51
    on trucks, but we very rarely, and that's good. I'm grateful. I mean,
  • 04:58:54
    I'm glad the guys, they deserve that. They work very hard, but we very rarely
  • 04:58:58
    see a centerpoint truck in the neighborhood. And that's a little bit
  • 04:59:02
    frustrating because I feel like some people who are working our lines aren't always.
  • 04:59:05
    Linemen have a good intent. They work hard. But if they don't have
  • 04:59:08
    the history, if they don't know what the. If they don't know that transformers has
  • 04:59:12
    tripped four times, or they don't know that there's been over voltage
  • 04:59:16
    issues six times or whatever, they fix it. They don't know that it's been
  • 04:59:19
    out that many times. They don't have the history.
  • 04:59:23
    You know, they're also not always vested. They're in, out. They're ready
  • 04:59:27
    to get going. They just want to sign that ticket.
  • 04:59:29
    So that's kind of my perspective there.
  • 04:59:33
    The business side of things. I'll be quick. I know the interest of time.
  • 04:59:37
    I've spoken a lot here. We do have
  • 04:59:40
    a problem with the business side. You know, Centerpoint is notorious.
  • 04:59:43
    I work in construction. Like I said, I'm on the accounting side. But I see
  • 04:59:46
    a lot of emails. You know, hey, where's this job? Why is this progress not
  • 04:59:49
    happening? What's going on? This job is delayed. Centerpoint,
  • 04:59:53
    always Centerpoint. And you'll get on this email thread and there'll be 62
  • 04:59:57
    people in this email thread. I don't exaggerate. There will literally be 62 people,
  • 05:00:04
    domain people, and none of them know what's
  • 05:00:07
    going on. And I've got large 100 million dollar projects that are
  • 05:00:10
    going there, taking off that can't, that are holding up on Centerpoint.
  • 05:00:14
    And nobody seems to know where, who's directing.
  • 05:00:17
    There just seems to be no backbone or structure.
  • 05:00:21
    I'm not here to beat up on them, but I would love to see things
  • 05:00:23
    get better in that regard. Fewer comments. You know,
  • 05:00:27
    Sara point touts itself. I've got this from the website. They tout themselves as
  • 05:00:31
    the investor, the only investor owned electric and gas utility
  • 05:00:35
    based in Texas. That to me is part
  • 05:00:38
    of the problem. When you're an investor owned electric and
  • 05:00:42
    gas utility in Texas, is your loyalty to us,
  • 05:00:46
    the stakeholders, or is it your investors? And that's something you
  • 05:00:49
    all have to figure out. That's something I can't answer. A recent earnings
  • 05:00:53
    call from one of the. Or not earnings call, I'm sorry.
  • 05:00:56
    A recent analyst call it noted
  • 05:01:00
    net margin, center points, energy financial strength is reflected as an exceptional
  • 05:01:03
    net margin, which exceeds industry averages with a remarkable net
  • 05:01:07
    margin of 11.97%. This company showcases strong,
  • 05:01:10
    profitable and effective cost management. Return on
  • 05:01:14
    Equity. Centerpoint's financial strength is reflected in exceptional Roe.
  • 05:01:18
    With a remarkable ROE of 2.24%,
  • 05:01:22
    the company showcases efficient use of equity capital return on assets.
  • 05:01:25
    The company's RoA is a standout performer, exceeding averages with an impressive
  • 05:01:29
    ROA of 0.56. The company showcases effective utilization
  • 05:01:33
    of assets. Debt management with a ratio of 1.85,
  • 05:01:37
    the company relies on less debt financing.
  • 05:01:41
    That's good. It's good to have a strong provider.
  • 05:01:44
    I'm glad. I'm happy for them. I want them to make profit. But if you're
  • 05:01:48
    going to make profit, give back to your stakeholders.
  • 05:01:50
    Communicate with your stakeholders. Almost done. I promise.
  • 05:01:56
    One thing I mentioned here, the gas, the old six P's.
  • 05:02:00
    Prior planning prevents piss poor performance. You know,
  • 05:02:03
    the six P's is notorious in business. I think they need to
  • 05:02:07
    go back to six p's.
  • 05:02:12
    Let's see here. And I'm almost done. I apologize for the time here.
  • 05:02:16
    They do seem to be management heavy. There are those 62 people that email,
  • 05:02:20
    half from management. I have a buddy who works for Centerpoint or did work for
  • 05:02:23
    Centerpoint, and he said, look, they got five floors, at least, of managers
  • 05:02:27
    in their downtown office, and I don't know what all of them, we don't know
  • 05:02:30
    what they do. So you're talking about giving raises and all that, or you're talking
  • 05:02:33
    about giving them more money. And I would ask you to maybe audit
  • 05:02:37
    and go back and say, hey, where's that money going?
  • 05:02:40
    And can we find some more efficiencies?
  • 05:02:45
    Let's see here. I've got most of these.
  • 05:02:51
    So I'm a close. I'm actually in close with a few things. I would just
  • 05:02:54
    ask maybe that you would consider maybe kind of demands, maybe from
  • 05:03:00
    me as a consumer and from me as a representative for
  • 05:03:04
    other companies and me as a representative of the people that live in our community,
  • 05:03:08
    you know, I would ask that the PUC work
  • 05:03:11
    with Centerpoint and guide them. I would like to see properly maintained infrastructure
  • 05:03:15
    and attention to growth in the eastmans. In other words,
  • 05:03:19
    trimmer trees. Keep our infrastructure up. Plan for this. We live in the Gulf
  • 05:03:22
    coast. We're going to have another storm. I mean, we shouldn't be talking
  • 05:03:26
    about this going, why do we plan properly? We've had 100 years
  • 05:03:29
    of electricity and 100 years of storms. We should be far past the
  • 05:03:33
    planning part. I would ask that the PUC work
  • 05:03:37
    with Centerpoint on proper consideration of ratepayer affordability and maybe
  • 05:03:41
    a rebate of the years for wasteful spending. If that's proven to be
  • 05:03:46
    in place.
  • 05:03:49
    I would ask the PUC, maybe evaluate spending of Centerpoint
  • 05:03:53
    and determine where more funds can be spent on actual repair and maintenance of the
  • 05:03:56
    grid. You know, there's a huge
  • 05:03:59
    bonus, there's a lot of labor, a lot of bonuses, a lot of stuff being
  • 05:04:02
    paid out. I'm grateful for that, but I would love to see
  • 05:04:05
    a matrix of performance compared to what they're
  • 05:04:09
    doing on the ground. I'm almost done peacefully. PUC needs to caps.
  • 05:04:13
    I would like to see the PUC caps to report profitability in Texas
  • 05:04:17
    at a reasonable level, at least in the near term. So that maybe to ensure
  • 05:04:21
    the money spent where it should go, the grid and not on frivolous
  • 05:04:25
    overhead bonuses, excessive employee count, whatever somebody
  • 05:04:30
    mentioned, I believe lieutenant governor said there's 9000 employees and 1000 in
  • 05:04:33
    alignment. Maybe we needed to look at that.
  • 05:04:38
    I might look for regulation, but maybe some, some, just some massaging to get things
  • 05:04:41
    where they need to be. I would say we need less managers, a little bit
  • 05:04:45
    more work, more boots on the ground, and a
  • 05:04:50
    big thing, the customer centric. I think centerpoint, they have, they have an outage,
  • 05:04:54
    they have an outage map that doesn't work half the time. They have an outage
  • 05:04:56
    map that changes every week, every month of the year. You never can rely
  • 05:05:00
    on it. So you don't know what, there's no expectations,
  • 05:05:04
    there's no set expectations. I would love a customer centric company,
  • 05:05:08
    maybe spend some that money. If you're going to take more money from us,
  • 05:05:10
    maybe ask for them to give back a little bit more customer service.
  • 05:05:16
    I called Centerpoint area. When a line arced at the neighbor's house,
  • 05:05:19
    it arced their house. I called Centerpoint. I held on their emergency
  • 05:05:23
    line for 2 hours. I held their emergency. This is
  • 05:05:27
    calling Centerpoint saying, hey, do you have an aligned outage? Press one, press one.
  • 05:05:31
    There's a line, this thing's arcing, it's going across, it's shooting across the tree
  • 05:05:34
    through something, their playground equipment, all that.
  • 05:05:38
    I sat on the phone while on their phone. I called the fire department,
  • 05:05:41
    the fire department showed up. I'm still in the line working this thing.
  • 05:05:44
    And after 2 hours I hung up because nobody answered the phone. It is impossible
  • 05:05:48
    to get a representative from Centerpoint on the phone,
  • 05:05:51
    period. That has got to change. I would love to see somebody
  • 05:05:55
    answer the phone, somebody answer emails, somebody be accountable to commercial
  • 05:05:59
    contractors, customers, stakeholders, whatever they need to
  • 05:06:03
    be able to be able. You need to be able to get a hold of
  • 05:06:05
    their point.
  • 05:06:09
    That's about it. I just. More accountability, and I appreciate y'all, son.
  • 05:06:12
    Thank you all. Thank you, sir.
  • 05:06:19
    Hello. My name is Rita
  • 05:06:23
    Robles, and I'm a native Houston Houstonian, and I
  • 05:06:26
    live in the northeast Houston, in the Denver harbor area.
  • 05:06:31
    I have lived in Houston and in Texas my whole entire
  • 05:06:35
    life. My family has been here for generations,
  • 05:06:40
    and I remember when we had HLMP, I think
  • 05:06:44
    I was about 18 year old, paying my own light bill.
  • 05:06:48
    Like, oh, I can pay my light bill. Oh, my gosh. But in
  • 05:06:53
    the last few decades, things have changed
  • 05:06:57
    in Texas. We are not
  • 05:07:01
    part of the whole United States grid.
  • 05:07:04
    We're separate. And like many of the people here
  • 05:07:07
    have said, it seems like we are investor
  • 05:07:11
    driven. It's all about money. But the thing
  • 05:07:15
    about electricity is that it
  • 05:07:19
    should be free, because the
  • 05:07:23
    people who have originally made electricity and
  • 05:07:28
    made it affordable and made it to where it can be in
  • 05:07:32
    every house have kind
  • 05:07:35
    of disconnected from what
  • 05:07:40
    electricity is supposed to be used for.
  • 05:07:43
    It's supposed to generate your house so that you
  • 05:07:46
    can see and not be reading
  • 05:07:49
    in the dark. It's supposed to help
  • 05:07:53
    people who are handicapped or disabled
  • 05:07:57
    or have medical conditions that need their medication
  • 05:08:01
    to be refrigerated properly.
  • 05:08:05
    Not in an ice chest with ice that. That's melting
  • 05:08:09
    that ice. You're paying $4 for
  • 05:08:14
    eight pounds when it used to be $0.99
  • 05:08:18
    for ten pounds.
