AUSTIN, Texas — After millions of Texans lost power for days when Hurricane Beryl blew through the state earlier this month, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced the creation of a state Senate special committee to review the response and prevent future utility failures. 

Hurricane Beryl made landfall in the state as a Category 1 storm on July 8 and knocked out power to nearly 3 million Texans. Some residents were without power for over a week in the Houston area. 

Patrick said the Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity will investigate the utility companies’ response to Beryl and ensure the companies “respond more effectively to future storms,” according to a news release.

“Texans are rightfully upset with the overwhelming failure of electric utility companies to restore power in a timely fashion following Hurricane Beryl,” Patrick in a statement. “The electric utility companies’ failure cannot be tolerated, especially when it was so obvious a storm was headed toward Texas. I am appointing this committee to review what happened and establish why certain electric utility companies appear to have been woefully unprepared for Hurricane Beryl.”

Patrick tapped Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, to chair the committee. 

“As Chairman of the Special Committee, I will focus on why electric utility companies failed to provide timely power restoration to millions of Texans and the decisive actions these companies will take to ensure this type of catastrophic failure never happens again,” Schwertner said in a statement. 

Multiple Texas officials, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, have called for an investigation into CenterPoint Energy–the utility company responsible for a majority of Houston’s power–and its preparation and response to the storm.

Abbott got his wish on Monday when the Texas Public Utility Commission, the state’s regulatory agency, announced it had launched an investigation into CenterPoint.