Texas Governor Greg Abbott is pressuring a local utility company amid criticism of its response as 270,000 homes and businesses are still without power nearly one week after Hurricane Beryl made landfall.
“Power companies along the Gulf Coast must be prepared to deal with hurricanes, to state the obvious,” the governor said at a press conference Sunday.
Abbott announced he has directed the state’s Public Utility Commission to launch an investigation into why the restoration of power for hundreds of thousands of residents has fallen behind schedule. The governor blamed local CenterPoint Energy for lacking a sufficient number of workers near Houston to respond to damage caused by the storm. Houston, noted as a hub for oil production and a NASA flight control complex, is the United States’ fourth largest city.
The private company claimed over 2,100 utility polls were damaged in the storm while 18,600 trees fell on power lines.
Texas, known for its secessionist tendencies, is unique for having its own power grid separate from the systems serving the rest of the country. The state’s electric utilities have struggled in recent years to respond to inclement weather such as winter storms.