No longer seen at I-10 and Sawyer
More than six months after CenterPoint Energy came under fire for its response to Hurricane Beryl — and its proposal to raise its rates — Houston’s main electricity company announced Wednesday that it reached a settlement that will lower customers’ bills.
Instead of the proposed rate increase that the company had requested shortly before Beryl made landfall, most CenterPoint Energy customers will have their average bill reduced by about $1 per month moving forward — pending approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
Centerpoint withdrew its rate increase proposal on Aug. 1 amid the Beryl backlash.
“Following customer feedback and constructive discussions with intervening parties over the last several months, this plan keeps our customers at the forefront and supports CenterPoint’s ultimate goal of building the most resilient coastal grid in the country,” Jason Ryan, CenterPoint’s executive vice president of regulatory services and government affairs, said in a Wednesday statement.
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In Wednesday’s statement, CenterPoint said it “would make no revenue or profit off of the temporary emergency generator proposal,” suggesting that customers would no longer be on the hook to help pay for the generators. The change comes after lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, called on the PUC to block CenterPoint from passing that cost onto its customers.
See here for some background. I’m a little confused by the timeline and the lack of specificity about which complaint it is that was settled – was it the rate case review lawsuit (see the second item), which seemed to be moot as of November, was it the lawsuit over paying for its useless generators, or was it something earlier than that? I might have to go back to my interview with Sandie Haverleh and see if that helps me figure it out. Point is, there’s been a lot of CenterPoint news over the past few months.
You probably won’t notice the one-dollar-a-month decrease in your bill as a result of this, but then you probably wouldn’t have noticed the three-dollar-a-month increase that had been on the table before. It’s more about the principle here, and for once the right principle won out. Take the win, and celebrate responsibly.