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CenterPoint Energy Kickstarts Community Open House Series in Greater Houston
This weekend, Greater Houston residents are invited to join the first of 16 community open house events hosted by CenterPoint Energy. These gatherings, set to take place across the city over the next six weeks, aim to amplify customer voices and strengthen community engagement as part of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative.
The Need for Feedback & Dialogue
Starting Saturday, August 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tom Bass Community Center, located at 15108 Cullen Blvd., Houston, TX 77047, the open houses are an integral part of the company's efforts to enhance future storm response procedures. CenterPoint Energy President and CEO Jason Wells expressed the company's readiness to hear from the community: “We have heard the calls for change, and we are taking action now," he said. "We are encouraging all of our customers to share their experiences during Hurricane Beryl, as well as their ideas for how we can do better."
What to Expect at Open Houses
Attendees will have the chance to engage with CenterPoint team members, visit informational stations and discuss the over 40 actions the company plans to implement to bolster public communications and system resilience. Additionally, customers will be able to demo the new Outage Tracker and sign up for the Power Alert Service, which strives to keep them informed about power outages before, during, and after a storm.
View the schedule for future open houses below.
Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative
Since its launch on August 5, this initiative has spurred over 2,500 CenterPoint frontline workers and contractors to undertake actions aimed at strengthening the grid and mitigating the risk of outages prior to future major storms. Actions include:
- Upgrading poles: About 1,000 wooden poles will be replaced with sturdier fiberglass poles capable of withstanding winds of up to 132 MPH.
- Removing vegetation: The vegetation management workforce has been doubled to ensure the removal of high-risk vegetation near power lines.
- Implementing automated devices: Roughly 300 automated devices, or trip savers, will be set up, thereby reducing customer outages and facilitating faster power restoration.
Updates on these efforts can be viewed via CenterPoint's social channels and online at CenterPointEnergy.com/TakingAction.
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