HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) – CenterPoint Energy plans to hold open houses through September to inform the public about improvement efforts, but the public will then have more insight into the company’s donations to politicians.
The company plans to hold 16 public meetings in the Gulf region, one of the areas hardest hit by the power outage during Hurricane Beryl. At least five of these will be in Harris County.
Our ABC13 partners at the Houston Chronicle have obtained records of CenterPoint’s donations to lawmakers.
RELATED TOPICS: ‘Make it better’: CenterPoint will host first open house this weekend to talk about planned improvements
Texas Governor Greg Abbott received about $115,000 and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick received $91,000.
Despite the dollars, both Republican party leaders spoke out against CenterPoint after the storm.
The company has also made generous donations to local Democrats, including Houston Mayor John Whitmire and former Mayor Sylvester Turner, who each received more than $40,000.
After the storm, lawmakers held intensive hearings with CenterPoint leadership.
The company says the feedback has enabled it to make 40 improvements, including a new outage tracker.
CenterPoint says it wants to hear the opinions of its neighbors, but Fifth Ward residents said they felt left out because no meeting was planned in their area.
A meeting is good, but results are better
Alonzo Lincoln, resident of the Fifth Ward
ABC13 spoke to some Fifth Ward residents and asked, “What is your message to them or what would you like to ask them?”
“No, we have nothing to begin with. We lost what little we had. No need to worry. No, nothing,” said Hazel Garrett.
“Do better,” replied Ruby Lincoln, a longtime Fifth Ward resident.
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The first CenterPoint Open House will be held this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tom Bass Community Center.
If you are unable to attend this event, you can view the full schedule on the CenterPoint website.
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