CenterPoint Energy 2011 Annual Report Download - page 11

Giving you intelligent solutions
Investing to serve growth and increase reliability
With $623 million in operating income consisting of $496 million from the electric utility and
$127 million related to transition and system restoration bonds, our electric transmission
and distribution business had its strongest financial year. These results were driven by record
heat, increased energy use and customer growth of more than 45,000.
During the second quarter of this year, we will complete our three-year project to deploy
more than 2 million smart meters across our service territory. The meters have allowed us to
automate meter reading and, to date, remotely complete nearly 2 million routine orders. By
eliminating the need to send crews to execute these orders, we are completing transactions
more quickly and reducing vehicle carbon emissions.
We continued deployment of our intelligent grid. Using advanced automation and sensor
technologies, the grid will work with smart meters to identify outage locations and, where
possible, reroute power around an outage. This will minimize the number of customers
affected and enable us to restore power more efficiently.
Smart meters will also eliminate the need for customers to report outages. We are now
working on a system that will allow customers to receive notifications by phone, text or
email when their power goes out and when it is restored.
Looking ahead, supporting growth and system reliability continue to be top priorities. The
Houston economy grew faster than that of any other major city in North America last year,
adding more than 80,000 jobs. This pace is expected to continue in 2012, and we are investing
in infrastructure to support this growth. For example, we are preparing to build a substation to
serve a new, master-planned community that will include up to 5,000 homes along with nearly
10 million square feet of commercial office and retail space. We recently applied for approval
from the Public Utility Commission of Texas to construct a high-voltage transmission line to
serve this project and future growth in the area.
In addition to our intelligent grid initiative, we spent nearly $38 million on other grid hardening
activities, including accelerated tree trimming and more frequent circuit and pole inspections.
Further, we have initiated the design and construction of a secondary control and data center
that will provide an essential level of redundancy and comply with new federal regulations.
Our intelligent grid investment
will improve reliability and provide
consumers more information.
Pursuing Opportunities
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Electric Transmission & Distribution