  • 05:08:21
    We want our basic needs met.
  • 05:08:26
    I've come before the PUC before, not just
  • 05:08:30
    here in Houston, but in Austin, in our state.
  • 05:08:35
    And you guys are here are supposed
  • 05:08:39
    to help people, regular people
  • 05:08:43
    like us. I would think that you're just regular people, too.
  • 05:08:46
    I don't see Elon Musk here,
  • 05:08:51
    but it's gone.
  • 05:08:55
    It's deteriorated so much that we just
  • 05:08:59
    don't even know what to do. People in my
  • 05:09:02
    neighborhood live in
  • 05:09:07
    crisis mode every day.
  • 05:09:10
    Where am I going to get my next meal?
  • 05:09:13
    Where am I going to work to make the
  • 05:09:17
    money to get the next meal? To pay my bills?
  • 05:09:23
    Like one of my colleagues had said, most of
  • 05:09:27
    people are on fixed incomes in
  • 05:09:30
    our area, whether they're elderly, disabled, whatever the
  • 05:09:34
    reason is. And they have to think
  • 05:09:38
    every month, am I going to be able to afford
  • 05:09:42
    my utility bills and pay for
  • 05:09:46
    groceries and be able to
  • 05:09:49
    pay for my medication and
  • 05:09:53
    be able to live most of the time?
  • 05:09:57
    Sadly, there's. It's always the same
  • 05:10:00
    thing. You have to rob Peter to pay Paul.
  • 05:10:04
    If I'm going to pay my electricity bill, I can't afford
  • 05:10:07
    $750 a month. Why is it
  • 05:10:12
    $750 a month? I have no idea. But they
  • 05:10:16
    expect me to pay it in order for me to have electricity
  • 05:10:19
    in my home. But it's going
  • 05:10:23
    to be a ramen month. We're going to only eat ramen.
  • 05:10:27
    And that's also going to put a huge strain on my health.
  • 05:10:31
    Because, for instance, maybe you have
  • 05:10:35
    high blood pressure and eating all this processed food is
  • 05:10:39
    bad for you. Maybe you have a heart condition,
  • 05:10:44
    or you're a diabetic and you rely on
  • 05:10:48
    medication, including insulin.
  • 05:10:51
    We shouldn't have to be making these type of choices
  • 05:10:54
    every day. We should be able to have clean
  • 05:10:59
    power running through our homes,
  • 05:11:04
    just like clean running water.
  • 05:11:09
    These are human rights,
  • 05:11:12
    and many people are suffering,
  • 05:11:15
    still suffering. I know an elderly man
  • 05:11:19
    who lost power in borough, which was July.
  • 05:11:23
    He didn't get his electricity back on until September,
  • 05:11:27
    after he came to a civic club meeting
  • 05:11:31
    and spoke to his representatives because he
  • 05:11:35
    could not get any help from Centerpoint.
  • 05:11:39
    Centerpoint was just driving them nuts. People in
  • 05:11:42
    my neighborhood were getting on chats going
  • 05:11:47
    and saying, I'm on the Whataburger app and I can see where the
  • 05:11:50
    power outage is at. If there's a Whataburger open,
  • 05:11:54
    then we have electricity.
  • 05:11:57
    That's very strange to me. But on top
  • 05:12:01
    of all these other things, many people have been bringing
  • 05:12:05
    up really good points. You are our watchdog.
  • 05:12:09
    You are supposed to protect us. You are supposed to
  • 05:12:14
    take care of us and be in our best
  • 05:12:18
    interest. Not investors making
  • 05:12:22
    all this money. Not upper management
  • 05:12:26
    skills, CEO's, CFO's, CEO's, whatever you want to
  • 05:12:30
    call them. I don't care. Making millions
  • 05:12:34
    of dollars a year, plus bonuses,
  • 05:12:38
    plus little perks. The little
  • 05:12:41
    perk that I get every once in a
  • 05:12:44
    while is to have a linden
  • 05:12:48
    chocolate truffle. That's my bonus.
  • 05:12:52
    I don't talk about getting a $5 million
  • 05:12:57
    bonus. That's not what this is about. This is about
  • 05:13:00
    basic rights as humans,
  • 05:13:04
    not just city or county or
  • 05:13:08
    the state. Human beings that
  • 05:13:12
    breathe and can speak. I'm here to
  • 05:13:16
    speak for the people who did not have electricity
  • 05:13:20
    for days in and days out.
  • 05:13:23
    I have a sister whose fiance has a terminal illness
  • 05:13:27
    and is bedridden. He hasn't walked for almost
  • 05:13:31
    three years and he had no electricity.
  • 05:13:35
    I was able to go with Seer that I work with.
  • 05:13:38
    Seer and Nac and West street recovery
  • 05:13:43
    were able to provide battery powered generators so
  • 05:13:47
    with solar power so that they could at least get a fan going
  • 05:13:51
    in the house. The house was 92 degrees inside,
  • 05:13:56
    we were having triple digit temperatures outside,
  • 05:14:01
    and you're sitting in a house because you can't sit outside.
  • 05:14:05
    It's too damn hot. You're sitting in a house, it's 90
  • 05:14:08
    degrees. That's too damn hot.
  • 05:14:11
    80 degrees in a house is too
  • 05:14:15
    damn hot. So what we're asking for you
  • 05:14:18
    to do is to do your jobs. And I don't mean
  • 05:14:22
    to be disrespectful, because I'm not a disrespectful
  • 05:14:26
    person. I'm a nice person most of the time. But this
  • 05:14:30
    really pisses me off when we have to come to
  • 05:14:33
    these things and take time and energy out
  • 05:14:37
    of our lives to come here and speak to you,
  • 05:14:41
    to tell you what you already know.
  • 05:14:44
    You already know this. People died.
  • 05:14:48
    People died from the heat because they didn't
  • 05:14:51
    have electricity in their home or they were homeless and
  • 05:14:55
    they couldn't get to a cooling center. A cooling
  • 05:14:59
    center that maybe provided water and
  • 05:15:03
    snacks. Maybe most of them
  • 05:15:06
    didn't. You were on your own. We're always being told you're
  • 05:15:11
    on your own. Hunker down. Prepare. I was prepared.
  • 05:15:15
    We were prepared. We had water. We had food.
  • 05:15:19
    We had batteries and lanterns and all that stuff.
  • 05:15:23
    But what good is it if you can't have
  • 05:15:27
    the power on to take care of what you have in the
  • 05:15:31
    refrigerator? Your food, your med, your water.
  • 05:15:35
    Keep it cool. So again, we ask
  • 05:15:38
    that you do your part,
  • 05:15:41
    do your job, because if I did this kind of a job,
  • 05:15:44
    I'd been fired and probably charged with criminal
  • 05:15:48
    negligence. But we ask for you
  • 05:15:54
    to do. To begin the rulemaking on required
  • 05:15:57
    residential demand response program,
  • 05:16:01
    it has to be finalized. It needs to be made stronger
  • 05:16:05
    so that the residents, the consumers have the same
  • 05:16:08
    opportunity to make money for shifting their energy
  • 05:16:13
    use in the same way that large industrial consumers do.
  • 05:16:17
    We have every right just as much as they do.
  • 05:16:22
    I just want to understand, when did everything change and
  • 05:16:26
    it became money driven money
  • 05:16:30
    and power? You are here to be the watchdogs,
  • 05:16:34
    but it seems like all you're worried about is
  • 05:16:37
    making sure that centerpoint and their investors
  • 05:16:41
    make money. What about the lives that are lost?
  • 05:16:45
    Do we not count? Do you not breathe
  • 05:16:48
    and I breathe the same air. Are we not in
  • 05:16:52
    the same space,
  • 05:16:55
    sharing the same air? We are.
  • 05:16:59
    We're humans. We count whether
  • 05:17:02
    we're at the very bottom, halfway, or at the top.
  • 05:17:06
    It shouldn't matter whether I drive a Tesla
  • 05:17:10
    or if I drive a beat up Honda. It shouldn't matter.
  • 05:17:15
    Lives were lost. Many people have gone
  • 05:17:19
    broke, bankrupt, trying to pay their bills,
  • 05:17:23
    getting loans, getting second mortgages,
  • 05:17:28
    living in deteriorating homes full of mold,
  • 05:17:35
    holes in their roofs,
  • 05:17:38
    large holes, a tree sitting in their home.
  • 05:17:42
    They can't use their vehicle, and they have to get another car. They don't have
  • 05:17:46
    the money for it. So they're on public transportation,
  • 05:17:50
    which is another joke. I'm not going to get into that,
  • 05:17:53
    but how are they supposed to survive?
  • 05:17:57
    So we're asking you, we're begging you,
  • 05:18:02
    to please make the changes that are necessary
  • 05:18:06
    so that people here in
  • 05:18:09
    Houston, in Texas,
  • 05:18:12
    can live properly and not have
  • 05:18:16
    all this worry and anxiety and frustration
  • 05:18:20
    on them. Like that one poor lady,
  • 05:18:24
    her cortisone levels are so out of whack in her
  • 05:18:27
    body, she just can't function.
  • 05:18:31
    And I know what that's like because I have asthma.
  • 05:18:34
    And I landed in the hospital one time and
  • 05:18:38
    I was there for about a week, five days, five business days,
  • 05:18:42
    but my cortisone levels were so high
  • 05:18:46
    I could not breathe. And they
  • 05:18:49
    said it could have been Covid because it was starting in Covid.
  • 05:18:53
    It could have been allergies, it could have been environmental.
  • 05:18:57
    Who knows? But the stress level, what I was going through back
  • 05:19:01
    then, was extremely stressful, but.
  • 05:19:05
    And I thought I was going to die because I could not breathe at all.
  • 05:19:10
    These storms that we have had recently,
  • 05:19:15
    winter storm Uri, the Derecho hurricane
  • 05:19:19
    burrow, are nothing compared to that
  • 05:19:24
    stress that I live with all the time,
  • 05:19:28
    wondering if the electricity is going to go
  • 05:19:31
    off. Just the other day, our electricity went out.
  • 05:19:35
    It was a beautiful day, like you said, and I'm. I'm inside the loop.
  • 05:19:39
    Beautiful day. Clouds were out. It was breezy,
  • 05:19:43
    sunny blue skies, and the electricity went out.
  • 05:19:47
    So I'm on the list to get alerts, and I
  • 05:19:51
    didn't receive an alert that the power was out until
  • 05:19:55
    after the fact that I called in, give or take
  • 05:19:59
    45 minutes. Then I had an alert saying,
  • 05:20:02
    your power is out in your area. But it didn't say
  • 05:20:06
    anything about when it was going to come on. Later it came on saying it
  • 05:20:10
    was going to be about 130. This was about nine ish when it went
  • 05:20:13
    out. It was going to be 130. Luckily, it came back
  • 05:20:16
    on. But again, I didn't get the alert until
  • 05:20:21
    30, 45 minutes later that your power was restored
  • 05:20:25
    and no reason why it went out.
