Houston has a power outage problem \u2014 and the latest data makes it hard to ignore.<\/p>\n
New data from Whisker Labs <\/a>shows Houston had more power outages than any other city in the country in May, reversing months of improvement and raising fresh questions about CenterPoint Energy\u2019s multi-billion-dollar infrastructure upgrades.<\/p>\n CenterPoint Energy outages spike in May after months of improvement (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)Outages surge after months of improvement<\/p>\n KPRC 2 investigative reporter Amy Davis has been tracking outage frequency since August 2025, using data from Whisker Labs, a third-party company that monitors nationwide outage activity. For months, the numbers were trending in the right direction \u2014 outages were declining or holding steady across much of the Houston area.<\/p>\n May changed that.<\/p>\n Bob Marshall, CEO of Whisker Labs, said the spike was significant.<\/p>\n \u201cOutages were up sharply in Houston in May after moderating for a few months,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cHouston had the 2nd highest outage frequency in April after Western PA \u2014 the Pittsburgh area \u2014 where they had massive storms. Houston was 2.8 times the national average, with some communities being 9 times the national average.\u201d<\/p>\n In Fulshear, residents averaged more than six outages in May alone. Kingwood, Crosby and parts of Spring to the north also saw notable surges in outage activity.<\/p>\n What the map shows<\/p>\n KPRC 2 has mapped the outage data so Houston-area residents can zoom in to their own neighborhoods and compare power reliability to surrounding communities. <\/p>\n The color-coded map uses a range of colors to show outage intensity:<\/p>\n Blue indicates areas with low outage frequency \u2014 closer to or below the national average.<\/p>\n Yellow signals moderate outage activity, where residents are experiencing more frequent interruptions than average.<\/p>\n Orange represents high outage frequency, meaning residents in those areas are losing power significantly more than the national norm.<\/p>\n Red marks the most severely affected areas, where outage rates are well above the national average and, in some cases, approaching nine times that figure.<\/p>\n In previous months, the map had turned mostly blue \u2014 a sign of real progress. <\/p>\n Now, yellow, orange and red are back, concentrated in communities like Fulshear, Kingwood, Crosby and sections of Spring.<\/p>\n Residents feel the impact<\/p>\n For some Houston-area residents, the outages are more than a nuisance \u2014 they affect their livelihoods.<\/p>\n Angelyque Peguese and her husband Alvin moved to Fulshear in 2023. Both are Army veterans who work from home, making reliable power essential to their daily lives. The couple has lived in the Northeast and on the West Coast, including California, but said they never experienced power outages like what they\u2019ve encountered since settling in Fulshear.<\/p>\n CenterPoint says it\u2019s looking at the big picture<\/p>\n CenterPoint Energy has not disputed the Whisker Labs data but has pushed back on month-to-month comparisons. The company says it has spent billions of dollars to harden its infrastructure and improve reliability.<\/p>\n Nathan Brownell, vice president of CenterPoint Energy, addressed the trend in a previous interview.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe tend not to look at it month per month, we look at it holistically across the period of time and making sure we\u2019re trending overall,\u201d Brownell said. \u201cWe were very pleased with our reliability performance last year, but for us, this is just a snapshot of the journey we\u2019re going to be on long term.\u201d<\/p>\n CenterPoint\u2019s own data showed fewer outages in 2025 than in 2024, with the average customer experiencing about 30 minutes less outage time. Milder weather in November and December helped keep the lights on and allowed crews to continue upgrading utility poles and equipment.<\/p>\n