CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 electric and natural gas utility serving several markets in the American states of Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. It was formerly known as Reliant Energy (from which it is now separated), NorAm Energy, Houston Industries, and HL&P. The company is headquartered in the CenterPoint Energy Tower at 1111 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston. Some of its notable subscribers include Retail Electric Providers (REPs), such as NRG Energy, Champion Energy, Eligo Energy, Dynowatt, Ambit Energy, Texas Power, Bounce Energy, MXenergy, Direct Energy, Stream Energy, First Texas Energy Corporation, Gexa Energy, Cirro Energy, and Kona Energy.
History.
When the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, the former Houston Lighting & Power (HL&P) was split into several companies. In 2003 HL&P was split into Reliant Energy, Texas Genco, and CenterPoint Energy.
Until December 15, 2004, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessors operated in its various markets under these names; they were used separately prior to Reliant Energy, and later in conjunction with the Reliant Energy and CenterPoint Energy names:
In late 2004, four private equity firms—the Texas Pacific Group, the Blackstone Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Hellman & Friedman—combined forces to purchase Texas Genco from Centerpoint. Later in 2006, Texas Genco was sold to NRG Energy of Princeton, N.J.
On April 23, 2018 CenterPoint Energy and Vectren Corporation announced they have entered into a definitive merger agreement.
Hurricane Ike caused great disruption of service in the Greater Houston Area, wiping out 2.1 million of CenterPoint Energy's 2.26 million clients' electricity. This was the largest power outage in the company's 130-year history, and the largest in the state's history.
In March 2009, the company’s five-year smart meter deployment began, delivering enhanced smart meter functionality to Retail Electric Providers (REPs).
The company worked with the Department of Energy for a pilot program in Texas centered on energy consumption. After working with 500-residential electricity customers in the Houston area, it was found that by using a smart meter, consumers cut down on energy use for the home. The pilot program was funded in part by the $200 million it received from the federal stimulus act.
Electric vehicles
In 2010, CenterPoint Energy and Ford Motor Company formed a partnership to promote adoption of electric vehicles. The two companies teamed up to work together to create electric vehicle consumer outreach and education programs; they also distributed details to various stakeholders about charging needs and the requirements needed to "ensure the electrical infrastructure can support the necessary demand." Additionally: "The Ford and CenterPoint Energy collaboration also includes developing strategies to minimize the emissions and distribution impacts of charging electric vehicles by using statewide system renewable energy resources and more efficient use of household electricity."
2021 power outages.
At 1:25 a.m. on February 15, 2021, due to a major cold-weather event affecting the state of Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) declared a statewide power emergency, due to a 34,000 MW shortfall in generation causing widespread blackouts. At around 1:30 a.m., CenterPoint Energy started the rolling blackouts around the Houston area. At first, the company said that the blackouts are expected to last 10 to 45 minutes, but soon updated its statement that customers who are experiencing an outage should be prepared to be without power for the rest of Monday.
However, because of the outages in the Houston area, CenterPoint Energy's outage map crashed, and was later restored at around 7 to 9 p.m. the same day.
At around midnight on February 16, CenterPoint Energy was able to restart the process of rolling the outages around, but was forced to stop due to another ERCOT order because some generation units (around the Houston area) have tripped offline. However, the company was able to do the same process around 1 p.m. the same day.
Criticism.
On December 16, 2005, CenterPoint Energy Inc. said it would restate its finances for 2004 and the first three quarters of 2005 to correct accounting errors that overstated revenue and natural gas expenses.
In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized CenterPoint Energy for spending $2.65 million on lobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008-2010, instead getting $284 million in tax rebates, despite making a profit of $1.9 billion, and having an executive pay between $12 and $13 million for its top 5 executives.