  • 05:20:29
    So again, I need, I'm asking you
  • 05:20:33
    to please speak to them, work with
  • 05:20:37
    them, change what needs to be changed
  • 05:20:41
    so that we can go back to living normal lives.
  • 05:20:45
    I don't even know what normal is anymore. Thank you.
  • 05:20:49
    Thank you.
  • 05:20:55
    We have five more people who have signed up to speak.
  • 05:20:58
    And those are yvette Arrellano, John Reynas,
  • 05:21:02
    Tracy Timmons, jonathan Zappeta, and damaris
  • 05:21:06
    ghdem. G sure.
  • 05:21:18
    Those are Yvette ariano, john Reynas,
  • 05:21:21
    Tracy Timmons, jonathan Zappeta, and damaris
  • 05:21:25
    ghdem.
  • 05:21:58
    My name, it's on.
  • 05:22:01
    It'll go on if you speak into it. All right. My name is Yvette Lariano
  • 05:22:05
    and I'm the founder and director of Fence Line Watch. We're an
  • 05:22:09
    environmental justice organization based on the east end.
  • 05:22:13
    First, I want to thank you for holding this forum.
  • 05:22:16
    Centerpoint held an event off of wall and
  • 05:22:20
    it was a wreck. After emergencies like
  • 05:22:25
    chemical disasters or power outages, I don't
  • 05:22:28
    want to go into a room and have a bunch of
  • 05:22:31
    tables where half the tables have nothing to do with a company that harmed
  • 05:22:35
    us. So I appreciate you giving us an opportunity to hear
  • 05:22:39
    from people across town and connect our
  • 05:22:42
    experiences to give you a holistic understanding of what happened on the ground.
  • 05:22:46
    So thank you for that.
  • 05:22:50
    We heard about the number of power outages, but not the conditions.
  • 05:22:54
    We heard the conditions from people coming up to the mic, whether it was heat,
  • 05:22:59
    lack of Internet, and communication.
  • 05:23:03
    Jason Wall said that the utility company plans to
  • 05:23:07
    replace just a thousand wooden poles with newer and composite ones.
  • 05:23:11
    We were out of power for six days, and at one point
  • 05:23:15
    we were shoveling ice from behind a Walgreens dumpster because the Walgreens
  • 05:23:19
    had opened up all their bags and started dumping it out.
  • 05:23:23
    Us and members of the community, including an elderly neighbor,
  • 05:23:27
    had to shovel it in our small coolers for
  • 05:23:31
    just some relief from the heat.
  • 05:23:34
    Meanwhile, CenterPoint earned more than $1 billion in
  • 05:23:38
    profit. My community on the east end is one near many
  • 05:23:42
    petrochemical companies. It's a petrochemical corridor,
  • 05:23:46
    home to over 618 petrochemical facilities,
  • 05:23:50
    and the only relief, as you know, is to open a window
  • 05:23:54
    or a door in the sweltering heat. This exposed
  • 05:23:58
    us to cancer causing chemicals. Chemicals that displace
  • 05:24:01
    oxygen, cause reproductive and mutagenic harm.
  • 05:24:06
    Anyone who's driven by understands the smells and how
  • 05:24:09
    they make us feel. The outage caused thousands
  • 05:24:13
    of pounds of unregulated emissions, and we took on
  • 05:24:17
    that cost to our health, an externalized cost
  • 05:24:20
    only magnified and compounded by the number
  • 05:24:24
    of days that we couldn't close our doors, shut our
  • 05:24:27
    windows. Friends and neighbors
  • 05:24:31
    in Harris county, along with those in Brazoria, Chambers,
  • 05:24:35
    Jefferson, and Galveston, suffered the same.
  • 05:24:38
    1.1 million people in Harris county are uninsured,
  • 05:24:42
    including myself,
  • 05:24:45
    and of those and an additional 500,000 people
  • 05:24:50
    are underinsured. The Public Utility Commission
  • 05:24:53
    of taxes issued bonds to recover 1.5 billion
  • 05:24:57
    to 1.7 billion of storm related costs.
  • 05:25:01
    The chief financial officer, Christopher Foster, told investors
  • 05:25:05
    and analysts on an earnings call at
  • 05:25:09
    some point, and Foster estimated residential customers
  • 05:25:12
    could see a 2% increase in their electricity bill for the
  • 05:25:16
    next 15 years to pay for the debt, which carries interest.
  • 05:25:20
    Centerpoint's most recent statement
  • 05:25:24
    just prior to this meeting held
  • 05:25:29
    Jason Wells salary had a base salary of
  • 05:25:33
    $969,000 $969,039
  • 05:25:41
    in 2023, during which
  • 05:25:46
    sorry, I lost my spot, during which
  • 05:25:50
    he was president and chief operating officer. He received
  • 05:25:53
    other compensation and foreigns of stock 3.9 million,
  • 05:25:57
    non equity incentive plan compensation of 2 million
  • 05:26:01
    and what the company described as all other compensation
  • 05:26:05
    of over $200,000. His total compensation
  • 05:26:09
    for 2023 was just above $7 million.
  • 05:26:13
    Prior to Hurricane Barrel, Centerpoint assured the public they
  • 05:26:16
    had thousands of workers staged and ready to respond,
  • 05:26:20
    said their director of communications. Yet 32 hours
  • 05:26:24
    later, they confessed that these workers weren't staged in Houston.
  • 05:26:28
    How can a company be trusted with our public safety?
  • 05:26:32
    We prepped with food, gas and
  • 05:26:36
    water. We didn't prep for the length of time with
  • 05:26:39
    no tracker to tell us when power would be restored.
  • 05:26:43
    We didn't plan on having no communication with my
  • 05:26:46
    elderly parents. And that was what harmed us
  • 05:26:50
    initially the most, was the downed communication
  • 05:26:53
    towers, was not having access to the Internet, was not
  • 05:26:57
    having access to Centerpoint's own text messaging operations.
  • 05:27:02
    My question to Centerpoint is, how do you communicate with millions
  • 05:27:06
    of customers during a power outage? How do you
  • 05:27:09
    do it when communications towers are down? It's a
  • 05:27:12
    concern I'll continue to carry throughout the next power outage.
  • 05:27:16
    When my power came back one week, oh, my power came back
  • 05:27:20
    one week before my parents did, and they're in their sixties and seventies.
  • 05:27:24
    We all lost a fridge full of groceries. And my mom,
  • 05:27:27
    who's a religious coupon cutter, always searches for food sales.
  • 05:27:31
    She also lost a fridge full of groceries. They're on a fixed
  • 05:27:35
    income. And my parents, my dad is a maintenance man.
  • 05:27:39
    My mom's always been a cashier. They're both on Medicare
  • 05:27:44
    and they always wait to fill their prescription costs because of
  • 05:27:48
    money. We visited them daily for
  • 05:27:53
    the entire time. They had no power just to check up on them.
  • 05:27:57
    They refused to leave home, scared that looters might come by and
  • 05:28:02
    we would run out of gas and have to wait 1 hour plus in lines,
  • 05:28:06
    endless lines, and hoping that the gas didn't run out
  • 05:28:10
    from the few gas stations that were still open.
  • 05:28:13
    Centerpoint must review its rates right now,
  • 05:28:17
    and this must include leadership review of
  • 05:28:20
    his salary, which is Jason Wells, and the investments
  • 05:28:24
    they make and make them publicly available.
  • 05:28:28
    We need a climate change or an extreme weather study incorporated in
  • 05:28:32
    this analysis so that we know that Centerpoint knows the
  • 05:28:36
    different kinds of situations that could arise from a power
  • 05:28:40
    outage due to trees falling or
  • 05:28:44
    freezing temperatures. An analysis
  • 05:28:47
    on Centerpoint's investments and equity analysis so that
  • 05:28:51
    we know that a blue collar worker, like a
  • 05:28:55
    grocery cashier or working family, doesn't wait
  • 05:28:58
    twice as long as a doctor's or a congressman's.
  • 05:29:02
    Both essential workers. We need to
  • 05:29:05
    prioritize communication towers.
  • 05:29:08
    Bills issued to customers should be itemized for transparency
  • 05:29:12
    and avoid using vague words such as TDU charges,
  • 05:29:16
    and they should all be made public. I support the
  • 05:29:21
    request by the local union member that said there must be a priority
  • 05:29:25
    of in house utility employees. The more contract
  • 05:29:29
    workers you have, the more leave. I support that statement because
  • 05:29:34
    in house workers know our areas well.
  • 05:29:37
    Right in front of our apartment complex, there's several ditches where 18
  • 05:29:41
    wheelers continuously fall.
  • 05:29:45
    There's no reason why centerpoint workers shouldn't
  • 05:29:49
    have should have stayed an hour away from their work sites
  • 05:29:53
    or why contract workers should have been forced to sleep in work trucks.
  • 05:29:57
    I request a resilience plan that prioritizes communication towers
  • 05:30:03
    and that there must be set emergency rates
  • 05:30:07
    for the given year to ensure that workers who are traveling into our
  • 05:30:10
    state have rates that compensate for their time travel and lodging
  • 05:30:14
    to avoid wage disputes during emergency situations.
  • 05:30:18
    I support the demand to open a rulemaking to protect our communities from
  • 05:30:22
    investor owned utilities and having us pick up the bill.
  • 05:30:26
    I support the previous demand on profit caps to ensure money is
  • 05:30:30
    going where it needs to. I support the request the
  • 05:30:34
    request on the demand to enter to the federal grid with federal oversight.
  • 05:30:39
    I support the need for language services.
  • 05:30:44
    Our legislators also dropped the ball by not including
  • 05:30:48
    renewable projects, wind and solar, to receive loans
  • 05:30:51
    from the Texas Energy Fund. The program provides 3%
  • 05:30:55
    interest loans to build or upgrade gas, fuel power plants
  • 05:30:59
    and was established after the 2021 winter storm
  • 05:31:03
    Erie that overwhelmed the state grid, triggering blackouts
  • 05:31:07
    and left millions of Texans without electricity or heat
  • 05:31:11
    freezing for days. Hundreds of people died.
  • 05:31:16
    Listen. Water rates increased this year by 9%
  • 05:31:19
    for Houstonians. There's talk by city council for
  • 05:31:23
    Houstonians to start paying garbage services by city council.
