HOUSTON (KIAH) — In the wake of the devastating power outages around Southeast Texas after Hurricane Beryl that lasted for over a week for many, the Houston branch of the NAACP wanted answers.
According to the Houston NAACP President Bishop James Dixon, the branch met with CenterPoint Energy CEO Jason Wells and other executives. Dixon organized a delegation that included civic, faith and elected officials. They met with CenterPoint on July 18th to discuss their community concerns.
After meeting with CenterPoint Energy, Dixon says a number of pledges were made by CenterPoint Energy, to move forward in remedying the situation and helping to make sure the community does not have a repeat of the outages and conditions it previously experienced with the power disruptions.
Dixon says the key highlights of the meeting include:
- CenterPoint Energy committed to improving their service deliverables, including investing more in vegetation management which includes tree removal and clearing other things that compromised power lines and leads to frequent and prolongs service disruption, and contributes to unsafe scenarios.
- CenterPoint Energy committed to communicating more effectively and consistently with leaders and with the community during crisis events , making certain that the public understands what they are doing to address problems and to help citizens make decisions based on accurate information.
- CenterPoint Energy committed to sharing their After Event Analysis and Action Agenda with us. This includes a report of their findings and will reveal what they believe they need to improve going forward.
- CenterPoint Energy committed to viewing churches and community centers as resourceful partners that need to be included in their partnership network, as churches and others have facilities and are adept at serving in times of crisis.
Dixon also recommended that CenterPoint Energy to consider taking a lead role in organizing regional crisis management plan with other utilities who provide services to citizens. He even suggested a regional summit on solving power grid issues and addressing other matters that would help unite public utilities during times when human need should be the focus.
“We would love to work together with other elected officials to continue our efforts to assist CenterPoint Energy in improving their deliverables for our community,” Dixon said.
