Houston, Texas Power Outage Today

How reliable is CenterPoint Energy service in Houston?

CenterPoint Energy is an investor-owned utility with 2,847,806 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 3.7 interruptions and 4,316 minutes (about 72 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted about 19.4 hours.

About 97% of that time came on major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately. On ordinary days the average falls to 150 minutes. A handful of severe-weather days, not everyday faults, set this utility’s year.

The long average outage is the notable figure: when the lights went out for CenterPoint Energy customers, they stayed out for about 19.4 hours on average, which is long enough to spoil refrigerated food and strain medical needs.

For comparison, Texas as a whole averaged 1,271 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts CenterPoint Energy above the state average.

Among the 70 utilities in Texas with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, CenterPoint Energy ranks 69th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 2% of the 926 utilities of that size reported more outage minutes in 2024.

These are the figures the utility itself reported to the US Energy Information Administration (Form EIA-861, 2024) and describe the whole service territory, not one street. Your own address can be better or worse.

Storm season and outages in Houston

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 559 storm reports for Harris County from 2015 through 2026, most often thunderstorm wind (198), hail (164), flash flood (109), and tornado (38). The busiest full year was 2024 with 79 reports and the quietest was 2022 with 21, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in May (139 since 2015), followed by April and June. October is outside those three months, so an outage now is less likely to be weather-related.

NOAA’s own narratives name power outages in 6 storm episodes in Harris County since 2015, most often in February. That count is a floor, since the database records outages only when a spotter or agency mentions them.

What the most common storm types in Houston do to the grid:

• Thunderstorm wind. Straight-line wind pushes trees and limbs into distribution lines. These outages are usually local, a street or a neighborhood at a time, and crews clear them circuit by circuit.
• Flash flood. Floodwater reaches ground-level transformers, meters and low-lying substations. Utilities may shut power off ahead of the water on purpose, and wading near flooded equipment can electrocute.
• Hail. Hail rarely cuts power by itself, but it often arrives with the wind and lightning that do, and it breaks solar panels, windshields and exposed utility equipment.

Storm reports that name Houston

Within Harris County, 158 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Houston as their location or in their description: thunderstorm wind (55), flash flood (53), hail (30), and tornado (11). That is about 28% of the county’s reports. Reports naming Houston are most common in May. The busiest full year was 2017 with 26. These reports record 60 deaths and 9 injuries in total.

Who a power outage hits hardest in Houston

63.9% of occupied homes in Houston are heated with electricity (US 41.3%). In a winter outage those homes lose heat the moment the power fails, and electric furnaces and heat pumps are too large to run from a portable generator. Warm layers, blankets and a plan for where to stay matter more here than in a gas-heated city.

Residents aged 65 or older are 12.3% of the population in Houston, below the US share of 17.2% and 11.5% report a disability (US 13.3%). These are the households most likely to depend on powered medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines and refrigerated medicine. If someone in your home does, ask CenterPoint Energy whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 28.5% of the housing in Houston was built before 1970 (US 35.5%); 27% of homes are in buildings with 20 or more units (US 10.3%), where an outage also stops elevators and water pumps, which matters for upper floors and anyone who cannot use stairs; 57.9% of households rent (US 34.8%), so many residents depend on a landlord to restore building systems and cannot add a generator or battery themselves.

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 (housing, heating fuel, age and disability tables).

If the power is out in Houston

About 2,320,268 people live in Houston, the largest of the 20 Texas cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check CenterPoint Energy’s outage map for an estimate. If neighbors have power and you do not, report it again: the fault may be on the line to your house alone, which is a separate repair.

Houston power outage map

CenterPoint Energy’s outage map has the official restoration estimate for your address; the count above comes from residents. Food and generator safety: power outage guide.

Houston power outage questions