  • 05:31:27
    And now our most expensive energy
  • 05:31:30
    utility, the energy one, is digging into our wallets,
  • 05:31:34
    increasing TDU rates. Our rates are now 5.33,
  • 05:31:41
    up from $3.80.07 for
  • 05:31:44
    3000 energy. That means an extra $44 on
  • 05:31:48
    our bills. Each of the regulated companies is
  • 05:31:52
    entitled to continue to collect 100% of their cost
  • 05:31:55
    from taxpayers or from their ratepayers.
  • 05:32:00
    This isn't true for us. This isn't true for when we receive
  • 05:32:04
    FEMA assistance to repair, whether it's a fence,
  • 05:32:07
    a roof, or in my case where I paid over
  • 05:32:11
    $400 for a dump truck to come by so that
  • 05:32:15
    me and my friends could help my parents get a fallen tree out of
  • 05:32:19
    their property so that they could drive out of their driveway.
  • 05:32:23
    Listen, we all remember the viral video of Jason Wells,
  • 05:32:27
    the CEO of Centerpoint, urging us to keep our thermostat
  • 05:32:31
    at 78 degrees while the thermostat behind him
  • 05:32:34
    read 70 degrees. My question is whether
  • 05:32:38
    everyone is being treated with equity by Centerpoint, or will Centerpoint
  • 05:32:42
    live up to the images that only increase mistrust
  • 05:32:46
    amongst us? Thank you. Thank you.
  • 05:32:53
    Hello. My name is John Reynas and I'm a member of super neighborhoods
  • 05:32:57
    65 and 82. That's Magnolia Park, Manchester,
  • 05:33:00
    Harrisburg and Smith Edition. Although I'm not here to speak on their behalf,
  • 05:33:04
    first, I want to thank PUC for coming here and allowing community comments.
  • 05:33:11
    I also want to extend my thanks to Mister Wooden, who spoke earlier,
  • 05:33:15
    although I believe he had their leave and his
  • 05:33:19
    community for extending mutual aid to our community during the
  • 05:33:22
    aftermath of Hurricane Burrell. And although mutual aid
  • 05:33:25
    is one support system that we need, what we really
  • 05:33:29
    need is action. Behind Centerpoint's statements and promises,
  • 05:33:35
    the way Centerpoint leadership has been operating has been an embarrassment.
  • 05:33:39
    Centerpoint is already known as an energy company that overcharges its
  • 05:33:43
    customers and to ask for more is inexcusable,
  • 05:33:47
    especially when they've stated that the majority of the outages from de Retro and
  • 05:33:51
    Berle were caused by downed trees. And a recent story
  • 05:33:55
    from KHOU channel eleven shows that Centerpoint is second
  • 05:33:58
    from the bottom in companies in their spending
  • 05:34:03
    for maintenance. They spend on average
  • 05:34:06
    1664 per customer, which is
  • 05:34:10
    just over half of what their nearest person
  • 05:34:14
    above them spends per customer. So what
  • 05:34:18
    are they wanting a higher rate for if they're already not spending the money doing
  • 05:34:22
    the maintenance? The TDU charges are meant for maintenance.
  • 05:34:26
    There are people that have shown their bill is 38% TDU charges. They're clearly
  • 05:34:30
    not using it. I personally have
  • 05:34:34
    never seen Centiner point in my neighborhood trimming trees or maintaining lines
  • 05:34:38
    until this had already happened after the fact.
  • 05:34:42
    We don't want another PG and e, which is a power company
  • 05:34:45
    that was responsible for one of the most devastating fires
  • 05:34:49
    in California history that claimed the lives of over 80 people.
  • 05:34:54
    Unfortunately, Jason Wells has carried this to
  • 05:34:58
    center point from pg and e.
  • 05:35:02
    How is it here in Houston? We now lose power over
  • 05:35:07
    average rainstorms. The repairs done
  • 05:35:10
    during the de retro feel like they fell
  • 05:35:14
    apart as soon as we rained two weeks later and
  • 05:35:18
    then barrel hit and twice the amount of people lost their power.
  • 05:35:24
    I suffer from asthma and chronic anxiety and these
  • 05:35:28
    events have caused both of these conditions to
  • 05:35:32
    become exponentially worse. To where even now that we have
  • 05:35:36
    power, there are nights where I can't sleep because I can't breathe
  • 05:35:40
    over the concerns and worry that the next time we
  • 05:35:44
    have a bad weather day, we're going to lose power for days again.
  • 05:35:48
    Even sitting here right now, my chest hurts
  • 05:35:52
    and I can feel just the pounding in my
  • 05:35:56
    head from just feeling so worked up and upset at
  • 05:36:01
    the ridiculousness of all this.
  • 05:36:06
    We as a city can't keep power in cold,
  • 05:36:11
    which has been getting worse year by year
  • 05:36:15
    to levels that aren't familiar in Houston. But now
  • 05:36:19
    we can't even keep weather in heat, which we are known for.
  • 05:36:23
    That is insane. What are we paying for?
  • 05:36:27
    Maybe instead of raising rates, they should be cutting executive
  • 05:36:31
    pay and using that
  • 05:36:35
    to pay their debt and pay their shareholders and
  • 05:36:38
    stop bonuses. Because when you fail a million of your customers
  • 05:36:42
    and then two months later fail 2 million of your customers,
  • 05:36:46
    you don't get bonuses, you get fired.
  • 05:36:51
    Centerpoint must review its rates right now and this includes
  • 05:36:55
    leadership, salary and the investments that they make should be publicly
  • 05:36:59
    available. Bills issued to customers should be itemized
  • 05:37:02
    for transparency. And instead of just saying TDU charges,
  • 05:37:06
    say what percentage of those charges are going to which fields of
  • 05:37:09
    maintenance, power lines, trimming,
  • 05:37:12
    anything, stop hiding behind vague words
  • 05:37:16
    to overcharge your customers.
  • 05:37:19
    And I do support the request made by local union members today that
  • 05:37:23
    it is. It should be a priority to hire in house utility
  • 05:37:27
    employees instead of relying on contractors that will pack up and leave
  • 05:37:31
    and aren't familiar with the streets and alleyways of our neighborhoods
  • 05:37:36
    that can be narrow and treacherous to big vehicles,
  • 05:37:40
    especially in areas like the east end where you regularly see 18
  • 05:37:44
    wheelers fall into ditches. Even though they know the streets, they still fall into the
  • 05:37:48
    ditches because they're all over the place.
  • 05:37:53
    There is no reason that Centerpoint employees
  • 05:37:57
    should have had to stay over an hour away from their sights. We have plenty
  • 05:38:00
    of hotels in Houston that Centerpoint could have fronted the bill and
  • 05:38:03
    kept people close to where they needed to be.
  • 05:38:07
    No one should be forced to sleep in work trucks and nobody should be forced
  • 05:38:09
    to sit in a lot for days, getting blamed
  • 05:38:13
    for sitting in the lot when they're sitting there because Centerpoint doesn't want to negotiate
  • 05:38:17
    a fair working wage. Thank you so much.
  • 05:38:22
    Thank you.
  • 05:38:26
    Hello, my name is Jonathan and I am here with the Texas organizing
  • 05:38:30
    project. We had some members who were going to
  • 05:38:33
    provide their testimony, but because of the change in the comment
  • 05:38:37
    section, they were no longer able to. But we are here representing
  • 05:38:41
    their interests and their neighborhoods interests. And the
  • 05:38:45
    first question that people have right now is, when the dead
  • 05:38:49
    cry out, do we listen to them?
  • 05:38:52
    Because the 20 deaths that occurred this last year
  • 05:38:57
    is an increase from the amount of deaths that occurred last time.
  • 05:39:00
    And if this keeps up, next year you could easily see 40,
  • 05:39:04
    the next year, 80. And the
  • 05:39:08
    families are asking for some serious answers to
  • 05:39:12
    whether anybody is paying any attention to their concerns
  • 05:39:16
    and to the loss of their family members lives. I'm sure that
  • 05:39:19
    you all honor your families, your fathers, your mothers,
  • 05:39:23
    your grandparents. And we ask for this same
  • 05:39:27
    kind of consideration for the people who are on the
  • 05:39:31
    tv are giving public comment,
  • 05:39:34
    asking for some humanity, asking for some consideration.
  • 05:39:39
    The reality is that amongst the millions of people that
  • 05:39:43
    have been facing fines, that amounts of predatory
  • 05:39:47
    fines, following a disaster, following weeks
  • 05:39:52
    of no work, loss of pay,
  • 05:39:56
    loss of economy, loss of everything, loss of their lives,
  • 05:40:01
    Centerpoint is not able to do
  • 05:40:04
    this without the permission from the Public Utilities
  • 05:40:08
    Commission of Texas. And as the highest body in
  • 05:40:12
    this matter, it is your responsibility, not centerpoints,
  • 05:40:16
    to make sure that all of your citizens,
  • 05:40:19
    all of the people living here, are taken care of.
  • 05:40:22
    But if people do not get that, then what is their recourse?
  • 05:40:26
    The public is quickly losing any confidence and any
  • 05:40:29
    faith in your abilities to lead.
  • 05:40:33
    And they are taking actions such as purchasing generators,
  • 05:40:37
    purchasing coolers, purchasing food. But even
  • 05:40:40
    with these preparations, even with all of the money they're spending, that is
  • 05:40:45
    often putting them into debt.
  • 05:40:49
    The sheer damage that
  • 05:40:52
    is caused by these natural disasters is simply
  • 05:40:58
    nullifying all of that. And when people listen to the advice
  • 05:41:01
    of elected leaders to get generators,
  • 05:41:05
    the reality is that people are still alone. And people passed
  • 05:41:09
    away because they didn't know how to operate a generator. And so the solutions
  • 05:41:13
    that are being placed in front of the public are not it.
  • 05:41:16
    And oftentimes they are just putting them into a
  • 05:41:20
    financial situation that they can not easily
  • 05:41:24
    get out of. Nobody can easily get out of the costs
  • 05:41:29
    that are being incurred because of these disasters.
  • 05:41:33
    The comments from our unions are right. I amongst the millions of people here in
  • 05:41:37
    Harris county and in Texas, there are people dying for an opportunity to be
  • 05:41:40
    electricians to be engineers and to be the workers that can
  • 05:41:44
    ensure their communities are provided with the safety they deserve.
  • 05:41:48
    Millions of people have been struggling with 100 degree weather, increased storm activity,
  • 05:41:53
    and they have the solutions. They are demanding that a tragic
  • 05:41:57
    situation is not made worse by what amounts to predatory
  • 05:42:01
    findings, predatory costs from these electric companies.
  • 05:42:06
    Because of the fines and disasters, people have
  • 05:42:09
    been forced to work overtime, pick up two jobs to
  • 05:42:12
    keep up with the accumulating operating costs. And when
  • 05:42:16
    people lose electricity, they lose their medication, their food,
  • 05:42:19
    the things that give them life and health.
