Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
It's going to be a hot summer, the Warrior election. The hottest happenings
happen right here. Use radio sevenforty KTRH. Most of us went a
week or more without power, HollyHansen joins us of the text. And
then, of course, you know, Houstonians are rightfully upset about the way
Centerpoint has handled all this. Thestate is upset, Holly, about how
(00:24):
this whole thing has been handled.They're talking tough, but talking tough and
doing something about it or two differentthings, aren't they? Yes, they
are. You're right, Jimmy.You know, there's a lot of concern
about what's actually going to happen here. There are a few possibilities. The
biggest one is probably the request that'spending before the Texas Public Utilities Commission UH
(00:46):
speaking about six billion dollars in recoverythrough great hipes to customers. The PUC
could deny that request, but onlyif they find that the company has been
negligent in managing theirs. There maybe a good case for that is I'm
sure you guys have been talking about. We could see center Points market shares
(01:07):
tumble significantly over the past week.The market does seem to think that there's
going to be a severe financial penaltyto Central Point, But we'll have to
wait and see what the PUC doesin the fall. What the state lawmakers
can do is a little bit morenebulous. They could possibly try to reduce
(01:27):
the territory that Centerpoint manages, butthat carries a lot of cost and a
bit of a transmission headache for allof the providers. Well, you bring
down the company, what do wehave in response? I mean, who's
the next man up? So tospeak? And now we have potential,
(01:48):
we have lawsuits being filed. Howdoes that get paid for? Does it
come from the company? There?Insurance company? Does it come How does
this work exactly? That's a greatpoint, Sharah. And we do know
that Tony Busby has filed a classaction lawsuit on behalf of more than one
hundred restaurant owners in both Harris Countyand Galveston County. We don't yet know
(02:13):
what they're seeking or what a possibleaward may be, but that would have
to be borne by the company.Would they try to pass that on to
consumers? I don't think there wouldbe stomach for that from the PUC,
But it looks like Ultimately the penaltiesare going to be financial. But as
you say, then what happens whotakes over who've runs providing power to more
(02:38):
than the two million, almost threemillion Houstonian area customers. So a lot
of questions on the table, alot of concerns. We do have another
larger provider in the state of Texas, Encore, which seems to be doing
a much better job of managing itsterritory. Granted they don't have this very
fraud Houston area to cover, butit does look like Center Point could have
(03:05):
done a lot more prior to thelandfall of Hurricane Barrel to prevent some of
this. Well, I think oneof the biggest arguments, and there's a
real case to be made for it, is their quote unquote vegetation management program
and how much money they actually putinto trying to prevent you know, trees
from growing on power lines and interferingwith with with transformers and some of the
(03:25):
other problems that we saw. Ifthe stake can build a case against center
Point that they didn't maintain those thingsproperty, what can they do to Center
Point? Are we talking penalties,Are we talking fines? Are we talking
about the public utilities? Commission,you know, putting some sort of restrictions
on them. What can they reallydo? Absolutely, yeah, and that
(03:46):
is the question. I think itreally always is going to go back to
that request for the to pass alongthose costs. You can look at that
as sort of an in for financialpenalty on the company. And you're right,
Tommy, it does look like thecompany neglected to clear that vegetation.
There has been some discussion about,you know, whether or not the state
allows them to clear enough, buteven in what they're allowed to do,
(04:10):
it's looking like they didn't do that. The other question is whether or not
they have been properly upgrading equipment thatthey claimed that they needed financial to do.
You know, there's some question aboutwhether or not they were upgrading their
transmission line, polls and so forthprior to hurricane season. It seems like
they were waiting for some other grantmoney and that kind of thing. They
(04:34):
were denied a grant from the federalgovernment, So that's an interesting aspect to
this too. They thought about onehundred million dollars last year from the Biden
administration to harden the grid, andthat was denied. It's unclear as to
why that was denied whether or notyou know it was a weak plan or
what have you. But I'm surewe'll be learning a lot more about what
(04:57):
happened in the season before hurricane seasonby the end of this year. All
right, Ollie, thanks as always. I would just question that be careful
what we wish for, because virtuallyevery electric utility company in the country has
the same sort of complaints against it.
