Paxton announces investigation of CenterPoint, company behind Houston blackouts

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced an investigation Monday into CenterPoint Energy, the national utility company covering Houston that saw nearly 3 million households lose power after Hurricane Beryl.

While CenterPoint is a national utility, its territory includes the bulk of the city of Houston, where at least a dozen people died of heat exposure during the poststorm blackouts.

“My office is aware of concerning allegations regarding CenterPoint and how its conduct affected readiness during Hurricane Beryl,” Paxton said in a statement. 

In his statement, Paxton said “if the investigation uncovers unlawful activity, that activity will be met with the full force of the law.”

In a rare move, the Harris County attorney’s office — a frequent legal opponent of the attorney general’s office — announced its support for the investigation.

“These days it’s hard for folks to agree on much, but everyone agrees that Houston residents were not well served during the Houston derecho and Hurricane Beryl,” County Attorney Christian Menefee told The Hill.

“People have real concerns about CenterPoint’s preparation before the storms, how long it took to get the power back on, and why CenterPoint didn’t communicate better,” Menefee said.

“I support the Attorney General’s investigation, and my office is ready to help.”

Paxton joins other senior GOP leaders in scrutinizing CenterPoint. Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and the state Public Utility Commission have all called for investigations into the company since the storm, and in July a select committee of state senators spent hours lambasting CenterPoint and its leadership for the blackouts — and the deaths that followed them.

“One company blew it,” state Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R) told colleagues last month, setting the tone for an unusually bipartisan critique of the utility’s senior leadership. 

Much of that criticism focused on CenterPoint’s purchase of 15 ostensibly mobile generators for $800 million, which made the company about $50 million in profit but proved too large and unwieldly to deploy during the event.

During Bettencourt’s questioning last month, it turned out that CenterPoint had chosen a vendor for those generators that cost 40 to 60 times as much as the next competitor — leading Bettencourt to accuse the company of “fraud” and call for leadership change within the company.

“Now, what would you say to the average person,” Bettencourt asked CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells, “that you should resign?”

Wells demurred. “I think if I resign today, we lose momentum on the things that are going to have the best possible impact for the Greater Houston region,” he told Bettencourt.

CenterPoint in a statment said that it has shown itself willing to cooperate in the process.

“Since Hurricane Beryl, we have demonstrated our absolute commitment to transparency and cooperation through our participation in three separate hearings at the PUCT, the Senate, and the House,” spokesman John Sousa told The Hill.

“We look forward to cooperating with the Texas Attorney General or any other agency and have made clear our commitment to upholding the values of our company.”

Sousa added that the company urges “any party that has information concerning these issues to come forward and provide such information to us, our regulator, or the Texas Attorney General immediately

Whether an investigation leads to charges is one question; whether charges lead to further action is another. Paxton’s office has a long history of filing charges against petrochemical industry polluters — often with the vocal support of the governor — and then being “slow to move,” as The Texas Tribune has reported.

This story was updated at 5:42 p.m.