When your company is under attack for not taking care of customers in favor of shareholder profits, it’s a bad look to have one of the most luxurious fishing retreats in the state, but that’s where CenterPoint Energy is right now.
The Houston Chronicle released an exhaustive report on The Pond, a massive lodge and fishing hole located in Trinity Bay east of Houston owned by the energy company. The Pond is thoroughly decadent, featuring some of the finest fishing available in Texas, staff to clean catches, a kitchen the serves three meals a day, pool, poker tables, and more.
Technically, The Pond is the Cedar Bayou Conference Center, a part of CenterPoint’s legislative advocacy. That means lobbying. The Chronicle interviewed a dozen members of the state legislature who have made trips to the spot over the last 30 years and found proof that at least 70 have visited. Some said that the lobbyists met and fished with them, while others claim they were mostly left alone with their guests.
Offering these fancy fishing vacations is legal, though there are some hoops to jump through in the name of ethics. Lawmakers can use campaign funds to pay for staff retreats, as lobbyists paying for lodging is illegal. However, the lobbyists can cover meals and entertainment. Either way, The Pond offers CenterPoint lobbyists a unique chance to rub elbows with the lawmakers who decide their fate.
“Every single entity who has business before the Legislature would love to have that amount of time and access, and build that level of goodwill, by giving an unusual fun service at low cost to legislators,” Alison Silverstein, an independent electricity consultant who has done work for Texas Consumers Association, told The Chronicle. “That is an extraordinary benefit that is not available to folks like the Texas Consumer Association or the teachers’ association. What are they going to do, invite you to a kindergarten and feed you graham crackers?”
The existence of The Pond comes during intense scrutiny of CenterPoint. Over the summer, Houston was hit by two major storms, a derecho and Hurricane Beryl. Both left the city and millions without power for several days as the heat index climbed above one hundred.
CenterPoint’s public image was not helped by an interview with CEO Jason Wells with The Chronicle after Beryl. A Chronicle photographer captured Wells sitting in front of a digital thermostat that read 72 degrees. Many felt this was a cruel joke to people without power and also after the company repeatedly asked for residents to raise their thermostats in order to reduce strain on the grid.While state lawmakers and Attorney General Ken Paxton have vowed to investigate CenterPoint for not spending the appropriate money on infrastructure to prevent deadly outages, a huge chunk of those same lawmakers have spent time at The Pond thanks to CenterPoint. While all that The Chronicle spoke to vowed that they were not unduly influenced by their visits, it’s little consolation to Texans affected by CenterPoint’s poor response to recent disasters.
