CenterPoint Energy Announced Winner of 2016 ISGAN and GSGF Smart Grid Awards

HOUSTON, June 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC (Houston Electric), an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. CNP, has been chosen as the winner of the International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN) 2016 Award of Excellence and the Global Smart Grid Federation (GSGF) Best Smart Grid Project for 2016.

"We are honored to receive the ISGAN Award of Excellence and GSGF Best Smart Grid Project Award," said Kenny Mercado, senior vice president of CenterPoint Energy's Electric Operations. "Through our smart grid, we have reduced outages by more than 134 million minutes, enabled restoration of more than 1.5 million outage cases without a customer phone call, and saved tens of millions of dollars in eliminated fees for more than 2.3 million metered customers in Southeast Texas."

CenterPoint Energy's Smart Grid increases grid reliability, reduces average restoration time, saves consumers money, drives innovation in America's most competitive electric market and supports the growth of renewable energy initiatives. The project has saved consumers more than $20 million per year in eliminated fees from service automation. It has also saved more than 1.4 million gallons of fuel which is equivalent to saving more than 13,000 tons of CO₂ emissions.

"The CenterPoint Energy Smart Grid shows the tremendous value offered by smart grid systems that efficiently integrate advanced meters, intelligent switches, information and communications technologies, data analytics, grid management systems, and more to improve the flexibility, reliability and resilience of electricity service. It was the clear choice to win this year's awards," said Ronnie Belmans, executive director of GSGF.

Michele de Nigris, Chair of ISGAN's Executive Committee said, "The CenterPoint Energy Smart Grid exemplifies this year's competition theme of 'Excellence in Smart Grids for Reliable Electricity Service,' through its application of multiple technologies and approaches to reduce outages, increase performance, and save consumers money in a region known for its many severe weather events."

CenterPoint Energy thanks the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) for their leadership in approving the deployment of advanced meters in 2008, when they described smart meters as a "critical component of the Texas electric market" in a report to the Texas Legislature.

CenterPoint Energy also thanks former City of Houston Mayor Bill White and his Task Force on Electric Reliability, which, following Hurricane Ike in 2008, determined that a smart grid "offers the best return-on-investment for improving grid resilience and enabling storm recovery." CenterPoint Energy is also grateful to the U.S. Department of Energy, which awarded CenterPoint Energy one of only six $200 million Smart Grid Investment Grants in 2009, greatly accelerating the Smart Grid project.

In announcing that grant, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar declared CenterPoint Energy to be "on the point of the spear in teaching the rest of the United States and the world how we can work with consumers to enhance their electrical usage."

Finally, CenterPoint Energy recognizes and thanks its various technology partners, including ABB, GE Grid Solutions, IBM, Itron and Siemens for their contribution to CenterPoint Energy's Smart Grid program.

ISGAN formally honored CenterPoint Energy at the Seventh Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM7) in San Francisco, Calif. on June 2.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission & distribution, natural gas distribution and energy services operations. The company serves more than five million metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. The company also owns a 55.4 percent limited partner interest in Enable Midstream Partners, a publicly traded master limited partnership it jointly controls with OGE Energy Corp.,  which owns, operates and develops natural gas and crude oil infrastructure assets. With more than 7,400 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 140 years. For more information, visit the website at www.CenterPointEnergy.com.

For more information contact
Media:
Leticia Lowe
Phone      713.207.7702
Investors:
David Mordy
Phone     713.207.6500

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SOURCE CenterPoint Energy, Inc.