It's been more than a week since Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas and thousands of people still don't have power.
The category 1 storm produced winds up to 97 miles per hour, knocking down trees and power lines. Almost two dozen people died due to the storm or the power loss. Nearly 2.2 million utility customers did not have electricity at the outages' peak. As of Friday, several thousand customers remain powerless.
Officials in Houston and across the state have been pointing fingers and demanding answers. The question at the core of their concerns: Why did it take so long to restore power?
The Texas Newsroom reached out to several former elected officials and energy experts to ask about lessons they've learned in Beryl's immediate aftermath. The consensus? Preparations made before the storm weren't enough.
In fact, they said more should have been done well before the start of hurricane season.
"The reality is the storms are coming with greater frequency and greater intensity, which means preparation, preparation, preparation — ahead of time," said Sylvester Turner, who served as Houston mayor until this year and as state lawmaker representing the area for nearly three decades before that.
CenterPoint Energy, which serves most of the customers affected, has come under heavy scrutiny for its response to the storm.
But Turner, a Democrat, said more than just the utility company shares in the blame for what happened after Beryl: "That's the responsibility of the state. It's the responsibility of utilities. It's the responsibility of the city. All of the parties have a role to play."
CenterPoint's role
Fallen trees accounted for several deaths and some of the outages Houstonians experienced after Beryl. With power lines down, two of the chief lessons learned after this storm are the importance of tree maintenance and having the right generators in place.
The Houston Chronicle reported this week that the company spent $800 million on 20 large generators. But, according to the Chronicle, 15 aren't being used because the generators are too big and take time to assemble. Some also need a permit to be transported.
The 32-megawatt generators could provide power for entire neighborhoods. The fact that these generators haven't been deployed has angered residents and officials.
During a recent Public Utilities Commission hearing, CenterPoint President and CEO Jason Wells said they didn't use the large generators because they are for "load shedding," which is when ERCOT directs utilities to shut off power.
But Doug Lewin, an Austin-based energy expert and the author of the Texas Energy and Power newsletter, said that explanation doesn't make sense.
"We've only had three load shed events in 35 years," Lewin said. "You wouldn't spend $800 million on mobile generators for a once-in-a-12-year event. I wouldn't think."
He said the state needs more permanent diversified generation, which means using different types of technologies such as solar panels, wind and backup generators to provide power. Lewin said that type of technology is critical to ensure facilities like assisted living centers, nursing homes and water treatment plants stay online.
The government's role
Gov. Abbott was on a business trip in Asia when Beryl hit. He was criticized for not canceling or cutting the trip short. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who served as acting governor in his stead, issued a presumptive disaster declaration before the storm hit and, afterward, formed a special legislative committee to investigate CenterPoint's response.
When Abbott returned to Texas, he wasted no time in firing back against his critics, also pointing the finger at CenterPoint.
In a letter to CenterPoint's CEO, the governor asked the company to address a number of issues, including eliminating problems with vegetation and outlining the steps it'll take to reduce or eliminate power outages.
He also wants the company to speed up its plan to replace electricity poles with more resilient ones before this hurricane season ends. CenterPoint has until the end of the month to submit its plan. If it doesn't comply, Abbott said he would deny the company's request to raise rates or reconsider its coverage area.
Abbott also wrote to the Public Utility Commission of Texas, demanding an investigation. He wants to know if the problem was a failure by personnel or of the infrastructure and the details of CenterPoint's pre-planning process.
The PUC has to submit its report by Dec. 1, just ahead of the next legislative session.
While CenterPoint is receiving a lot of criticism, Lewin said elected officials are also to blame.
"They’ve chosen to do things like spend billions of dollars on new gas plants that don’t help when there’s a hurricane, to allow CenterPoint to spend $800 million on mobile generators, which haven’t helped much after a hurricane," Lewin said.
"Those are all policy choices. So, I think they’ve got to look in the mirror a little bit, too, and do a better job setting regulatory and policy construct to actually serve Texans."
The Texas Newsroom reached out to Abbott and Patrick but did not immediately receive a response.
The next storm
CenterPoint said it planned to have power restored to all customers by the end of Friday, July 19.
Meanwhile, some Houstonians are left wondering whether they can continue to live in the country's fourth-largest city, which experienced power outages twice this year and where previous storms caused massive flooding.
Ed Emmett, former Harris County judge and currently a fellow in energy and transportation policy at the Baker Institute, said those who stay need to do less finger-pointing and instead focus on better coordination before the next big storm.
"There's going to be a lot of conversation about how do you make electricity more resilient. But more importantly, it's a reminder to people that you cannot take it for granted," Emmett, a Republican, said. "These storms move and at the last minute, they're going to come where they want to go.
"You need to assume the storm is coming your way."
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