Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma delivered a one-two-three punch, damaging the electric infrastructure from East Texas to Florida, but it was no knockout for TXU. Slogging through the mire of destruction, 3,500 electric delivery employees and contractors worked almost 300,000 hours to safely restore power to 640,000 TXU customers and those of neighboring utilities in three states. More than 650 other TXU employees - 370 of them volunteers - along with contractors and partners mobilized to help answer calls from TXU retail customers affected by Hurricane Rita. Working an estimated 4,100 hours, they took more than 138,000 calls in a four-day period, a call volume that was 800 percent above normal. Another 100 volunteers traveled three hours to help struggling Rita victims in Nacogdoches and Lufkin. They repaired roofs, cleared trees, did laundry, took care of children, cleaned up buildings, mowed, and handed out food, water, and compassion. Many employees called their hurricane experience life changing, and many victims called TXU employees heroes. Devastated evacuees streamed to Texas to become new customers, as TXU quickly implemented policies to get their lights on fast. A $1 million pledge helped all TXU's retail customers assaulted by the hurricanes, and a $410,000 corporate, employee, and supplier donation to Entergy's Power of Hope Fund supplied regional aid. TXU also adopted families, and employees' efforts helped restart their lives. TXU's efforts restored power and hope to those whose world was gone.
