From Beryl to Better: A Utility Reinvents Itself

Trust, transparency and technology: These three words exemplify CenterPoint Energy’s reinvention of its hurricane preparedness strategy.

Last fall, I wrote about the public scrutiny and criticism of CenterPoint’s storm response after Hurricane Beryl, and I defended the utility’s restoration efforts and condemned the abuse of lineworkers, and the mob mentality and negativity that comes from social media and sensationalism.

I still stand by my comments, as CenterPoint had restored power to 98% of its affected customers by July 19, 10 days after Beryl made landfall, knocking out electricity to 2.2 million customers. That was a record recovery. And it’s never OK to attack lineworkers or to be cruel to CenterPoint’s employees.

But some of the public criticism was warranted, and state regulators demanded answers: CenterPoint’s outage map was lacking (people were looking at the map of Whataburger’s closed locations to figure out where outages were still concentrated). Communication within the company and with customers was an issue.

What happens next is remarkable; the CenterPoint CEO took accountability and apologized. Utilities have learned from disasters over the years, and these lessons have helped them improve resiliency and response on many fronts. But I don’t think I have ever seen a utility step up like CenterPoint did.

As soon as they had restored power, the company set to making changes. CEO Jason Wells appeared before the PUC and the House of Representatives. It relaunched its Outage Tracker. It withdrew its 2024 rate case filing as part of commitment to “act urgently and immediately to improve and strengthen” resiliency. Then came the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative that included more than 42 “critical” actions to strengthen the grid and improve customer communications and emergency coordination. That was Aug. 5, 2024. Community open houses followed, allowing customers to have their say, but also for the utility to talk about its GHRI plan.

Then in September 2024, CenterPoint hired a new senior VP and chief communications and marketing officer. It was Keith Stephens. He would be responsible for making improvements in how the company communicates and engages with customers, stakeholders, media and the public. He came from National Grid where he was based in London; and he had previously served in leadership roles at PG&E and Fluor Corp. All his positions involved public affairs and communications.

Fast forward to June 2025. Stephens spoke at the American Marketing Association luncheon in Houston to share the utility perspective of marketing and communications. T&D World’s publisher Diana Smith and an editor for our sister brand Oil & Gas Journal, Conglin Xu, attended for us.

Stephens acknowledged past shortcomings in hurricane response; apologized and promised a new level of readiness and openness. He also emphasized that rebuilding culture and trust takes five to seven years and involves consistent, visible change “even down to how the trucks look when crews arrive." Consistency — from equipment to messaging — remains central to restoring and maintaining customer trust.

He also said that CenterPoint had redesigned its communications strategy prioritizing frequency, clarity, and transparency. The utility now has a set plan to do updates at 10 days, five days, three days, and 24 hours before a storm, and a minimum of four communications per day during an event. It is providing bilingual, real-time outage updates through the new cloud-based Outage Tracker. The plan also includes extensive use of social media and public-facing platforms like the Houston Chronicle to keep customers informed.

Since launching GHRI in response to Hurricane Beryl, CenterPoint has completed all of its key actions of Phase One and Two. When combined, the company has completed the following actions:

• Installed or replaced more than 26,000 storm-resilient poles.
• Undergrounded more than 400 miles of power lines.
• Installed more than 5,150 automated reliability devices and intelligent grid switching devices.
• Cleared more than 6,000 miles of higher-risk vegetation.
• Installed 100 weather monitoring stations.

Now, CenterPoint is expanding its focus to community resilience and long-term reliability amid Texas’s energy deregulation. Coordination with local communities is in full swing. CenterPoint is donating and installing backup generators at key facilities: clinics, shelters, cooling centers. It is also hosting hurricane preparedness events and webinars for local residents.

CenterPoint Energy’s transformation following Hurricane Beryl offers the electric utility industry a powerful example of how to turn public criticism into meaningful change. The company didn’t deflect — it listened, took accountability, and acted. By investing in transparency, customer communications, and grid resilience, CenterPoint set a new benchmark. Its response shows that trust isn’t rebuilt overnight — it takes visible, sustained progress and a willingness to engage openly with customers and regulators alike. For utilities, the lesson is clear: Preparedness goes beyond poles and wires. It requires culture change, proactive communication, and authentic community partnership. Trust, transparency, and technology aren’t just buzzwords — they’re a utility’s lifeline.