Houston-area homeowners demand answers over recurring power outages

HOUSTON – Homeowners in Bear Creek say fixed power outages and surges have gotten extra than simply an inconvenience, they are saying the repeated disruptions are damaging electronics, forcing some households to depend on mills, and even making residents query whether or not they can proceed residing within the neighborhood.

“It could be very sunny with no rain, no wind, and we’ll have issues,” mentioned Bear Creek subdivision home-owner Danielle Marcelle.

Marcelle says the outages have develop into so frequent, she began documenting them.

“April 21st, 2025,” Marcelle learn aloud from a log she’s stored for greater than a 12 months. Another entry reads: “June 21st of 2025, there are power surges and the lights flickered.”

Each entry marks one other second when the power both flickered, emerged, or went out fully.

Marcelle says the outages fluctuate in severity.

“It could be a couple of seconds, but also it can be a full-on outage,” she mentioned. “The last significant one lasted a few hours.”

Marcelle says she has lived in Bear Creek since 2013, and the difficulty has occurred for years.

Other homeowners say they’re going through the identical issues.

“Just in the last week or so, it’s probably happened once or twice,” mentioned home-owner Chase Kirk.

Kirk says occasional outages are comprehensible, however he believes what’s taking place in Bear Creek goes past that.

“Power goes out once in a blue moon everywhere,” Kirk mentioned. “But once in a blue moon gets taken advantage of when it’s multiple times a week throughout the summer, or it lasts for hours.”

He in contrast the outages in Bear Creek to storms he skilled rising up in Georgia.

“Living in Georgia as a kid, I could see a tornado from our living room and we still had power,” Kirk mentioned. “But over here, someone washes their car, sneeze in the wrong direction, we lose power for four hours.”

CenterPoint Energy mentioned they’d ship a crew out to the subdivision Wednesday to research the basis trigger.

“We understand how frustrating it can be for customers to experience flickering lights or brief interruptions and our team will be in the area tomorrow to investigate and address any issues safely and as quickly as possible,” reads a press release to KPRC 2 News. “We encourage our customers who may be experiencing service issues to report them using our Outage Tracker, so we can address them immediately.”

Kirk says the repeated outages pushed his household to spend about $2,000 putting in a generator inlet system final 12 months.

But that wasn’t his solely expense.

“TVs go bad because of it,” Kirk mentioned, including he believes the power surges broken electronics in his residence. He says neighbors have additionally reported shedding home equipment.

“My next-door neighbor across the street lost a washing machine,” Kirk mentioned.

Marcelle worries about what may occur in the course of the summer time warmth, particularly for households with youngsters, pets, or medical wants.

“There are people with medical issues. We’re in Houston, so it’s hot,” she mentioned. “I have a pet at home that I worry about if the power goes out while I’m at work.”

Marcelle additionally says she has beforehand misplaced treatment throughout an outage.

Kirk says the outages have develop into frequent sufficient to have an effect on selections about whether or not to remain within the neighborhood long-term.

“We love Bear Creek,” Kirk mentioned. “But this is the biggest factor for us wondering if we’re going to stay here long term or not.”

Data from Whisker Labs seems to help residents’ considerations. The firm tracks power outputs via sensors put in in properties and companies nationwide.

CenterPoint Energy has beforehand disputed Whisker Labs’ findings.

For homeowners like Marcelle, they are saying they primarily need answers and an answer.

“I want to know why,” she mentioned. “But also, I just want it fixed. Because we’re tired of it happening.”