Galveston Mayor Craig Brown is calling on the Governor’s Office to provide immediate assistance and relief to Galveston residents who have been without power for more than 24 hours during frigid temperatures and winter conditions.
Many Galveston residents have been without power since Monday at 2 a.m. We understand residents are cold, frustrated, and in precarious situations. We share these concerns.
Representatives of Centerpoint and ERCOT appear unable to do anything other than point fingers at each other. Their lack of coordination has resulted in a permanent blackout to the vast majority of our community. The City has repeatedly requested that each agency work with us to restore power or at a minimum institute a rolling blackout, or other methods of energy conservation to prevent our city from being consistently without power.
This cavalier lack of planning to equitably balance the energy reductions and factual communication were easily preventable. The decisions of these two organizations have caused unnecessary suffering, destruction, and loss of property for the citizens of Galveston.
The City is doing what we can to lobby for restoration and relay more information. We have reached out to the state for assistance.
Mayor Craig Brown has contacted Governor Abbott's office requesting the following immediately:
* Gov. Abbott urges ERCOT and Centerpoint to immediately contact the City of Galveston and restore the electricity to the City and if complete restoration is not possible at once, to work with us to stage rolling blackouts and sequential resumption of power that would be in keeping with the health and safety of our residents.
* The Governor's Office order an investigation into the policies of the entities involved that created this situation and develop a plan to prevent its recurrence.
* Develop a system of financial restitution available to the citizens that had destruction, property damage, or any other forms of physical loss as a result of these continual power outages.
We will continue providing updates through our website and social media @CityofGalveston.
The full letter to the governor is available here.