Houston customers who examined their electric bills found that CenterPoint's power delivery charges, not just the electricity they used, are making up a surprisingly large part of the monthly total.
In some cases, the charge from CenterPoint alone runs into the hundreds of dollars.
Here's what to know
To understand how much those delivery fees are adding, KPRC examined bills from customers across the Houston area.
Dan and Irene Phillips said roughly $220 of their approximately $720 bill went to CenterPoint. "Our electric bill has almost doubled," he said.
Sean Gambini said $322.28 of his $795.61 September bill, about 41%, went to CenterPoint.
Javier Alvarez said he paid $67.90 in CenterPoint charges compared to the $82.45 for the electricity itself.
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The per-kilowatt-hour delivery rate has increased over the past few years. In 2020, the charge was 4.05 cents for each kilowatt-hour, along with a $4.90 monthly fee. By 2026, it had risen to 6.41 cents for each kilowatt-hour, while the monthly fee remained unchanged.
For a home using 2,000 kilowatt-hours each month, that increase adds up to about $566 more per year.
In comments to KPRC, CenterPoint said the charges help cover infrastructure and other expenses and that "day-to-day operating and maintenance costs are passed through to customers without a profit."
More background
The investigation also pointed to what KPRC described as a $3 million increase in CEO Jason Wells' compensation. CenterPoint is also a publicly traded, Fortune 500 company that, the station said, logged about $1 billion in profit based on SEC filings.
Experts interviewed by KPRC said Texas' setup can make large infrastructure work more financially attractive for utilities than routine maintenance. Krysti Shallenberger with the Energy and Policy Institute said utilities benefit when major projects are added to their rate base, while Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen said routine upkeep does not qualify for that same kind of return.
Customers Angelyque and Alvin Pegues of Fulshear told KPRC they do not think higher bills necessarily come with better service. They said repeated outages disrupted work and added wear on their appliances.
CenterPoint said its grid-resilience work had averted more than 100 million minutes of customer outages in just under two years.
What's being done?
CenterPoint told KPRC that its infrastructure spending can earn a commission-set regulated return in rate cases. Any rate increase tied to CenterPoint's regulated delivery business goes through the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
KPRC asked the commission whether the increases and CenterPoint's profits should influence future approvals. Commissioners did not reply to interview requests, and Chairman Thomas Gleeson did not agree to an interview in Houston.
"I think that CenterPoint just really needs to look at the community that they're serving and do better," Angelyque Pegues said.
Where can I learn more?
Questions about utility charges and who ends up paying for them are surfacing well beyond Houston.
• In North Carolina, Duke Energy faced scathing accusations over practices that could raise customer bills.
• PacifiCorp asked regulators to approve billing customers for $1.7 billion in wildfire damages.
• Utilities drew scrutiny for spending bill revenue on regional transmission lines that boost profits.
• Across the U.S., many households distrust power bills as rising costs disrupt sleep.
• In New Jersey, residents warned ratepayers could be burdened by new nuclear reactors.
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