Calling it a “leadership transition,” CenterPoint Energy said late Wednesday that Scott Prochazka has stepped down as the utility’s CEO. He will be replaced by John Somerhalder II, a member of CenterPoint’s board of directors, who will serve as interim CEO.
The changes are effective immediately.
Prochazka’s departure comes less than a week after the Texas Public Utility Commission approved a settlement in a proposed CenterPoint rate case that lowered the Houston utility’s return on equity from 10% to 9.4%. CenterPoint also agreed to a $13 million rate increase, far below its initial $161 million ask. (See PUCT Approves Reduced CenterPoint Rate Request.)
Milton Carroll, the board’s executive chairman, thanked Prochazka for his “meaningful contributions” and for leading the company through “significant growth and transformation.” However, he also said the board had determined that “now is the right time for a new leader with a fresh strategic perspective to lead the company through its next phase of growth and value creation.”
Under Prochazka, CenterPoint acquired Indiana utility Vectren for $6 billion last year. He had been with the utility since 2001, being named CEO in 2013.
Somerhalder II has 40 years of energy experience, including nine and a half years as CEO of natural-gas utility AGL Resources. He has been on CenterPoint’s board since 2016.
CenterPoint announced the shakeup after the market closed Wednesday. Its share price lost almost 3% on Thursday, closing down 71 cents at $25.72. The company has scheduled its year-end earnings call for Feb. 27, where it said it will announce “strong full-year 2019 results and provide 2020 [earnings-per-share] guidance.”
— Tom Kleckner
