Texas utility considers mobile generators as Beryl leaves millions without power

With millions of utility customers in East Texas left without power by the storm, the utility that served the vast majority of those customers said it was working to set up mobile power sources for critical facilities.

Utility company CenterPoint Energy, which provides electricity in and around Houston, reported that about 2.26 million customers were without power during peak demand on Monday, with the number having declined only slightly since then.

The company said it is investigating whether mobile generation units could be used to temporarily supply power to facilities such as cooling centres, healthcare facilities, police stations, fire stations, retirement homes and educational institutions.

“We are mobilizing all of our available resources, as well as mutual resources from other utilities, to begin the process of quickly and safely restoring power to our customers,” Lynnae Wilson, senior vice president of electric utility operations at CenterPoint, said in a statement. “We understand how difficult it is to be without power for a period of time, especially in the heat.”

The utility said it had begun assessing damage to its facilities and had rerouted power to transmission lines that were not damaged.

Once it assesses the damage, CenterPoint will release estimates on how quickly service can be substantially restored. Customers in the hardest-hit areas should prepare for an extended period without power, the company said.

“This is going to be a multi-day recovery operation,” Thomas Gleeson, chairman of the state’s Public Utility Commission, said of the widespread power outages. “It’s going to take a couple of days to get this back.”