Texas launches new investigation into Houston’s power utility following deadly outages after Beryl

Associated Press/Report for America

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas has opened an investigation into a Houston area utility provider over allegations of fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars during its botched response to Hurricane Beryl. The Texas attorney general’s office announced the investigation Monday of CenterPoint Energy and the prolonged power outages that followed last month’s deadly storm. It’s the latest inquiry into the utility’s storm preparedness after Beryl left nearly 3 million people without power for days last month. CenterPoint has defended its response to the category 1 hurricane and said it will fully cooperate with the investigation announced by Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.