American Electric Power’s Post

Check out Bloomberg News' deep dive into why the utility powering the US "Energy Capital of the World" struggled to get the lights back on after a relatively-weak hurricane. Our investigation, based on interviews with nearly a dozen experts along with public filings and on-the-ground reports, found two major factors contributed to the widespread disruption. 1) CenterPoint failed to call up enough workers before the storm hit. 2) The utility struggled with managing tree trimming around its poles and wires. In addition, the utility has struggled with providing reliable service to customers for years. #Houston #climate #blackouts

Get to know some of the #LocalPeopleServingYou at Berkeley Electric. It’s time to #MeetTheManager. Jessie Simmons, Fleet Manager, has worked for the co-op for 35 years! • 𝑰𝒏 𝒂 𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒅𝒐? “Our team maintains all motor-powered equipment in our fleet, such as Digger Derricks, medium trucks, light duty trucks, motor vehicles, and mini excavators. Our goal is to ensure that all motor-powered units in our fleet are safe to operate and in good working condition, keeping repair costs down, and equipment downtime to a minimum. We provide services to our fellow employees satisfying their equipment needs, taking pride in how much we appreciate our workplace and the consumers we serve on a daily basis, which motivates us to repair each piece of equipment to the best of our ability so the life span of each equipment will be proficient for the long haul.” • 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒙 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔? “We created a work environment working together as a team, it's clear to us that everyone is important in every task, regardless of their title.” • 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒑𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔? “What gets us excited is satisfying our co-worker's needs on a day-to-day basis with a positive mindset throughout the day.” • 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚/ 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐-𝒐𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒓? “I will never forget Hurricane Hugo. After the storm made land fall on the BEC system, not a single meter was turning. Hurricane Hugo reminded me that the two best things are having God in your heart and electricity in your home.” #PowerOn #FleetManager #Cooperative

𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣 𝙐𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝘾𝙀𝙊 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙄𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙁𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙃𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙡 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚 Jason Wells, CEO of CenterPoint Energy Inc., has pledged to enhance storm preparation and response efforts after Hurricane Beryl left much of Houston without power. Addressing the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Wells took personal accountability and apologized to customers for the prolonged outages. CenterPoint plans to trim more trees near power lines, improve customer communications, and hire a new executive for emergency response coordination. The hurricane impacted over 2 million East Texas homes and businesses, exacerbating public frustration with CenterPoint following previous blackouts in May. CenterPoint will also offer backup generation to critical care facilities, as recommended in a 2009 report after Hurricane Ike. Additionally, the company will conduct an internal investigation and seek third-party consultation on emergency preparedness. A new cloud-based outage map is set to launch by August 1, and the utility has doubled its vegetation management workforce. Wells emphasized the commitment to better communication and building a resilient coastal grid, starting immediately. #Energy #Utility #HurricaneResponse #CenterPointEnergy #Houston #PowerOutage #GridResiliency https://lnkd.in/gMwDK6DF

With the holidays right around the corner and hurricane season drawing to an end, many of our client discussions have shifted to 2024 planning. No matter your power generation needs or geographic location, PPG Energy is equipped to help you succeed. Let's talk about your 2024 power generation goals. #ppgenergy #powergeneration #solutions #2024planning

𝙀𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙮 𝙏𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙃𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙎𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙩 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙎𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 Eliecer Viamontes, President & CEO of Entergy Texas, Inc., addressed customers affected by power outages after Hurricane Beryl through an open letter. He expressed gratitude for their patience and detailed the efforts of over 2,500 workers who restored power to 252,000 customers within a week. The storm caused severe damage, including peak wind gusts of 97 mph and a tornado. Entergy Texas repaired extensive damage, equivalent to the distance between Conroe and Austin. Additionally, Entergy donated $125,000 to the American Red Cross and promoted cooling centers. Viamontes highlighted ongoing strategic investments to strengthen the power grid. Entergy's Texas Future Ready Resiliency Plan aims to reduce future storm restoration costs by $129 million and decrease power outage durations by 4.5 billion minutes over the next fifty years. https://lnkd.in/gc-BFTCD

