Houston-based power companies adapt to COVID-19

The global COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies in Houston to adapt their operations to keep their employees and customers safe.

And while an order from Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo tells members of the public to stay in their homes, the energy industry is among those sectors exempt from the order. While in many cases Houston’s energy employees are able to perform their jobs remotely from the safety of their living rooms, sometimes the work has to be done in person. Here’s how two of Houston’s largest power companies are tackling the problem, both in the office and in the field.

NRG

Houston- and New Jersey-based based NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) first started monitoring COVID-19 in January, and it ramped up preparations for things to get tougher in February, expanding the company’s ability to have its employees work remotely, said Elizabeth Killinger, president of NRG’s retail arm, Reliant Energy.

Killinger started encouraging her team to work from home during the week that ended March 13, she said. Then the company made the call to close its facilities around the country on March 17, allowing only critical staff to work in person, Killinger said.

NRG still has employees ensuring that its power plants continue to operate, Killinger said.

The company has also ramped up its cleaning efforts at its sites, and some of the critical staff who can’t work remotely are working in shifts to reduce contact that could spread infection, Killinger said.

“We have groups of employees that don’t cross paths — so they don’t cross pollenate — to minimize the number of people working together at any given time,” Killinger said.

The company is still expanding its telework capabilities, which will allow more employees to work remotely, Killinger said. However, the company is near its teleworking goal right now, she said.

“We are largely there,” Killinger said. “There really isn’t much more of an increased state of teleworking we would do.”

Right now, the company is looking to keep its facilities closed until April 3.

“Only if you are working in a critical, pre-approved role will you be coming into the office,” Killinger said.

CenterPoint

Houston-based CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP) employees who are able to work from home are doing so, which means a lot of the office staff is now working remotely.

The company has also taken steps to protect its field technicians — it has arranged for them to start their days from home rather than in a central location, and the company is making sure they are supplied with proper protective equipment, said Jim Francis, CenterPoint’s vice president of safety and training. Francis is CenterPoint’s incident commander for its COVID-19 response.

CenterPoint has also started gathering info from its customers ahead of dispatching workers to their homes, Francis said.

“There’s a couple of questions that we ask customers just to make sure we understand their health situation,” Francis said. “Is anyone feeling ill? Have they traveled to areas that maybe have been more compromised with the coronavirus? Just to make sure our folks are as informed as possible so we can assess the risk of that particular service call.”

CenterPoint’s senior vice president of natural gas operations, Steve Greenly, said customers have been largely understanding of the questions.

“Not only are we concerned for the customer, but also our employees,” Greenly said. “We want to do everything we can to continue to be good stewards.”