  • 05:42:22
    People lose work. And with the loss of work comes a loss
  • 05:42:25
    to everyone that depends on workers to get medical care, to be able
  • 05:42:28
    to eat, to live. And one of our members was actually going to speak on
  • 05:42:32
    the medical operation they had for their eyes
  • 05:42:36
    just leading up to the hurricane. It had to be postponed.
  • 05:42:40
    And they have still not been able to receive any care for their medical problems.
  • 05:42:45
    And this situation is one where their
  • 05:42:48
    doctor was willing to work with them.
  • 05:42:52
    They needed this medical care. But when
  • 05:42:55
    it came time to. When it came time to prove
  • 05:42:59
    the reliability of the grid and of some very
  • 05:43:03
    large companies, they did not follow through.
  • 05:43:08
    And so people are really lost because we know that everybody here
  • 05:43:11
    is very competent. Everybody here is,
  • 05:43:15
    you know, leaders in some sort of industry.
  • 05:43:18
    So you all have the knowledge
  • 05:43:21
    to be able to implement the changes that are necessary,
  • 05:43:26
    whether you will or you won't. The public is really
  • 05:43:30
    eager to find out because it seems as
  • 05:43:34
    though these electric companies are profiting off of our suffering.
  • 05:43:38
    To charge people $500 following a hurricane.
  • 05:43:42
    It's just really is just really
  • 05:43:47
    out of a sanity. It is something that
  • 05:43:52
    a company just high off of profits would do.
  • 05:43:56
    And so I leave with this,
  • 05:44:00
    that our neighborhoods are seeing what is
  • 05:44:04
    happening and they are not taking this lightly.
  • 05:44:08
    That is why we had community members willing to speak with
  • 05:44:12
    you, to be able to relate to you. It is unfortunate
  • 05:44:16
    that they were not able to today, but we hope that
  • 05:44:20
    the concerns and the testimony from everybody here is
  • 05:44:25
    doing something. And if it doesn't do anything,
  • 05:44:29
    I guess. I guess,
  • 05:44:33
    what are you all here for? Again,
  • 05:44:36
    you are all very competent people. And whether you use
  • 05:44:40
    the gifts, the knowledge, the abilities that
  • 05:44:44
    somebody gifted onto you,
  • 05:44:49
    I guess is a personal choice. But yes, you are all
  • 05:44:52
    very competent people. The people know that you're competent.
  • 05:44:56
    The public knows that you got to where you are for some reason,
  • 05:44:59
    and so will you use those abilities and knowledge for
  • 05:45:03
    the millions of people depending on you. That's something that I
  • 05:45:07
    can't answer. Only your actions will show us. Thank you thank
  • 05:45:11
    you.
  • 05:45:14
    Good afternoon. My name is Tracy Timmons.
  • 05:45:18
    I purchased my home November 31,
  • 05:45:20
    2006. Like that other gentleman. I've been in my home 17
  • 05:45:24
    years. My first storm was Ike.
  • 05:45:28
    I lost my power for two weeks every.
  • 05:45:32
    I never flooded. I've always carried flood insurance. I'm overinsured.
  • 05:45:37
    I purchased a backup generator during Surrey. Because my kitchen
  • 05:45:42
    was destroyed. I had to take out $50,000
  • 05:45:46
    out of my retirement account to rebuild my house.
  • 05:45:50
    I purchased the smallest house in the neighborhood. It took me five
  • 05:45:54
    years to save for the down payment. Centerpoint energy does
  • 05:45:58
    not need a rate increase. Centerpoint energy should get
  • 05:46:02
    a rate decrease. Like that gentleman before me.
  • 05:46:05
    He's been in his home 30 years. They should not get a rate
  • 05:46:09
    increase, at least for five years.
  • 05:46:13
    You have not changed. I know some people's
  • 05:46:16
    houses have flooded, but we always lose power
  • 05:46:20
    in my neighborhood. I live in northwest Houston. Offered 290.
  • 05:46:24
    I lost power during the rain during the de
  • 05:46:28
    retro doing borough. Every last one of them.
  • 05:46:32
    You're not doing a good job. I hope that you would truly listen
  • 05:46:35
    to people. We're educated,
  • 05:46:39
    we go to school, we work. We're the working poor.
  • 05:46:43
    And that money could have been in my retirement account.
  • 05:46:46
    Gaining interest. I had to invest it back in my home.
  • 05:46:50
    I purchased a backup generator just like this gentleman said.
  • 05:46:54
    But a backup generator is
  • 05:46:58
    portable. It cannot run my air conditioner. I was able
  • 05:47:01
    to share it with my neighbors so they would not lose the food in their
  • 05:47:04
    refrigerator. But that's still not
  • 05:47:08
    good enough. Everybody can't buy one. They're very
  • 05:47:11
    expensive. They're very expensive to run.
  • 05:47:15
    I ask that you actually listen to the people here today,
  • 05:47:19
    to look at us, to hear us. We come from all
  • 05:47:22
    social economic backgrounds, all levels of education and
  • 05:47:27
    truly understand what's really going on.
  • 05:47:31
    You don't need a rate increase. You are the first one to turn off
  • 05:47:35
    my electricity if I don't pay the bill. You're the first one
  • 05:47:39
    to do everything. If you don't get the money,
  • 05:47:42
    what are you doing with the money? And it's just not about this time.
  • 05:47:46
    I'm talking since 2008. This is not
  • 05:47:50
    a one time thing. It's continuous.
  • 05:47:55
    They've had so many chances. I hope that you hear the people
  • 05:47:59
    today. I hope that you vote no.
  • 05:48:02
    And I'm like that other gentleman. I think they should be held accountable.
  • 05:48:05
    Accountable. This is worse than Enron. This is systemic.
  • 05:48:11
    I purchased my house November 31,
  • 05:48:13
    2006. This has been going
  • 05:48:17
    on since then. This is not a one time thing. This is systemic
  • 05:48:21
    problem that needs to be addressed and like
  • 05:48:24
    this gentleman said, you have to take action,
  • 05:48:28
    put a plan in place, hold them accountable.
  • 05:48:32
    And as I told the lady, I think they should be held criminally accountable.
  • 05:48:36
    People die. People truly die,
  • 05:48:40
    and it's going to happen again. You need to do something, and you need
  • 05:48:44
    to act swiftly. Winter is coming.
  • 05:48:50
    Thank you. Thank you.
  • 05:48:54
    Good afternoon. My name is Amaris Gonzalez. I'm a community organizer with
  • 05:48:58
    the Texas organizing Project. After the devastation that
  • 05:49:02
    Hurricane Barrow left behind, top was
  • 05:49:06
    on the streets delivering food and water to the families in need.
  • 05:49:10
    What we did was we knocked on every door, and as we knocked
  • 05:49:13
    on doors, we heard stories of families that had small children and
  • 05:49:18
    were with the power for many weeks. Stories of people with medical disabilities,
  • 05:49:22
    people with oxygen that needed to be plugged in and
  • 05:49:25
    didn't have way to do so. They had to go outside into
  • 05:49:28
    their cars in order for them to stay alive.
  • 05:49:34
    Families who could not afford to pay for a hotel room to stay cool and
  • 05:49:38
    had to stay at home suffering from excessive heat. This should
  • 05:49:41
    not be happening. People should not be dying. Now Centerpoint
  • 05:49:45
    wants to raise the price of electricity to a community that's already
  • 05:49:49
    financially affected by the aftermath of the storms.
  • 05:49:53
    That is completely unfair and inhumane. So today,
  • 05:49:56
    we ask all of you, the Public Utilities Commission
  • 05:50:00
    and Centerpoint, to take responsibility. You all
  • 05:50:03
    allow Centerpoint to make an investment of $800 million
  • 05:50:08
    that didn't work. And so it's really unfair that now we have
  • 05:50:12
    to pay for that investment that was not beneficial
  • 05:50:15
    to our communities.
  • 05:50:19
    The state should not have to
  • 05:50:23
    control our power. So we're asking
  • 05:50:26
    today that instead of raising
  • 05:50:30
    electricity rates, that there is a decrease in
  • 05:50:34
    electricity rates. Until Centerpoint is
  • 05:50:38
    able to prove reliability and sustainability,
  • 05:50:43
    we need tangible, long term solutions. We need our own
  • 05:50:47
    local power grid that can give us clean energy that is sustainable and
  • 05:50:51
    affordable. So we ask all of you today to support these projects
  • 05:50:54
    because it will not only be beneficial to our environment,
  • 05:50:57
    it will also be beneficial to our communities. Thank you.
  • 05:51:02
    Thank you for being here. Thanks to each of you.
  • 05:51:22
    Luisa, was that everyone who signed up?
  • 05:51:25
    Okay, I'm going to recommend why don't we take a ten
  • 05:51:28
    minute recess before we hear from CenterPoint?
  • 05:51:46
    I think we're going to try to get this started again.
  • 05:51:49
    If everyone wouldn't mind taking a seat, please.
  • 05:51:57
    Here he comes now,
  • 05:52:14
    if everyone can take a seat. Thank you. And the last item on our
  • 05:52:18
    agenda is an update and overview from CenterPoint.
  • 05:52:22
    Good afternoon. You know, when we initially had this
  • 05:52:26
    put out the agenda. We, the thought was go through your presentation,
  • 05:52:31
    and then the public would respond. Obviously, because the time that the
  • 05:52:34
    first couple panels took, we changed the agenda to make sure we could get as
  • 05:52:38
    much input from the public. So I would say maybe go through the slides
  • 05:52:41
    you think you need to, but it may also be, I think, probably a good
  • 05:52:44
    thing to respond to a lot of what you've heard here today from
  • 05:52:48
    your customers. So with that, please go ahead.
  • 05:52:52
    Thank you. And good afternoon, Chairman Gleeson and Commissioners.
  • 05:52:59
    I want to thank you for holding this meeting here in Houston so we can
  • 05:53:02
    hear directly from our customers. We welcome the opportunity to hear
  • Item 9 - Jason Wells, CEO, CenterPoint on customer's rates, charges and resiliency investments
    05:53:05
    from their experience. I am Jason Wells,
  • 05:53:08
    president and CEO of Centerpoint Energy. I also have with me
  • 05:53:12
    Darren Carroll, our senior vice president of electric operations.
  • 05:53:17
    To our customers. I want to acknowledge that we know our response to
  • 05:53:21
    Hurricane Beryl was unacceptable. The number of outages
  • 05:53:25
    were too high, the length of the outages were too long,
  • 05:53:28
    and our communications did not meet your expectations.
  • 05:53:32
    And for that, I want to personally apologize to each of you
  • 05:53:36
    for the pain and frustration that we caused. We are
  • 05:53:40
    determined to be better. We are working with urgency to
  • 05:53:44
    rearn your trust, and we will build the most resilient coastal
  • 05:53:47
    grade in the country to avoid these types of incidents
  • 05:53:51
    from occurring again.
