CenterPoint Energy runs full-scale hurricane drill

CenterPoint Energy said on May 14 that it had conducted its annual full-scale emergency response exercise in Houston ahead of the 2026 hurricane season, using a Category 3 storm scenario to test how crews and officials would respond. The company said the drill was held at its Emergency Operations Center and involved electric and gas operations staff, emergency planning teams, customer and communications personnel, and outside observers. More than 400 CenterPoint employees participated and about 100 state and local officials, emergency management personnel, first responders and emergency experts observed, according to the company. The exercise comes weeks before the Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1, according to the National Weather Service. ### What exactly did CenterPoint simulate in Houston? The May 14 exercise simulated a Category 3 hurricane striking the Greater Houston area, CenterPoint said. The company said teams worked through weather forecasting, damage prediction, resource deployment, coordination with emergency responders and public communications on restoration progress. (prnewswire.com) Houston-area storm preparation has drawn close scrutiny since major outages tied to severe weather in recent years. CenterPoint said third-party evaluators observed the drill and will provide feedback that the utility plans to use to refine its emergency response practices. ### Who took part beyond utility crews? (prnewswire.com) More than 400 members of CenterPoint teams joined the exercise, including workers from electric operations, gas operations, emergency planning and response, customer operations and communications, the company said. About 100 state and local officials, emergency management officials, first responder partners and emergency experts observed the event, according to the release. (prnewswire.com) Jesus Soto Jr., CenterPoint's executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the company uses drills and pre-storm planning to test whether its response plans work before a storm arrives. Soto said the latest exercise built on preparedness steps already taken this year and on grid investments under the company's Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative. (prnewswire.com) ### Where does the 150 million outage-minute figure come from? CenterPoint's Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative says its 2026 work is intended to prevent 150 million outage minutes for customers through the year. On the company's initiative page, CenterPoint links that target to a broader set of grid-hardening measures, including stronger poles, vegetation management, undergrounding, automation devices and weather stations. (prnewswire.com) The utility said its local team had replaced more than 55,000 poles, trimmed or cleared more than 8,000 vegetation miles, undergrounded 433 miles of power lines, installed more than 500 automation devices and intelligent grid switching devices, and added 150 weather stations as of January 22, 2026. Those figures appear on the company's resiliency initiative page and are separate from the May 14 drill itself. (centerpointenergy.com) ### How broad is the system CenterPoint is trying to protect? A filing submitted to the Public Utility Commission of Texas on February 3, 2025 says CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric's 2026-2028 Systemwide Resiliency Plan covers more than 2.8 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 12-county Greater Houston service area. The filing says the plan is designed to help the region prepare for and mitigate hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, wildfires, winter storms and other extreme weather threats. (centerpointenergy.com) CenterPoint has separately said its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative serves 2.9 million electric customers, reflecting company materials published in 2026. The company has described that work as part of a push to build a more resilient coastal grid in the Houston region. ### What happens next before hurricane season starts? June 1 is the start of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, according to the National Weather Service's Houston/Galveston office. (interchange.puc.texas.gov) CenterPoint said feedback from third-party evaluators will be used to improve future preparedness, coordination with local agencies and first responders, and customer communications before the next major storm response. (prnewswire.com) (centerpointenergy.com)