CenterPoint Energy Confirms Data Breach After Hacker Claims Theft of 7.5 Million Files

The US utility delivers electricity and natural gas to homes and businesses, employs roughly 8,800 people and operates around $48.3 billion in assets as of June 2026.

In an 8-K document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on September 14, the company said it "became aware of an online post by a third party claiming to have obtained a data set containing certain of the company's customer information." CenterPoint said it activated its incident response protocols and began an investigation with the help of third-party cybersecurity experts.

"While the investigation remains ongoing, the company has determined that an unauthorized third party obtained personal information relating to a portion of the company's customers through one of the company's external facing systems," the filing reads. The company said it is continuing to work with outside experts to determine the scope of customers and personal information affected, and intends to notify affected customers and regulatory authorities as required by applicable law. CenterPoint said police and regulatory agencies have been notified.

The claim that preceded the disclosure came from a threat actor who posted a thread on a dark web forum saying they had stolen 7.49 million CenterPoint files from a poorly secured API, The Register reported. According to that post, the data included customer names and contact details, billing data, move-in dates, driver's license information and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. No independent investigators have confirmed the threat actor's account of the volume or the contents of the data, and the company said the matter was under investigation.

CenterPoint said the attack did not affect its operations, which continue as usual. The company said it incurred certain expenses as a result of the incident and expects to incur additional costs as the investigation continues.