CenterPoint Energy leaders brief Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on company’s Winter Storm Blair preparation and response efforts
This article is provided by CenterPoint
Evansville, Ind. – Feb. 28, 2025 – CenterPoint Energy today provided the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) with an overview of the company’s preparation and response to Winter Storm Blair, the most severe ice storm to impact its southwestern Indiana service area in more than 15 years.
Following the historic storm event, the company worked with the IURC to schedule a briefing on the actions it took in the days leading up to the winter storm and restoration performance during the event. CenterPoint responded safely and as quickly as possible to repair significant damage to its electric system and restore power to tens of thousands impacted by the significant ice event.
“Our goal in providing this overview was to share how our teams prepared for and responded to this historic weather event, the lessons we learned and how we put action behind those lessons to improve our storm response efforts for the next event,” said Mike Roeder, CenterPoint’s Senior Vice President, External Affairs. “We greatly value engaging with the IURC in this manner to demonstrate the tremendous efforts of our operations teams, support employees and mutual assistance partners as well as to listen to feedback the commission shares with us. Additionally, we want to once again extend our gratitude to local elected officials, emergency management teams and first responders for their critical support during Winter Storm Blair response efforts.”
CenterPoint storm response overview: Insights from the IURC presentation
- Pre-storm coordination and resource staging – In advance of the storm, CenterPoint communicated with county emergency management agencies and local officials to provide updates on preparation efforts. The company pre-staged 40 line crews and 20 vegetation management crews (approximately 200 personnel) in the Evansville area, with additional resources on standby.
- Rapid mobilization of crews and additional mutual aid resources – As restoration progressed, more than 1,000 personnel, including CenterPoint crews, contractors and mutual aid workers, were deployed—ten times the normal daily workforce. The company’s Bergdolt Training Center served as a central staging site for personnel and materials.
- Extensive infrastructure repairs – Crews replaced or repaired more than 1,500 spans of wire, 120 utility poles and 75 transformers damaged by ice accumulation and falling trees and tree limbs. More than 1,500 outages required vegetation removal before power could be restored.
- Frequent updates to the public, customers and stakeholders – CenterPoint provided real-time, frequent updates through social media, news releases, direct customer emails and outreach to local officials, keeping the community informed on the power restoration progress.
- Restoring customers safely and as quickly as possible – More than 61,000 outages occurred at the height of the storm. By Tuesday evening, half of impacted customers had power restored, and by Thursday night, nearly all customers able to receive service had power back, consistent with the company’s restoration estimate.
- Support for impacted communities – Recognizing the extended outages and extreme cold, CenterPoint worked with local government agencies, emergency management officials and nonprofits to establish warming centers and overnight shelters. The company also provided daily updates to local and state leaders.
Enhancing future storm response
Following Winter Storm Blair, CenterPoint has reviewed opportunities to further improve its restoration efforts. Key takeaways include:
- Enhancing customer outage communications – The company is working to improve its Power Alert Service® notifications and outage map to provide customers with even more precise, real-time restoration updates. As part of these efforts, CenterPoint is preparing to launch a new outage map, which will include new features and improvements, such as being cloud-based and scalable to sudden increases in web traffic, to help customers stay informed during severe weather and unexpected service disruptions.
- Educating customers on electrical equipment ownership – Many customers experienced delays due to necessary repairs on customer-owned equipment, such as weatherheads (the connection between their home and the grid). CenterPoint will expand outreach efforts to help customers understand what equipment they own and steps they can take to speed up restoration in future storms.