17,000 #Mainers were without power, due to the thunder and hail storm that ripped through the state, with winds up to 60mph. 🌪️⚡ PROLine Utility Construction is on the ground restoring power for Central Maine Power Company. As storms continue to challenge the region, Proline Utility Construction is here to lend a helping hand. Whether it's fallen power lines, damaged utility poles, or any other storm-related issues, they are equipped to handle it all. Trust PROLINE to restore your property to its pre-storm condition in no time! Why choose Proline Utility Construction for storm restoration in Maine? 🔧 Experienced team on the ground 🔧 Local knowledge and understanding of the area 🔧 Rapid response to emergencies 🔧 Collaborative efforts with Central Maine Power Visit our website to learn more about our Private Power Service offerings. 👉 https://lnkd.in/gRHCKzkU #MaineRestoration #ProlineUtilityConstruction #PowerRecovery #CMP #centralmainepower

Wow! If anyone can make some sense of this I am all ears. Remember, based upon Centerpoint's OWN data 2 Million of their 2.3 Million customers lost power during Hurricane Beryl............AND.....It took 3 days to restore power to 50% of their customer base and more than 10 days to restore power to their entire customer base.........but they didn't use back-up generators they had leased for $800MM. This raises a ton of questions, most notably, are ratepayers funding the leases for these generators? According to the Texas Tribune "Beryl’s damage to CenterPoint's electricity infrastructure is estimated between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion. Those costs could be passed on to customers, who could see a 2% increase on their bills over the next 15 years." Texans will hate me for saying it, but it sure smells like California. Extreme weather events (wildfires in California) completely overwhelming the capabilities of IOU's to provide any semblance of defense, followed by tortured proceedings in front of the the State Public Utilities Commission where the IOU's have their hand out looking for more ratepayer dollars. One more time-Is this business model working? #hurricaneberyl #centerpoint #resiliency #climatechange #extremeweather #dieselgenerators

When 𝗛𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗹 made landfall in Texas on July 8 as a Category 1 storm, it caused extended power outages affecting millions of people and tragically nearly 40 deaths (many of which were due to the lack of power during the heat wave following the storm). This highlights the importance of proactive, stakeholder-informed 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 that prioritizes among hazards, vulnerabilities and solutions. This is especially the case for 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝗮𝘀, which also just experienced the largest and most destructive wildfire in its history – the 𝗦𝗺𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 in February. 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗨𝗿𝗶 in 2021, which prompted the $800M lease of these generators, was one of the worst natural disasters in the state’s history, causing 246 deaths as power outages contributed to hypothermia. Texas utilities have started to submit resilience plans under new regulatory requirements, so improvements to the planning process are underway. https://lnkd.in/dJiD5gSC #Resilience #UtilityPlanning #Infrastructure #DisasterPreparedness

𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐥'𝐬 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐥 Seventeen 55-gallon contractor bags, three 13-gallon kitchen bags and a week later, I certify BorMik Island recovered from Beryl. Although we endured 52+ hours of no electricity and internet, we were very lucky and blessed compared to others. Our property sustained no damage and we are all safe and sound. However, my 83 year old mother still has no power over a week later! More than 2.7 million power outages were reported at the height of a 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙣𝙚 hurricane! Today, there are still nearly 300,000 people (including my mother) without power just from CenterPoint alone. One can only imagine the devastation a major hurricane could bring our region. The power failures are a direct result of years of failed and disastrous leadership in Texas government, ERCOT, and the major power providers in our state. There is no incentive for proper maintenance, needed upgrades, and reliability (recall the 2011 Groundhog Day Blizzard that affected 3.2 million customers in Texas). Please Texas voters: Hold them accountable by starting with our elected officials from the governor to the legislature. This has been going on for far too long in our state! #texas #texasgovernment #electricity #poweroutage #poweroutages #ercot #texaspuc #failedleadership #leader #leaders #leadership #texas