Ahead of hurricane season, a Texas utility is installing a first-of-its-kind network of weather stations to enhance storm response

Maybe it was the fact that more than 2 million customers lost power for days in the sweltering Texas summer heat. Perhaps it was the billion-dollar price tag to repair damaged electric infrastructure (which is being passed onto ratepayers). Or, likeliest of all, the ultimate indignity of the Whataburger app outperforming the utility’s outage tracker.

Whatever the reason, CenterPoint Energy is working feverishly to prevent another Hurricane Beryl, or at least greatly diminish the next major storm’s impact on its customers in Houston, Texas.

Ahead of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through November 30, the utility has begun installing the first wave of weather monitoring stations to enhance situational awareness during severe weather events like Beryl. Centerpoint expects to install a network of 100 weather stations by the start of the season, collecting detailed, real-time data from all 12 counties in the company’s Greater Houston area electric service territory.

CenterPoint, which serves approximately 7 million metered customers across Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas, will be the first investor-owned utility to establish its own weather station network in Texas. The endeavor is part of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI), a lengthy list of now-completed tasks firming up customer communication and community partnerships and increasing resiliency.

The weather monitoring stations will be installed strategically on existing electrical infrastructure across CenterPoint’s territory. The devices will take measurements every 2-5 minutes, including humidity levels, wind speed, temperature, and rainfall. The data collected will enable CenterPoint and local emergency partners to forecast severe weather more precisely, better distribute resources in key areas, take faster action to prepare for and respond to potential impacts to the electric system, and improve customer service before, during, and after weather events.

Matt Lanza, CenterPoint’s meteorology manager and emergency preparedness and response team member, called this development a “historic moment” for the utility.

“Our weather network will provide invaluable situational awareness, in real-time, to help us act quickly, proactively, and precisely before weather threatens to impact the electrical system and our customers. Best of all, we will be able to share this vital information with all our emergency partners, state and local governments, and the public, so that everyone across our communities can be better prepared,” Lanza said.

Other Storm Prep

CenterPoint’s weather monitoring network is the latest in a series of actions taken as part of the GHRI, designed to prepare for severe weather and “create the most resilient coastal grid in the country.”

Additional resiliency actions include:

• Installing 25,000 stronger, more storm-resilient poles built to withstand extreme winds.
• Installing 4,850 automated reliability devices capable of self-healing, potentially reducing the impact of outages and improving restoration times.
• Clearing high-risk vegetation near 4,000 miles of power lines to reduce storm-related outages.
• Undergrounding 400 miles of power lines to improve overall resiliency.

Once completed, CenterPoint expects improved overall grid resiliency and reliability, projecting to reduce outages for its customers by more than 125 million minutes annually.