CenterPoint Energy activates Emergency Operations Center as it prepares to respond to Winter Storm Enzo across the Greater Houston area

Company activated its Emergency Operations Center to coordinate response and restoration efforts

Winter precipitation and freezing temperatures expected to begin overnight; snow/ice accumulation on Tuesday and Wednesday could impact road accessibility and outage restoration in some places

Approximately 3,000 CenterPoint and mutual aid personnel pre-positioned and ready to respond to weather impacts across Greater Houston area

CenterPoint deploys four small generators to support warming centers across the region

CenterPoint urges customers to avoid unnecessary travel, stay away from downed powerlines and have a plan to ensure their safety 

HOUSTON, Jan. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy activated its Emergency Operations Center this afternoon in advance of Winter Storm Enzo's arrival to be prepared to manage its response and restoration efforts. The company is coordinating with state and local emergency partners as it prepares to respond to the potential winter impacts on the Greater Houston area. 

To aid in restoration efforts, CenterPoint Energy is mobilizing an expanded workforce of approximately 3,000 personnel, including 1,200 mutual aid resources, to help address potential outages across its service area. CenterPoint is also sharing proactive safety and preparedness information with customers via direct email, text and auto-dial voice messages as all as social media, and it will continue to provide regular updates on response and restoration efforts. 

"Winter Storm Enzo is poised to hit the Greater Houston area this evening and our teams and mutual aid partners are ready to respond. Our CenterPoint teams have been working for more than a week to prepare and are coordinating with government and industry partners to be ready to respond. We've mobilized 1,200 mutual aid workers, in addition to our own approximately 1,800 plus workers, set up three staging sites across our service area to quickly deploy crews and equipment, and prepared for freezing temperatures and precipitation. Even with this preparation, we know that storms like these can be unpredictable. Extreme weather, road inaccessibility and icy conditions may impact our ability to respond quickly. Our top priority is to ensure the safety of our customers, our workers and partners throughout this impactful winter storm," said Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President of CenterPoint's Electric Business.

Preparedness actions ahead of Winter Storm EnzoAs of 5 p.m. Monday, CenterPoint is taking the following actions to respond to the impacts of Winter Storm Enzo including: 

Critical winter readiness actions completedCenterPoint's emergency preparations for Winter Storm Enzo build upon the annual winter readiness activities that it conducted over the past several months, including annual weatherization requirements from ERCOT and the Railroad Commission of Texas to prepare for winter storms. These actions include: 

Important information for electric customersCenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to receive outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates via phone call, text or email. Customers can also stay up to date with CenterPoint's new and improved, cloud-based Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish, which allows customers to see outages by county, city and zip code. 

In addition, customers can get the latest information on CenterPoint's preparedness and response efforts, view important safety tips and access the company's 2025 Winter Energy Guide by visiting CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter. Customers can also follow @CenterPoint_TX to receive the most up-to-date information on the company's operations in the Greater Houston area and across Texas. 

For the latest weather information for the Greater Houston area, see updates from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Houston/Galveston at weather.gov/hgx.  

For more information, contact Communications [email protected]

SOURCE CenterPoint Energy