Have you ever heard of CenterPoint Energy in Texas? If you have, you’re probably not alone — CenterPoint Energy is a Fortune 500 company that provides electric service and natural gas for millions of Americans.
That’s not all, though. Read on to learn all about this electric and natural gas company — its history, its operations, and its service areas. By the end, you’ll know everything you need to know about CenterPoint Energy.
What Kind of Company Is CenterPoint Energy?
CenterPoint Energy is, well, an energy company. CenterPoint Energy provides electric service to customers, in addition to natural gas service.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. is a publicly traded company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange as CNP. This utility company is headquartered in Houston, Texas, and has been serving customers under the name CenterPoint Energy since 2002.
However, as we’ll soon see, CenterPoint Energy can trace its history as an energy company all the way back to 1866.
What Does CenterPoint Energy Do?
In short, Centerpoint Energy is involved in the production, transmission, and distribution of electricity, and the distribution of natural gas. There’s a lot more to it, so let’s break down CenterPoint Energy’s activities into three different buckets:
Natural Gas Distribution
Natural gas distribution is a critical component of CenterPoint Energy’s business. CenterPoint Energy distributes natural gas to approximately 4 million residential and commercial customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas.
Electricity Transmission and Distribution
CenterPoint Energy is also involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity. Think of this as electricity delivery: In this capacity, CenterPoint Energy isn’t producing the electricity, nor is it responsible for selling it directly to customers.
Instead, Centerpoint Energy is responsible for ensuring that power makes it smoothly, safely, and reliably from power generation sources to customers. They’re responsible for repairing downed power lines, and maintaining the different infrastructure that helps deliver electricity across the grid.
While CenterPoint Energy provides natural gas service to six different states, its electricity transmission and distribution service areas are limited to two different parts of the country: southwestern Indiana, and the east Texas/south Texas region.
CenterPoint Energy’s Texas service area is primarily located around Houston, including Beaumont, Texas. In fact, in the Houston metro area, CenterPoint Energy is responsible for the transmission and distribution of electricity for a whopping 2.5 million customers.
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Electricity Production
While the bulk of CenterPoint Energy’s electric service focus is on transmission and distribution, the company does own and operate power plants in Indiana.
CenterPoint’s power generation capacity totals roughly 1,300 megawatts, located in the southwest corner of Indiana.
What Is the History of CenterPoint Energy?
Now that we know what CenterPoint Energy is and what CenterPoint Energy does, it’s time to learn a little bit more about the company’s history. As we’ve already mentioned, it can trace its beginnings as an energy company all the way back to 1866.
Let’s start at the beginning, more than 140 years ago, when the Houston Gas Light Company was created to supply gas sourced from crushed seashells and coal to power streetlights in Houston, on the southeastern Texas coast.
In 1870, the Minneapolis Gas Light Company was formed in Minnesota, responsible for providing natural gas service in the Minnesota region. Then, in 1882, the Houston Electric Light and Power company was formed as an electric utility responsible for generating, selling, and distributing power in the Houston area. Twenty-three years later, a natural gas business was formed in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1905.
For most of the 20th century, these three companies — in Houston, Minneapolis, and Shreveport — all operated independently. But in 1990, these utilities merged under the name NorAm Energy Corp.
In 1999, NorAm Energy was renamed Reliant Energy. This was an important time in the company’s history, as this was when the state of Texas passed Senate Bill 7, which deregulated the state’s electricity market.
This deregulation took effect three years later in 2002. As a result of deregulation, Reliant Energy split up: Reliant Resources was created as a retail electricity provider (REP) competing in the newly deregulated market, while CenterPoint Energy was created to focus more on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the Houston area.
If you’d like to read more about CenterPoint Energy’s history, you can learn more at the company’s website, centerpointenergy.com.
Are Reliant Energy and CenterPoint Energy the Same?
Today, Reliant Energy and CenterPoint Energy are not the same. However, as we just learned in our above history lesson, from 1999 to 2002, CenterPoint Energy was a part of Reliant Energy. Following the 2002 deregulation of the Texas power market, Reliant Energy was split up into Reliant Resources and CenterPoint Energy.
Are TXU Energy and CenterPoint Energy the Same?
