Champions Sun - News
Online map gives customers estimates on restoration
By JENNIFER BRANCH COGAN
While many are still without power, CenterPoint employees are working 24 hours a day to restore power to customers in Harris County. Just days ago, residents were hearing bleak rumors of outages in their areas lasting anywhere from two to four weeks, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case any longer.
Residents with access to power and the internet can check on their estimated restoration date by visiting www.centerpointenergy.com and clicking the link that leads them to estimated restoration dates. According to the map, CenterPoint expects to have most of Northwest Harris County up and running by Friday, Sept. 19.
To date, over 8,000 employees and tree-trimmers have hit the streets to restore power to the 2.1 million of the 2.2 million CenterPoint customers who were in the dark after Hurricane Ike.
“Using our computer restoration model which is based on historical data and damage assessment data collected during inspections of the area, we are confident that we will have power restored to as much as 75 percent of our customers next week,” said Kenny Mercado, CenterPoint Energy’s senior vice president of Electric Operations. “As we gather and enter additional information, we will soon be able to project restoration times for specific geographic areas.”
With the addition of 5,000 mutual assistance utility workers expected Thursday, a total of 11,000 linemen and tree trimmers from 31 states and Canada will be assisting CenterPoint Energy’s 3,000 employees. All will work around the clock until the power is fully restored, reps from the company said.
Residents with access to power and the internet can check on their estimated restoration date by visiting www.centerpointenergy.com and clicking the link that leads them to estimated restoration dates. According to the map, CenterPoint expects to have most of Northwest Harris County up and running by Friday, Sept. 19.
To date, over 8,000 employees and tree-trimmers have hit the streets to restore power to the 2.1 million of the 2.2 million CenterPoint customers who were in the dark after Hurricane Ike.
“Using our computer restoration model which is based on historical data and damage assessment data collected during inspections of the area, we are confident that we will have power restored to as much as 75 percent of our customers next week,” said Kenny Mercado, CenterPoint Energy’s senior vice president of Electric Operations. “As we gather and enter additional information, we will soon be able to project restoration times for specific geographic areas.”
With the addition of 5,000 mutual assistance utility workers expected Thursday, a total of 11,000 linemen and tree trimmers from 31 states and Canada will be assisting CenterPoint Energy’s 3,000 employees. All will work around the clock until the power is fully restored, reps from the company said.
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