  • 05:53:55
    There are a couple of points that I do want to address that have come
  • 05:53:58
    up throughout the day, the first of which is,
  • 05:54:02
    I want to be clear, we have not overcharged our customers $100
  • 05:54:06
    million. As you all know, the rates we
  • 05:54:10
    charge our customers go through a very public and regulated process
  • 05:54:14
    to set those rates. We are also required
  • 05:54:17
    annually to file a report on our actual
  • 05:54:21
    earnings compared to our allowed return for each of
  • 05:54:25
    the last several years. As we filed that report, we've demonstrated we've
  • 05:54:29
    earned less than our allowed return. Specifically, when we filed that
  • 05:54:32
    report here towards the beginning of September,
  • 05:54:36
    we demonstrated we earned substantially less than our allowed return in 2023.
  • 05:54:42
    One of the primary drivers for under earning our
  • 05:54:45
    allowed return was the fact that we proactively increased our vegetation
  • 05:54:49
    management in 2023 due to the risk of vegetation
  • 05:54:52
    from the difficult growing seasons,
  • 05:54:55
    the terrible freeze that
  • 05:54:59
    we had in 21, the drought that we
  • 05:55:02
    experienced in 22, the excessive rains
  • 05:55:06
    that we've experienced this last year. We have consistently under earned
  • 05:55:09
    our allowed return as a result of proactively
  • 05:55:14
    making investments in our system to improve our service.
  • 05:55:19
    The second item I would like to address is that
  • 05:55:22
    we have not, and we are not waiting to,
  • 05:55:25
    to make these resiliency investments. When I joined the company four years ago,
  • 05:55:29
    I recognized the need to increase our base around our resiliency investments,
  • 05:55:33
    and we immediately doubled the amount of spend annually to
  • 05:55:37
    improve the resiliency of our system. That initial
  • 05:55:41
    spend over the last four years was primarily
  • 05:55:44
    focused on our transmission system and
  • 05:55:48
    our substations. Those assets comprise the backbone
  • 05:55:52
    of our system and provide the maximum benefit
  • 05:55:55
    to our customers. I'm proud to say that
  • 05:55:59
    with both the de Racho and Hurricane Beryl,
  • 05:56:03
    there were no direct customer outages as a result of
  • 05:56:07
    our transmission system and substations. Those investments
  • 05:56:11
    prove the benefit of hardening. Where we need to
  • 05:56:14
    do much better and are planning to do much better and are actively
  • 05:56:19
    working to be better is making similar
  • 05:56:22
    investments on our distribution system. We acknowledge
  • 05:56:26
    that there's more to be done, as I said, to reduce the
  • 05:56:30
    number of outages on our system, to reduce the
  • 05:56:33
    length of those outages, and to communicate more effectively with our communities.
  • 05:56:38
    So with that, I'd like to turn to slide two and
  • 05:56:42
    discuss the work that we have begun immediately after
  • 05:56:45
    Hurricane Beryl to address the distribution side of our business.
  • 05:56:50
    In August, we launched our Greater Houston Resiliency initiative to immediately
  • 05:56:54
    strengthen our distribution system and to improve our emergency response
  • 05:56:58
    and communications efforts. As part of this multi
  • 05:57:01
    phase initiative, we plan to invest an additional $5 billion in our
  • 05:57:05
    greater Houston infrastructure between 2026 and 2028.
  • 05:57:09
    This is the company's single biggest investment in the region's
  • 05:57:13
    energy infrastructure in our nearly 160 year history.
  • 05:57:17
    Today, we'd like to provide an update on the progress we made,
  • 05:57:21
    the near term improvements that we'll make over the next eight months.
  • 05:57:26
    On slide three, we launched in August the first phase of the Greater Houston
  • 05:57:30
    Resiliency Initiative, which included a series of immediate resiliency
  • 05:57:34
    actions that we completed ahead of schedule to strengthen our
  • 05:57:37
    grid before the next major storm or hurricane. Earlier this
  • 05:57:41
    week, we outlined the second phase of actions, which we will complete by June
  • 05:57:44
    1, 2025. The purpose of the
  • 05:57:48
    second phase of work is to further improve resiliency, reduce the
  • 05:57:51
    impact of outages, and improve our communications and community
  • 05:57:54
    partnerships. By January 31 of next year, we will
  • 05:57:58
    also provide a detailed plan of our longer term resilience efforts
  • 05:58:02
    to design and build the grid of the future. Our goal
  • 05:58:06
    through all of this work is to create an energy grid our customers can be
  • 05:58:09
    proud of by building the most resilient coastal grid in the country.
  • 05:58:13
    On slides four and five, you can see we launched the first phase of the
  • 05:58:17
    Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative on August 5. At that time,
  • 05:58:21
    we mobilized 2500 dedicated crews and contractors
  • 05:58:24
    to complete three core resiliency actions.
  • 05:58:27
    That is, trimming or removing higher risk vegetation from
  • 05:58:31
    miles of power lines, installing more than 1100 stronger
  • 05:58:35
    composite poles that can withstand powerful winds up to 132,
  • 05:58:40
    installing more than 300 new automation devices known as trip savers
  • 05:58:43
    to help reduce outages. These actions were designed to improve reliability
  • 05:58:47
    and system resiliency this hurricane season, and they were completed
  • 05:58:51
    ahead of schedule. As we began planning GHRI,
  • 05:58:56
    we proactively reached out to the communities to gather feedback and keep
  • 05:58:59
    customers informed about our efforts. In August and September,
  • 05:59:03
    our senior leadership team hosted 19 community open house events
  • 05:59:07
    covering every county that we serve as well as every precinct of
  • 05:59:11
    Harris County. We had more than 600 participants,
  • 05:59:15
    many of whom provide valuable feedback that we use to inform
  • 05:59:19
    this next phase of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative, including the
  • 05:59:22
    key areas listed here. We also held listening
  • 05:59:26
    sessions with community leaders and emergency response officials across our entire
  • 05:59:30
    service territory. The feedback we received was invaluable
  • 05:59:34
    for developing our immediate actions. In the second phase of
  • 05:59:37
    our work on slide seven, you can see as we worked
  • 05:59:41
    with the state leaders, including Governor Abbott and this commission, we identified 42
  • 05:59:46
    commitments to better serve our customers and communities.
  • 05:59:48
    These commitments reflected key actions across resiliency,
  • 05:59:51
    communications and local partnerships. To date, we've completed 40
  • 05:59:55
    of the 42 commitments, including all of those with a September deadline.
  • 06:00:00
    The two remaining commitments are on track to be completed on schedule.
  • 06:00:05
    We have set up a website where everyone can track our progress@centerpointenergy.com.
  • 06:00:11
    taking action. Now I'd like to turn it over to Darin to
  • 06:00:15
    discuss the next phase of our work, which is underway.
  • Item 9 - Darin Carroll, Sr. VP of Electric Operations, CenterPoint on resiliency, reliability, communication and community engagement
    06:00:19
    Thank you, Jason. Thank you, Commissioners, elected officials and
  • 06:00:23
    especially members of the public for the feedback that you've provided.
  • 06:00:27
    Feedback is a gift and we take it very seriously and appreciate your willingness
  • 06:00:30
    to share with us. All of us at Centerpoint are laser focused
  • 06:00:34
    on the work we need to do to further improve our system resiliency,
  • 06:00:37
    communications and partnerships. Our next phase of
  • 06:00:40
    the Greater Houston Resiliency initiative, which we launched in September,
  • 06:00:44
    will focus on additional resiliency, reliability and
  • 06:00:48
    communications improvements, as well as additional engagement
  • 06:00:51
    with our communities and advancements to our emergency response coordination.
  • 06:00:55
    These near term actions will further strengthen our system against
  • 06:00:59
    extreme weather of the future, improve reliability and restoration times
  • 06:01:03
    while helping to address the demands of the region's
  • 06:01:07
    dynamic growth. On top of investing in the system,
  • 06:01:10
    we are improving the processes we use to respond to and recover
  • 06:01:14
    from extreme weather events and outages, including how we
  • 06:01:17
    deploy tree trimmers at the beginning of an event and the process
  • 06:01:21
    we use to onboard mutual assistance crews to
  • 06:01:24
    enable these improvements in process and execution of system
  • 06:01:27
    work. As committed, we will be hiring more folks
  • 06:01:31
    in terms we've heard that loud and clear today. Look forward to having discussions
  • 06:01:34
    with Mr. Allen from IBW 66 on that.
  • 06:01:38
    Be having those conversations very soon.
  • 06:01:42
    Directing you to slide ten phase two of the Greater Houston Resiliency
  • 06:01:45
    initiative will be completed by June 1, 2025, before the next
  • 06:01:49
    hurricane season. This resiliency and reliability
  • 06:01:53
    improvement effort will include installing 25,000 stronger,
  • 06:01:57
    more storm resilient poles to withstand extreme
  • 06:02:01
    winds installing 4500 automated reliability
  • 06:02:04
    devices known as trip savers to reduce outages installing
  • 06:02:08
    350 intelligent grid switching devices which will break the grid
  • 06:02:12
    into smaller segments, thereby impacting fewer customers when there are outages
  • 06:02:16
    trimming or removing higher risk vegetation from 4000
  • 06:02:19
    miles of power lines, undergrounding more than 400
  • 06:02:23
    miles of power lines and installing 100 new weather monitoring
  • 06:02:26
    stations to be used in a in a variety of situations.
  • 06:02:31
    As part of this phase, we are adopting and deploying self healing technologies
  • 06:02:35
    that leverage automation to reroute power or respond to outages
  • 06:02:39
    faster. For example, CenterPoint's grid today
  • 06:02:43
    has automated devices on about 30% of
  • 06:02:46
    the total circuits. Over the next eight months, we we will increase that
  • 06:02:50
    by 100% so that double the number of circuits will have
  • 06:02:53
    automated devices deployed.
  • 06:02:56
    Together, we estimate that these actions will lead to at least 125
  • 06:03:00
    million fewer outage minutes per year for our customers in
  • 06:03:04
    the greater Houston area. And that's just the beginning on
  • 06:03:08
    slide eleven. Along with ongoing resiliency actions, we will continue
  • 06:03:13
    to expand and improve. We communicate with customers and
  • 06:03:16
    engage with our communities. We will conduct year round communications
  • 06:03:20
    campaigns focused on customer safety and emergency preparedness,
  • 06:03:24
    including community outreach, events direct to customer communication
  • 06:03:28
    and emergency preparedness webinars. We also continue
  • 06:03:32
    to improve and expand our outage tracker. Over the next
  • 06:03:35
    eight months, we will launch a spanish language tracker and
  • 06:03:39
    provide customers with mobile and web based options to report hazards such
  • 06:03:43
    as wire down in their community, among other upgrades.