It's going to be a hot summer, the Warrior election. The hottest happenings
happen right here. Use radio sevenforty KTRH. Most of us went a
week or more without power, HollyHansen joins us of the text. And
then, of course, you know, Houstonians are rightfully upset about the way
Centerpoint has handled all this. Thestate is upset, Holly, about how
(00:24):
this whole thing has been handled.They're talking tough, but talking tough and
doing something about it or two differentthings, aren't they? Yes, they
are. You're right, Jimmy.You know, there's a lot of concern
about what's actually going to happen here. There are a few possibilities. The
biggest one is probably the request that'spending before the Texas Public Utilities Commission UH
(00:46):
speaking about six billion dollars in recoverythrough great hipes to customers. The PUC
could deny that request, but onlyif they find that the company has been
negligent in managing theirs. There maybe a good case for that is I'm
sure you guys have been talking about. We could see center Points market shares
(01:07):
tumble significantly over the past week.The market does seem to think that there's
going to be a severe financial penaltyto Central Point, But we'll have to
wait and see what the PUC doesin the fall. What the state lawmakers
can do is a little bit morenebulous. They could possibly try to reduce
(01:27):
the territory that Centerpoint manages, butthat carries a lot of cost and a
bit of a transmission headache for allof the providers. Well, you bring
down the company, what do wehave in response? I mean, who's
the next man up? So tospeak? And now we have potential,
(01:48):
we have lawsuits being filed. Howdoes that get paid for? Does it
come from the company? There?Insurance company? Does it come How does
this work exactly? That's a greatpoint, Sharah. And we do know
that Tony Busby has filed a classaction lawsuit on behalf of more than one
hundred restaurant owners in both Harris Countyand Galveston County. We don't yet know
(02:13):
what they're seeking or what a possibleaward may be, but that would have
to be borne by the company.Would they try to pass that on to
consumers? I don't think there wouldbe stomach for that from the PUC,
But it looks like Ultimately the penaltiesare going to be financial. But as
you say, then what happens whotakes over who've runs providing power to more
(02:38):
than the two million, almost threemillion Houstonian area customers. So a lot
of questions on the table, alot of concerns. We do have another
larger provider in the state of Texas, Encore, which seems to be doing
a much better job of managing itsterritory. Granted they don't have this very
fraud Houston area to cover, butit does look like Center Point could have
(03:05):
done a lot more prior to thelandfall of Hurricane Barrel to prevent some of
this. Well, I think oneof the biggest arguments, and there's a
real case to be made for it, is their quote unquote vegetation management program
and how much money they actually putinto trying to prevent you know, trees
from growing on power lines and interferingwith with with transformers and some of the
(03:25):
other problems that we saw. Ifthe stake can build a case against center
Point that they didn't maintain those thingsproperty, what can they do to Center
Point? Are we talking penalties,Are we talking fines? Are we talking
about the public utilities? Commission,you know, putting some sort of restrictions
on them. What can they reallydo? Absolutely, yeah, and that
(03:46):
is the question. I think itreally always is going to go back to
that request for the to pass alongthose costs. You can look at that
as sort of an in for financialpenalty on the company. And you're right,
Tommy, it does look like thecompany neglected to clear that vegetation.
There has been some discussion about,you know, whether or not the state
allows them to clear enough, buteven in what they're allowed to do,
(04:10):
it's looking like they didn't do that. The other question is whether or not
they have been properly upgrading equipment thatthey claimed that they needed financial to do.
You know, there's some question aboutwhether or not they were upgrading their
transmission line, polls and so forthprior to hurricane season. It seems like
they were waiting for some other grantmoney and that kind of thing. They
(04:34):
were denied a grant from the federalgovernment, So that's an interesting aspect to
this too. They thought about onehundred million dollars last year from the Biden
administration to harden the grid, andthat was denied. It's unclear as to
why that was denied whether or notyou know it was a weak plan or
what have you. But I'm surewe'll be learning a lot more about what
(04:57):
happened in the season before hurricane seasonby the end of this year. All
right, Ollie, thanks as always. I would just question that be careful
what we wish for, because virtuallyevery electric utility company in the country has
the same sort of complaints against it.
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