CenterPoint Outage Tracker LIVE: Interactive Map Reveals Current Power Outages & Restoration Updates

HOUSTON—A fast-moving line of severe thunderstorms left more than 104,000 CenterPoint Energy customers without electricity across the Houston metro early Tuesday, sending residents rushing to the utility’s newly overhauled Outage Tracker for real-time updates on restoration efforts. The interactive map—rebranded this spring as the “CenterPoint Outage Tracker”—refreshes every 15 minutes and now clusters outages by ZIP code, allowing users to zoom from a statewide view all the way down to their street. Green, yellow and red icons indicate the size of each outage, while an “ERT” timestamp shows the latest estimated restoration time. Customers can also report an outage directly from the tool or sign up for the Power Alert Service to receive text or email notifications. Why the makeover? After last year’s hurricane-season blackouts and widespread criticism over vague status updates, CenterPoint rebuilt the tracker on a cloud-based platform designed to stay online even when storms batter the Gulf Coast grid. “Customers told us two things mattered most: accuracy and speed,” said Senior Vice President Lynnae Wilson. “This version posts crew assignments faster and gives clearer ERTs, especially for hard-to-find nested outages.” As of 9:00 a.m., the Outage Tracker showed roughly 92,000 customers still in the dark, concentrated in Harris and Montgomery counties. Crews were prioritizing circuits tied to critical facilities such as hospitals and water-treatment plants before fanning out to neighborhood laterals. CenterPoint expects to restore power to 80 percent of affected customers by late tonight, barring additional weather complications. How to use the CenterPoint Outage Tracker 1. Visit CenterPointEnergy.com and click “Electric Outage Tracker” on the home page. 2. Enter your address or allow location services for a hyper-local view. 3. Tap any colored icon to display cause, crew status and ERT. 4. If your home is not on the map, select “Report an Outage” and follow the prompts. Tips for staying safe during a Houston power outage • Treat all downed lines as energized; call 800-332-7143 to report hazards. • Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed—foods stay cold about four hours. • Turn off large appliances to prevent a surge when power returns. Looking ahead to the June-1 start of hurricane season 2025, CenterPoint urges customers to build a 72-hour emergency kit and bookmark the outage tracker on smartphones or tablets. With Gulf waters already warmer than average, forecasters predict an above-normal storm count; the utility says its upgraded digital map will be the fastest pathway to restoration information when the next system takes aim at Texas.