  • 06:03:47
    And to strengthen our emergency response, we will
  • 06:03:51
    hold joint exercises with emergency management partners,
  • 06:03:55
    provide backup generators to community centers and implement
  • 06:03:58
    a storm management tool that enhances the way we onboard, track and
  • 06:04:02
    deploy mutual assistance crews on
  • 06:04:05
    slide twelve. Lastly, as part of our future resiliency
  • 06:04:09
    actions to address more extreme weather, we will propose investing
  • 06:04:13
    from 2026 through 2028 to make longer
  • 06:04:17
    term resiliency upgrades and build their smarter self healing
  • 06:04:21
    grid of the future. This will represent the largest
  • 06:04:24
    resiliency effort in the
  • 06:04:28
    company's history over the last 160 years.
  • 06:04:32
    Taking together the collective actions we will be taking as part of the Greater
  • 06:04:35
    Houston Resiliency initiative represent an unprecedented effort
  • 06:04:39
    to strengthen the resiliency of our system and create the grid that our customers
  • 06:04:42
    and communities expect and deserve. Most importantly,
  • 06:04:46
    it represents our company wide commitment to learn the lessons from
  • 06:04:50
    Hurricane Beryl and rear the trust of customers in this body.
  • 06:04:54
    Thank you to the Commission for holding this very important meeting today, and we look
  • 06:04:57
    forward to your questions. Thanks to both of you.
  • 06:05:01
    Commissioners, questions?
  • 06:05:04
    Yeah, I have a question. Jason,
  • 06:05:09
    you have shown empathy at all at a lot
  • 06:05:12
    of different times during this process. Tell me
  • 06:05:15
    what you feel about this meeting, about how did it affect
  • 06:05:19
    you hearing from the customers in this, in this event.
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Glotfelty's question for Jason Wells concerning community outreach
    06:05:26
    I'm saddened by the pain that we heard our fellow neighbors express.
  • 06:05:30
    I'm saddened to think that the cause of that pain was,
  • 06:05:35
    were our actions.
  • 06:05:40
    I'm even more resolute in my determination to make
  • 06:05:44
    sure this never happens again.
  • 06:05:48
    And I'm also appreciative that they would take time out of their Saturday
  • 06:05:51
    to share directly with us those thoughts and feelings so we can learn directly
  • 06:05:55
    from them and be better as they expect of us.
  • 06:06:00
    I think one of the things that is
  • 06:06:08
    it renews my belief in community organizations,
  • 06:06:13
    that we had a number of organizations that came here that
  • 06:06:17
    are part of and represent people within a community. And I
  • 06:06:20
    really hope that you all can find a way to
  • 06:06:24
    reach out to them and bring them to be part of your
  • 06:06:28
    communication and outreach strategy.
  • 06:06:32
    You all have a lot of work to do, but I think they can.
  • 06:06:36
    You know, I know every utility used to have community relations,
  • 06:06:39
    but I think there needs to be a renewed effort to
  • 06:06:42
    try to figure out how to reengage the community to
  • 06:06:47
    help them be part of the solution. And I think you all can do it.
  • 06:06:51
    I really do. But it's going to take a concerted
  • 06:06:54
    effort on your part. But I think what we've seen today is they're
  • 06:06:58
    very willing to be a part of it. They want to be a part of
  • 06:07:01
    it because they want information and they want to know how
  • 06:07:04
    you all are operating and improving the system.
  • 06:07:07
    I think you'll find a receptive group of people there if you
  • 06:07:11
    all make that effort. Thank you, Commissioner. I want to let you know
  • 06:07:14
    how committed I am personally to that. I started the community
  • 06:07:18
    outreach meetings before our formal open houses, and I heard just,
  • 06:07:22
    I heard directly that need for partnership.
  • 06:07:26
    We are committed to continuing these open houses year round.
  • 06:07:30
    This isn't a, a one time action after Hurricane barrel,
  • 06:07:35
    but a commitment that we will undertake
  • 06:07:38
    annually to keep that relationship strong, to understand the
  • 06:07:43
    needs of the communities that we have the privilege to serve. And I
  • 06:07:47
    am determined over time to repair that, that trust in those
  • 06:07:51
    relationships. Jason,
  • 06:07:54
    so in your presentation, you set forth a
  • 06:07:58
    series of action items you all have taken,
  • 06:08:01
    especially phase one through the end of August. And I
  • 06:08:05
    think like 40 action items that have been completed
  • 06:08:11
    is the CenterPoint before Beryl, the CenterPoint now
  • 06:08:15
    in terms of hurricane response? And if not,
  • 06:08:20
    can you respond to whether you would be ready to, to respond
  • 06:08:24
    to and help restore power in a more effective
  • 06:08:28
    manner and communicate with customers. Now, we had a hurricane this
  • 06:08:32
    season before. Are you ready this hurricane season to finish this hurricane season out?
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Cobos' question for Jason Wells concerning readiness
    06:08:37
    Thank you Commissioner. I would say that we are a different company. Having gone through
  • 06:08:41
    the experience of the de racho and Hurricane Beryl.
  • 06:08:46
    It's not just me, it's the entire team I have the
  • 06:08:49
    privilege to work with at CenterPoint that understand the community expects
  • 06:08:53
    more of us. And while we were fortunate to see that
  • 06:08:57
    Hurricane Francine dodged the Texas coast, and it's unfortunate
  • 06:09:02
    that a hurricane hits anywhere, I hope the community saw that.
  • 06:09:05
    We were, we had a different level of preparation, a different level of communication,
  • 06:09:09
    a different level of organization and partnership with
  • 06:09:13
    state and local governments as we were planning and preparing
  • 06:09:17
    to be ready for Hurricane Francine. I can commit moving forward.
  • 06:09:21
    That will be the way that we approach every named storm
  • 06:09:24
    that potentially can threaten the Texas coast. The work
  • 06:09:28
    that we undertook in August directly in our system that I highlighted
  • 06:09:33
    was specifically geared at addressing the issues that caused the
  • 06:09:36
    outages we experienced. I think the thing that I am
  • 06:09:40
    most excited about moving forward is the work that Darren
  • 06:09:44
    highlighted around the automation and segmentation devices.
  • 06:09:48
    As was discussed at different points today,
  • 06:09:52
    we had very little structural damage on
  • 06:09:55
    a relative basis on our system. We had way too many outages.
  • 06:10:00
    The way that we can rapidly address that is to create
  • 06:10:04
    this self healing grid where power is automatically restored
  • 06:10:08
    for temporary outages, temporary faults on the system.
  • 06:10:12
    And where the system does need to be rebuilt, the system can automatically
  • 06:10:16
    reroute power to those that can accept it and isolate that outage
  • 06:10:19
    to a smaller group of customers. I'm confident with the push that
  • 06:10:22
    we have before the start of the 2025 hurricane season,
  • 06:10:26
    our customers will definitely see an improvement in the day to day
  • 06:10:30
    reliability of the system as well as resiliency in the face of future storms.
  • 06:10:35
    Thank you. So back
  • 06:10:38
    on the communication aspect of it, I know we're becoming a
  • 06:10:43
    society of instant gratification, of instant
  • 06:10:47
    messaging on cell phones, but I
  • 06:10:51
    still think, and I think what I saw here today is that there's still value
  • 06:10:54
    in these organizations that are more grassroots
  • 06:10:59
    and are more boots on the ground and are more people to
  • 06:11:03
    people communicating. And so I
  • 06:11:06
    know it's good to have opportunities where you ask people to come to
  • 06:11:09
    you. But I think there's also value in going to them
  • 06:11:14
    and kind of looking for those groups
  • 06:11:17
    that already naturally have an affiliation and a responsibility,
  • 06:11:21
    particularly our emergency management folks. And so I
  • 06:11:25
    would just encourage you kind of going forward to build on those relationships,
  • 06:11:30
    not just in response to emergencies
  • 06:11:34
    and how well we can recover quickly, but also,
  • 06:11:38
    you know, we heard a lot from folks here today about,
  • 06:11:42
    you know, the CenterPoint and how you perform during normal
  • 06:11:45
    times. So, I mean, in my mind,
  • 06:11:49
    you know, if we're going to be, and I think we need to be in
  • 06:11:51
    Texas, you know, the grid of the future, we need to be concentrating not
  • 06:11:56
    just on the emergency response,
  • 06:11:59
    but also how we perform on a day in and
  • 06:12:03
    day out basis. So I would hope that you took some of the things that
  • 06:12:06
    you heard here today and took them to heart and actually,
  • 06:12:10
    you know, put them into your process of going
  • 06:12:13
    in and actually recognizing that you have a case for
  • 06:12:17
    action, putting a set, setting the requirements,
  • 06:12:20
    putting the process in place, auditing and doing that continuous
  • 06:12:24
    improvement so that it's ongoing operational integrity
  • 06:12:28
    management and also that helps you in your emergency response aspect.
  • 06:12:31
    So I think we had a lot of good information here
  • 06:12:35
    today, but I think it's just really just opening the door for what we need
  • 06:12:39
    to do moving forward in the. There's a lot of work that needs to
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Jackson's question for Jason Wells concerning customer emergency engagement
    06:12:42
    be done. Thank you, Commissioner. We are absolutely
  • 06:12:46
    committed on a day to day basis, not just when the storms are here.
  • 06:12:50
    We heard from customers, as you said,
  • 06:12:56
    means we have a lot more work to do on a daily basis as it
  • 06:12:59
    relates to reliability and vegetation management. We're committed to that.
  • 06:13:03
    I completely agree with the idea of being in our communities all the time,
  • 06:13:07
    not just when storms are threatening. Next week,
  • 06:13:10
    we will launch our effort of donating
  • 06:13:13
    20 permanent generation
  • 06:13:18
    devices throughout our community.
  • 06:13:21
    We will announce the first next week. That will be an opportunity to
  • 06:13:25
    make sure that every community, every county,
  • 06:13:29
    and particularly in Harris County in several different instances,
  • 06:13:33
    has a place that will have power in the event of a storm.
  • 06:13:37
    Those community resource centers that we are enabling with that permanent generation
  • 06:13:41
    are also great places for us to meet with the community,
  • 06:13:46
    put out our materials on year round efforts that
  • 06:13:50
    we are undertaking to improve our service and gather feedback. And it's
  • 06:13:53
    what I would consider to be the start of a relationship,
  • 06:13:57
    not just the end, when we make that donation. Jason,
  • 06:14:01
    just one quick statement as the leader of CenterPoint,
  • 06:14:05
    looking up words that define leader, it is you need to be
  • 06:14:09
    innovative, you need to build the relationships, you need to have compassion,
  • 06:14:13
    you need to have credibility, and you need to communicate.
