Oct 28 (Reuters) - Electric and gas utility CenterPoint Energy (CNP.N) , opens new tab on Monday reported third-quarter profit that missed Wall Street estimates, hurt by higher maintenance costs and lower revenue from its electric segment due to Hurricane Beryl.

The company said it has appointed Don Daigler to lead its emergency preparedness and response efforts, following criticism for its power restoration initiatives after Beryl.

Beryl had caused significant damage to CenterPoint electric subsidiary Houston Electric's delivery system after its landfall in July, knocking out power for nearly 2.3 million CenterPoint customers in Texas.

Restaurants in and around Houston had filed a lawsuit seeking more than $100 million from CenterPoint, alleging incompetence and negligence in the company's efforts to restore power.

CenterPoint's third-quarter operations and maintenance costs, which includes expenses related to storm restoration efforts and grid upgrades, rose nearly 20% to $775 million.

The company's total quarterly electric revenue declined 1.4% to $1.24 billion, partly owing to outages related to Beryl.

It posted an adjusted profit of 31 cents per share for the third quarter, missing analysts' average estimates of 32 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Houston Electric said as of Sept. 30, it estimates the total costs of restoring the electric delivery facilities to be about $1.1 billion, excluding carrying costs.

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https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/centerpoint-misses-third-quarter-estimates-higher-costs-beryl-related-outages-2024-10-28/