AUSTIN (KXAN) — Electricity providers in Texas that service retail customers are now required to maintain online power outage trackers that provide information in English and Spanish.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) approved the requirement on Thursday through an update to 16 Texas Administrative Code §25.52.
According to the PUCT, the rule requires utilities that provide distribution services to retail electricity customers to maintain accurate and publicly available outage trackers or maps on their websites. The tracker or map must contain the following information in English and Spanish:
- A map of the utility’s distribution service territory
- For each active outage impacting customers:
- Approximate location of the outage
- Date and time the outage was reported or identified
- Estimated restoration time
- General status of the restoration effort
- Date and time the outage and restoration status information was most recently updated
- Information on how a customer can report an outage or hazardous condition (one digital reporting method must be available to customers)
- Information on how a customer can request to receive updates on the status of outages and restoration efforts
Under the rule, if an outage tracker or map is scheduled to be offline or unavailable for maintenance or upgrades, the utility must post the details of the scheduled activity on its website and provide notice to the PUCT. If the tracker or map unexpectedly becomes unavailable, the utility must notify the PUCT in writing.
The rule does not apply to municipally owned utilities or electric cooperatives. Utilities that violate the rule could face penalties up to $25,000 per day, per violation, in accordance with Chapter §25.8 of the PUCT’s rules.
In July, millions of Texans lost power in the wake of Hurricane Beryl.
Because CenterPoint Energy — the main electric provider in the Houston area — did not have an active outage map at the time, some residents in the areas affected by Beryl resorted to checking the Whataburger app to see if there was power near them.
CenterPoint did have an “outage tracker” page on its website, which showed an outage count and the most recent updates on the restoration process. The website also had tabs for customers to sign up for alerts when the power went out, but at the time, there was no way to search for an address to check for an outage.
CenterPoint does have an active outage map now.