No, TXU Energy and CenterPoint Energy are not the same. TXU Energy is a retail electricity provider (REP) operating in Texas, while CenterPoint Energy is responsible for the transmission and distribution of electricity in Texas.
TXU Energy is the company you pay for your energy use, while CenterPoint Energy is the company that delivers your power to you. As an analogy, you can think of the difference between these two companies like this: If you were buying a shirt online, TXU Energy would be the company you bought the shirt from, while CenterPoint Energy would be the delivery service that ensured the shirt made it safely and reliably to your front door.
Is CenterPoint Energy the Only Gas Company in Houston?
Thanks to deregulation, customers in Texas have plenty of options for where they buy their power. However, the state’s natural gas market is regulated, which means that in most places, you don’t have options for where you get your natural gas.
This is true in the Houston area: CenterPoint Energy is the only natural gas provider with a service area that covers customers in Houston. So if you need natural gas service and you live in Houston or Beaumont, Texas, it’s time to head over to centerpointenergy.com and set up an online account.
Does CenterPoint Energy Only Operate in Texas?
CenterPoint Energy does not only operate in Texas. In fact, CenterPoint Energy provides natural gas to 4 million customers in six different states: Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas.
CenterPoint Energy’s electricity transmission and distribution services are located in two states: Indiana and Texas. The majority of its electricity transmission services are located in the Houston area, where it serves 2.5 million customers.
Who Provides Natural Gas in Texas?
Many different companies provide natural gas in Texas. Natural gas is, for the most part, a regulated industry in Texas, which generally means that customers won’t have options for their Texas natural gas provider.
Instead, the natural gas provider Texans end up with will be determined solely by where they live. For customers in east Texas or south Texas, CenterPoint Energy is one of the likely choices for natural gas service.
Can I Choose My Natural Gas Provider in Texas?
Generally speaking, no, you cannot choose your natural gas provider in Texas. While the Lone Star State’s electricity market is deregulated, its natural gas market remains regulated, which means that one’s natural gas provider is determined by service area.
Is CenterPoint Energy Responsible for Power Outages?
Yes, at times CenterPoint Energy is responsible for addressing power outages in southwestern Indiana and the Houston area. In these two parts of the country, CenterPoint Energy operates, maintains, and is responsible for repairing power lines, poles, and electricity infrastructure related to power transmission.
If there’s a downed power line in these service areas, it’s CenterPoint Energy’s responsibility to fix the problem.
That said, CenterPoint Energy is itself not a grid operator, so it’s not responsible for matching supply and demand on the power grid. In Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is responsible for balancing load on the power grid, so if there’s a power outage related to an imbalance between supply and demand, it’s ERCOT’s problem, not CenterPoint Energy’s.
What Is the CenterPoint Energy Disconnection Scam?
There have been recent reports of scammers targeting CenterPoint Energy customers by phone, demanding payment in order to avoid immediate disconnection of electricity.
If you’ve received one of these calls, it’s important to know that CenterPoint Energy itself has stated that it would never call a customer and demand payment to avoid disconnection.
Generally speaking, if someone demands a prepaid debit card, gift card, or cryptocurrency payment on behalf of a major company, there’s a high degree of certainty that you’re dealing with a scam.
What Is CenterPoint Energy’s My Energy Analyzer?
CenterPoint Energy offers a tool to its residential customers called My Energy Analyzer. You can find this by navigating to the company’s website, centerpointenergy.com, where you can register your online account.
After setting the My Energy Analyzer tool up, you’ll be able generate custom reports on demand that will break down the energy use of your home, and your natural gas consumption.
Tools like My Energy Analyzer are offered by many different energy companies, and they’re a great way to improve the energy efficiency of your home. This is important not only for the environment, but also for your monthly bill: The more energy efficient your home, the less you pay for your energy.
You’re Now a CenterPoint Energy Expert
We’ve learned just about everything there is to know about CenterPoint Energy. We know what the company is, what it does, where it operates, what it’s responsible for, and even how it traces its history all the way back to the 1800s.
If you’re interested in learning more about Texas-based energy companies, or about a wide variety of topics related to electricity and energy, you can learn more at the Energy Savings blog.
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