Trucking & power company both shirking responsibility for low-hanging power lines dragged down by semi truck
A trucking company and a power company are both shirking responsibility after a semi truck took down a low-hanging power line in a Houston neighborhood.
The incident occurred on Detering Street in the Rice Military neighborhood of Houston, Texas, earlier this month.
According to Click2Houston, the semi truck, operating for 6G Transport, drove down Detering Street and struck some low-hanging power lines. The accident caused electrical damage to equipment owned by Centerpoint Energy, and private equipment on multiple homes. Seven homes were left without power for six days as both the trucking company and the power company continued shirking responsibility for the repairs. After nearly a week, the group of homeowners hired a private electrician to make repairs and restore their power, which cost about $20,000.
“With these unseasonably hot temperatures, we couldn’t endure another day without electricity,” said Dana Davis, one of the residents affected by the outage. “We were literally and physically in a position of being powerless.”
Davis says she has contacted the owner of 6G Transport multiple times, but he does not believe covering the cost of repairs should be his responsibility.
“He wasn’t sure if he was at fault,” Davis said. “He even suggested that CenterPoint might be responsible because the lines were too low or that the city should have posted signage.”
Centerpoint Energy made the following statement about the incident: “CenterPoint repaired the damage to its equipment, and once repairs were made to the customer-owned equipment, power was restored,” the company said. “While we understand the frustration and burden placed on the customers as a result of this incident, CenterPoint is not responsible for damage to customer-owned equipment caused by a third party unrelated to CenterPoint’s operations.”
The homeowners have contacted an attorney, as they believe both companies have both continued shirking responsibility. The attorney has contacted the trucking company’s insurance provider and given them one week to respond.
