Outages and who handles the wires
In areas of Texas with retail electric choice, switching your retail electricity provider does not change who maintains the poles and wires. Your local transmission and distribution utility delivers power, reads the meter, and responds to outages. For a power outage, use the instructions on your electric bill or your utility’s website — not a retail provider sales line.
Storms that reached Corpus Christi
The National Weather Service office in Corpus Christi documented Major Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall on the middle Texas coast near Rockport, northeast of Corpus Christi, in late August 2017.
The National Hurricane Center’s report on Hurricane Hanna says it made landfall on Padre Island on July 25, 2020, and that a wind gust of 57 knots was reported at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.
In February 2021, ERCOT ordered rotating outages across its grid during an extreme winter weather event that affected the whole ERCOT region, including the Coastal Bend. Those events are why many Corpus Christi homeowners ask about backup power. A home battery does not prevent an outage, and backup time depends on how full the battery is and how much power the home uses. Always follow official evacuation orders.
Official preparedness steps
Ready.gov, a U.S. government site, describes a power outage as electrical power going out unexpectedly and notes that extended outages may affect communications, water, transportation, stores, and medical devices. Its power-outage guidance includes keeping freezers and refrigerators closed, unplugging appliances to avoid surge damage, planning for medicines and power-dependent medical devices, keeping phones charged, and going to a location with power if heat or cold is extreme.
Ready.gov also says a refrigerator will keep food cold for about four hours and a full freezer will stay at a safe temperature for about 48 hours if the doors stay closed, and that food exposed to temperatures of 40 degrees or higher for two hours or more should be thrown away. Generators, camp stoves, or charcoal grills should be used outdoors and at least 20 feet away from windows; never use a gas stovetop or oven to heat a home, because of carbon monoxide risk. Install carbon monoxide detectors with battery backup.
Ready.gov’s kit guidance and the official Texas Ready disaster supply checklist include water, non-perishable food, flashlights, extra batteries, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, a first-aid kit, medications, and chargers. The Texas Division of Emergency Management points Texans to build-a-kit, make-a-plan, and stay-informed resources.
If you also want to see whether a home battery is offered
Official program eligibility is checked on the enrollment page and in later home-snapshot steps.
Official Think Energy pages say you can enroll in less than 3 minutes. Opens the official enrollment page in a new tab. Enter your ZIP to see current offers.
How official product pages describe a home battery program
For eligible Texas homeowners, official Think+ and Energywell pages describe a whole-home battery program using EcoFlow OCEAN Pro hardware. Energywell installs, owns, and manages the system under a 15-year battery agreement. Official materials describe no equipment or installation fee, a fully refundable $99 reservation fee, and a $19 monthly base charge plus electricity usage. Automatic switch to backup is described as under 10 milliseconds.
Backup duration is not promised. Official materials say it depends on the battery’s charge and how much power the home uses. Experiences vary, and backup time also depends on how long the outage lasts.
This site does not publish a per-kWh electricity price. See current rates and contracts at enrollment. Read the full program details on the home battery backup page.
Is your home a possible fit?
- You own a single-family home
- Your name is on the electric bill
- The home does not already have a battery or solar system
- You can meet the credit-score threshold for the market
- You can use AutoPay and paperless billing
- The home is in an eligible Texas service area
Official Think+ materials generally describe the program this way. Not every home qualifies. A home snapshot and permitting steps come after you reserve. Check current eligibility on the official enrollment page.
Check if your home qualifies for battery backup
Enter your ZIP on the official enrollment page to see whether the program is offered at your address.
Official Think Energy pages say you can enroll in less than 3 minutes. Opens the official enrollment page in a new tab. Enter your ZIP to see current offers.
For program details and homeowner accounts, see the home battery backup page.
See plans and battery availability for your address
Current eligibility and terms appear only on the official enrollment page.
Official Think Energy pages say you can enroll in less than 3 minutes. Opens the official enrollment page in a new tab. Enter your ZIP to see current offers.