You may have seen the news coverage surrounding massive power outages in Texas in the wake of Hurricane Beryl. Hundreds of thousands of Texans are without electricity as power lines have been knocked down. And even where there IS electricity, the high heat has put a huge strain on the existing power grid. That has one of Texas’ biggest electricity providers facing some serious heat. Customers have complained that it’s taking too long for CenterPoint Energy to get the power back on, and that they should have better prepared for the situation.
CenterPoint has defended its response, and has encouraged Texans who do have power to help conserve electricity by raising their thermostats to 76 degrees. And here’s where the message got lost. CenterPoint’s CEO made himself available to the Houston Chronicle last week. He spoke while sitting in the lobby of the company’s corporate headquarters. And he happened to be sitting right in front of the office thermostat, which was set to a cool and comfy 70 degrees. Not the 76 degrees they’ve been asking others to use.
As you might imagine, critics on social media pounced on the faux pas.
@CenterPoint Great image of your tone deaf CEO giving an interview while sitting in a CenterPoint office with the thermostat set at 70 F while millions swelter in humid 98 F temperatures.
Whatever he’s being paid, it’s too much. Why he is still employed is beyond me.
— Texas Liberal / Ex-GOP Support 🇺🇦🌻🌈 (@markseverett) July 14, 2024
Houston CenterPoint CEO discussing power outages in Houston under his office thermostat set at 70. You can’t make this up … not photoshopped. From the @HoustonChron article.
https://t.co/BROVzzzwSs pic.twitter.com/YUBrl45SY1— Dayna Steele (@daynasteele) July 12, 2024
This kind of hypocrisy is catnip for your critics and could have been avoided by either moving the location of the interview or–and here’s a novel idea–actually adhering to the same advice you are giving your customers. In fact, it could have made for a GOOD photo op if the interview was happening in front of a thermostat that was actually set at 76.
“Do as I say, not as I do,” is a pretty bad way of getting good PR.
