Ike: Centerpoint

If a customer has not yet had their service restored please report your outage to this customer service number at 713-207-2222 or 1-800-332-7143.  This will enable us to respond to individual or residual outage cases.

9/28/08
Several thousand CenterPoint Energy poles were broken as a result of Hurricane Ike and the tree damage left in its wake, which resulted in significant transformer damage and tens of thousands of spans of downed primary and secondary conductors.  Thanks to the assistance of line mechanics and tree crews from across the country as well as Canada working around the clock, we will be able to restore electrical service to 2.15 million customers in just over two weeks. 

As of 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 28, 2008, CenterPoint Energy should complete the restoration to all of our substation feeders, which should in turn re-energize all of our distribution customers.  If a customer has not had their service restored by the aforementioned time, we are asking that they report their outage to our customer service number at 713-207-2222 or 1-800-332-7143.  This will enable us to respond to individual or residual outage cases.  We will continue to employ the services of our Mutual Assistance crews as they assist us in this final restoration process. 

9/25/08 12:00 pm
Periodically you will see tree trimmers remaining idle on the sides of the road for a period of time.  The reason is that the line mechanics must first make the facilities safe for the tree trimmers prior to beginning their work.  Under most circumstances, grounding crews must ground all sources of electricity and enable the tree contractors to work in between grounds.  During long outage periods the complexity is magnified, due to the fact that many customers are utilizing generators to run critical needs in their homes.  Depending on how the generators are used in the home, they can create back feed onto our distribution lines creating potential electrical hazards for our tree and line crews, thus requiring the temporary removal of multiple meters as well.  This provides a safe working environment for our contractors, but is a time consuming process. 

When working on high voltage lines, line mechanics want complete control of “tags” and “switching orders,” thus ensuring that the facilities will not be energized while they are working in an area.  This requires the assignment of circuits to individual teams or companies.  In order to ensure that this control was provided, mutual assistance crews were assigned circuits and substations by company, to “sweep,” which means to restore all primary facilities as they progress. 

As you may have seen, some areas were impacted worse than others, thus creating varying restoration time frames.  This would explain why your citizens may see crews from one company restoring services to non-residential areas.  Additionally, even though they may not see contractors working directly on their or surrounding streets does not necessarily mean that these crews are not working to restore their service.

We have six main substations, fed by transmission facilities that service the southern Brazoria County area, two of which are located within the city limits of Lake Jackson.  These substations reduce the voltage from transmission level to distribution level.  From there, we utilize feeder conductors, which allow for longer distribution runs to reach the load areas.  Line fuses are used when primary laterals tap off of the feeder conductors and serve individual subdivisions, streets and/or customers.  Distribution transformers are used to reduce the primary voltage down to secondary voltage making it usable in your homes and businesses.  Finally secondary and service wires are used to carry the secondary voltages to the point of service. 

As we begin restoration, we must proceed in a sequence, beginning with transmission system, followed by the substations, feeder conductors, line fuses and primary laterals, transformers and secondary/service wires.  Transmission, substation and feeder conductors may be miles away from the customer’s point of service and, as mentioned earlier, these lines must be restored prior to working on the facilities located closer to their addresses, thus seeming that crews are not working in their area. 

We have made substantial progress over the past eleven days restoring service to 1.65 million customers; however, we will continue to work diligently until service is restored to all of our customers.  We are striving to have electrical service restored to the majority of southern Brazoria County by Sunday, September 28.

CenterPoint Energy restores power to 380,000 customers 

For updated information go to www.centerpointenergy.com click on the Hurricane Ike icon.

How CenterPoint Energy prioritizes restoration
After performing an initial damage assessment, including aerial surveys and on the ground inspections, the company focuses on repairs that will restore power to the greatest number of customers in the shortest amount of time.

·         Repairs begin with circuits, which are the backbone of the distribution system. Repairing these main feeder lines can affect 1,000 customers or more.

·         Line fuses are repaired next. Typically 100 or more customers are served behind line fuses.

• Transformers are the third level of the restoration process. Replacing or repairing transformers will typically restore power to 10 or fewer customers.
• Individual drops serve single homes. These repairs are the last stage of the restoration process.

What customers can do to help
The company continues to ask customers NOT to call the company to report outages, but only to report emergencies such as downed power lines at 713-207-2222.  

“While crews continue to work around the clock to restore power, we want to advise customers of some important preparations that they can make to have their home ready to receive electric service,” said Floyd LeBlanc, CenterPoint Energy’s vice president of Corporate Communications.

“CenterPoint Energy will make repairs to the electric delivery system up to the point where it connects to a home or business. However, the customer is responsible for repairs if there is damage to the meter enclosure or weatherhead – the point where the line enters the home through a pipe. If the meter enclosure or weatherhead is damaged, our crews will not be able to re-establish service. If in doubt, homeowners should contact a licensed electrician to make an inspection and any necessary repairs,” LeBlanc added.

Also, while CenterPoint Energy will cut trees and limbs away from power lines and the electric service drops to the homes, homeowners are responsible for the removal of debris left by tree trimming crews who are assisting with power restoration efforts.