  • 06:14:16
    And communicating is also using your ears and listening to your public.
  • 06:14:21
    And I think you've heard some of their concerns today. I hope you all
  • 06:14:24
    act on them. I hope you contacted every person that sat down on those chairs
  • 06:14:28
    today and you will reach out to them because they did take the
  • 06:14:31
    time and they came forth. And the statements they made
  • 06:14:34
    are not ones that we want to remember that it's worse
  • 06:14:38
    than an Enron or, you know, being without
  • 06:14:42
    power for a number of days is inconvenient. It's dangerous. These are true statements and
  • 06:14:46
    you all need to take them to heart. So that's all I have to say
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Hjaltman's question for Jason Wells concerning directly contacting all of today's public speakers
    06:14:48
    on that. Thank you,
  • 06:14:51
    Commissioner. Get the names of everyone who
  • 06:14:54
    spoke and will be following up on the issues they raised. So thank you.
  • 06:14:59
    I have one more thing, and that is the
  • 06:15:03
    consultants from FBL put together this chart.
  • 06:15:07
    If you don't have it, I'd like to give it to you because it'd be
  • 06:15:09
    interesting to see where you all stood on both the derecho
  • 06:15:13
    and the Hurricane Beryl to see
  • 06:15:17
    where you stand in this regard. We're holding up Florida Power and Light as
  • 06:15:22
    the standard, recognizing that every storm is different.
  • 06:15:26
    But I think there's some lessons that we can learn in that.
  • 06:15:29
    So if you all would do that, that would be great. And secondly, I would
  • 06:15:33
    like to see at some point in time a map that shows
  • 06:15:37
    exactly where the poles are that you all have replaced and exactly
  • 06:15:41
    the lines that you clear on vegetation management and
  • 06:15:45
    where you expect the next critical segment
  • 06:15:49
    or the next six months of vegetation management
  • Item 9 - Commissioner Glotfelty's question for Jason Wells concerning the Florida Power & Light report
    06:15:53
    to focus. We do have that report.
  • 06:15:56
    We'll be happy to share a comparison with the Rachel
  • 06:16:00
    and Beryl. We will provide the information that's requested around
  • 06:16:04
    where this work is occurring. What I would say, and I
  • 06:16:07
    tried to allude to this in my opening comments. You know, we are learning
  • 06:16:11
    from the experiences of all of our peers, FPL obviously
  • 06:16:14
    being one of the best in the industry. But others, I think we're starting
  • 06:16:18
    from a stronger place, having made those investments in our transmission
  • 06:16:23
    system. Again, that's not to say that
  • 06:16:26
    the experience our customers had was acceptable. It was
  • 06:16:30
    not. We will be better, but because of the strength of the
  • 06:16:34
    transmission system, I'm confident that we can more rapidly
  • 06:16:38
    deliver the outcomes that are in those materials because
  • 06:16:42
    of those historical investments that. And this week we
  • 06:16:46
    also highlighted a partnership with an
  • 06:16:50
    artificial intelligence company. There's more to come on this
  • 06:16:53
    technology front, where we're using machine learning
  • 06:16:56
    and AI to help make even more focused decisions
  • 06:17:00
    around vegetation management, where these automation devices should be
  • 06:17:04
    placed, how we should make the hardening
  • 06:17:09
    investments that Darin mentioned and be happy to share that as well.
  • Item 9 - Chairman Gleeson's comments for Jason Wells concerning their duty to ratepayers
    06:17:16
    So Jason, I think I would just end by saying, you know, the common thread
  • 06:17:20
    of everything I heard today was just how foundational,
  • 06:17:24
    reliable electricity, not just receiving reliable electricity,
  • 06:17:27
    but the belief that people will receive reliable electricity
  • 06:17:31
    is to their safety, their sense of safety and security. It's foundational
  • 06:17:35
    to that sense. And so, you know, you all have an obligation
  • 06:17:39
    to provide reliable electricity. We have a duty to all the ratepayers
  • 06:17:43
    as your regulator to ensure that you're providing that. And I know the five
  • 06:17:47
    of us take that duty very seriously,
  • 06:17:50
    and I believe that you take your obligation very seriously,
  • 06:17:53
    and we'll continue to work with you and your team to ensure that,
  • 06:17:57
    like you said, this never happens again. And I would encourage
  • 06:18:00
    you, I think you, to your credit, you've done a lot of good work engaging
  • 06:18:04
    with the public post barrel. I'd encourage you
  • 06:18:07
    that that needs to continue. It shouldn't just happen after a
  • 06:18:11
    storm. That should be a standard operating practice for just
  • 06:18:15
    something that's part of your corporate culture going forward. And I
  • 06:18:18
    think, you know, when people get communicated with effectively, I think that
  • 06:18:21
    solves a lot of problems because they feel like they know
  • 06:18:24
    what's happening and they can plan accordingly. And so
  • 06:18:28
    I, you know, I would just stress to you, please continue to engage with your
  • 06:18:31
    customers, engage with us, and we'll continue to do the same. Thank you,
  • 06:18:35
    Chairman. Thank you, Commissioners. Anything else?
  • 06:18:40
    Well, I want to thank everyone. I know this was a long day. Thank you
  • 06:18:43
    for coming out on a Saturday. We take
  • 06:18:46
    to heart all the comments, all the input at the PUC. We have an Office
  • 06:18:50
    of Public Engagement you can access via our website.
  • 06:18:53
    I'd encourage you, if there are things you want to talk to us about,
  • 06:18:56
    to reach out to that office. We're happy to engage with you.
  • 06:19:00
    And, again, appreciate it. Appreciate the Mayor's office getting us
  • Item 10 - Chairman Gleeson adjourns meeting
    06:19:03
    this space so we could accommodate everyone And with there being
  • 06:19:07
    no further business before the Commission. This meeting of the Public Utility Commission is
  • 06:19:10
    adjourned.
Chairman Gleeson calls meeting to order
Starts at 00:00:00
3 - Project No. 53404 – Temporary Emergency Electric Energy Facilities and Long LeadTime Facilities
Starts at 00:00:36
4 - Project No. 56897 – Electric Utility Outage Trackers and Hazardous Condition Reporting
Starts at 00:00:40
5 - Project No. 56898 – Provision of Emergency Contact Information to Transmission and Distribution Utilities by Retail Electric Providers
Starts at 00:00:45
9 - Project No. 56822 – Investigation of Emergency Preparedness and Response by Utilities in Houston and Surrounding Communities
Starts at 00:00:52
10 - Project No. 56793 – Issues Related to the Disaster Resulting from Hurricane Beryl
Starts at 00:00:55
Remarks by Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick
Starts at 00:02:27
Commissioner Glotfelty's comments on the Lt. Governor's remarks
Starts at 00:29:29
Remarks by Texas State Senator Carol Alvarado
Starts at 00:31:16
Remarks by Texas State Senator Molly Cook
Starts at 00:42:02
9 - PUC Executive Director Connie Corona with overview of the investigation schedule related to issues with Hurricane Beryl
Starts at 00:45:09
10 - Connie Corona on public input questionnaire related to issues with Hurricane Beryl
Starts at 00:46:46
9 - Shaun Miller, Assistant Chief of Texas Division of Emergency Management on response and communication
Starts at 00:50:31
9 - Lance Wood, Houston-Galveston office of the National Weather Service with Post Tropical Cyclone Report
Starts at 00:56:53
9 - Chairman Gleeson's question for Lance Wood concerning activity for the rest of hurricane season
Starts at 01:00:51
9 - Commissioner Hjaltman's question for Shaun Miller on communication of critical infrastructure
Starts at 01:02:10
9 - Commisisoner Glotfelty's question for Shaun Miller on community outreach
Starts at 01:04:02
9 - Commisisoner Cobos' question for Lance Miller concerning communication
Starts at 01:05:41
9 - Commisisoner Glotfelty's question for Shaun Miller on communication with CenterPoint
Starts at 01:07:37
9 - Commisisoner Glotfelty's question for Lance Wood on utilities subscribing to their hurricane models
Starts at 01:09:52
9 - Mac Martin, Urban & Community Forestry Program Leader, Texas A&M Forest Service on storm resilience, tree placement and well managed trees
Starts at 01:11:48
9 - Michael Spoor, President of MG Spoor Consulting on Florida Power & Light's grid resiliency journey
Starts at 01:15:16
9 - Bryan Olnick, Founder of GridSky Strategies on Florida Power & Light's best practices
Starts at 01:24:22
9 - Scott Aaronson, Sr. VP for Security for Edison Electric Institute on resiliency tools and planning effectively
Starts at 01:39:05
9 - Commissioner Jackson's question for Michael Spoor concerning what they would have prioritized in retrospect
Starts at 01:51:04
9 - Commissioner Jackson's question for Bryan Olnick concerning what processes & standards they would have put into place in retrospect
Starts at 01:54:08
9 - Commissioner Cobos thoughts concerning Michael Spoor & Brian Olnick's comments
Starts at 02:02:12
9 - Commissioner Glotfelty's thoughts concerning Michael Spoor & Bryan Olnick's comments
Starts at 02:12:20
9 - Commissioners questions for Michael Spoor and Bryan Olnick
Starts at 02:15:14
9 - Scott Aaronson on mutual assistance
Starts at 02:22:49
9 - Scott Smith, Executive Director, Southeastern Electric Exchange on mutual assistance
Starts at 02:28:23
9 - Commissioner Glotfelty's questions for Scott Smith & Scott Aaronson on mutual assistance
Starts at 02:39:03
1 - Public comment for matters that are under the Commission’s jurisdiction, but not<br />specifically posted on this agenda
Starts at 02:46:00
9 - Jason Wells, CEO, CenterPoint on customer's rates, charges and resiliency investments
Starts at 05:53:05
9 - Darin Carroll, Sr. VP of Electric Operations, CenterPoint on resiliency, reliability, communication and community engagement
Starts at 06:00:19
9 - Commissioner Glotfelty's question for Jason Wells concerning community outreach
Starts at 06:05:26
9 - Commissioner Cobos' question for Jason Wells concerning readiness
Starts at 06:08:37
9 - Commissioner Jackson's question for Jason Wells concerning customer emergency engagement
Starts at 06:12:42
9 - Commissioner Hjaltman's question for Jason Wells concerning directly contacting all of today's public speakers
Starts at 06:14:48
9 - Commissioner Glotfelty's question for Jason Wells concerning the Florida Power & Light report
Starts at 06:15:53
9 - Chairman Gleeson's comments for Jason Wells concerning their duty to ratepayers
Starts at 06:17:16
10 - Chairman Gleeson adjourns meeting
Starts at 06:19:03