No state agency is taking responsibility for making sure the privately built lines that power many oil and gas sites are safe. Such lines have been blamed for sparking two recent Panhandle fires.
Energy
In-depth reporting on oil, gas, renewable power, and policies shaping the future of energy in Texas from The Texas Tribune.
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Energy
CenterPoint CEO promises improvements as Texas scrutinizes company’s Beryl response
Jason Wells told regulators the company will launch a new outage tracker by Aug. 1. It will also trim more tree limbs near power lines and hire an executive to focus on emergency response.
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Energy
A federal utility assistance program favors cold-weather states, giving less money to hot places like Texas
The program helps low-income people with heating and cooling bills, but advocates say it disadvantages Texas and other warm-weather states, even though extreme heat is a key cause of weather-related deaths.
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Energy
Residential solar is growing in Texas amid worries about reliable power during events like Hurricane Beryl
In Harris County, more federal money is available to help low- and moderate-income residents install rooftop solar.
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Hurricane Beryl
Why Texas’ mass power outages continue to happen
Repairing electricity infrastructure after storms usually costs customers. So could strengthening it before the next weather event.
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Hurricane Beryl
Houston property insurance is already expensive. Hurricane Beryl will make it worse.
Insurance researchers and analysts expect insurers will continue raising already high premiums — and become more selective with what type of damage they cover.
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Hurricane Beryl
Abbott reprimands CenterPoint and calls for an investigation into the utility’s response to Beryl blackouts
Abbott demanded that the utility company produce a plan by the end of July outlining how it will improve power reliability ahead of future storms.
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Hurricane Beryl
Texans heading into a second week without electricity are battling heat, frustration and boredom
More than 200,000 CenterPoint Energy customers without power struggle with the heat one week after Hurricane Beryl swept through southeast Texas.
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Hurricane Beryl
“Get back up and go”: CenterPoint linemen take on a broken grid as Houstonians seethe
Beryl exposed how vulnerable the electric infrastructure is to failure, leaving residents angry and at risk.
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Hurricane Beryl
“They need to fix something quick”: Texans without power for days are getting angry
Nearly a million Texans were still without power on Friday. And the utility company with the most outages was facing threats of violence.