CenterPoint Energy advances cleaner energy goals by investing in made-in-Minnesota renewable natural gas

​MINNEAPOLIS - SEPT. 24, 2025 - CenterPoint Energy has signed an agreement with Vanguard Renewables to purchase renewable natural gas (RNG) created from food, beverage and farm waste at a new facility located on a farm near Litchfield, Minn. in Meeker County. CenterPoint plans for this made-in-Minnesota renewable energy project to be interconnected to its distribution system, powering customers' homes and businesses. ​

RNG can be developed by recycling organic waste from farms, food scraps, wastewater treatment facilities, yard clippings and other localized methane sources that would typically vent to the atmosphere to produce pipeline-quality gas that can be used directly in place of conventional natural gas.

"CenterPoint Energy is taking strategic action to invest in a made-in-Minnesota renewable energy source to meet our customers' needs and provide economic benefits to the communities we serve in Meeker County," said Brad Steber, CenterPoint Vice President, Minnesota Gas. "This project helps us provide customers with an additional lower carbon energy resource for continued safe and reliable service, while accelerating the decarbonization efforts of our state."

Vanguard Renewables' Meeker County RNG project was selected through a competitive process that evaluated factors such as cost-effectiveness, proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and ability to connect to CenterPoint's distribution system by 2029. CenterPoint expects to select additional RNG projects over the coming months through a competitive process.

"This agreement with CenterPoint Energy reflects our shared commitment to deploying cleaner energy technologies that benefit both the environment and local communities," said Michael O'Laughlin, CEO at Vanguard Renewables. "This project also represents a deeper investment in the Midwest, where we are bringing our circular model to life by harnessing the power of waste to build local infrastructure, support multigenerational farmers and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Vanguard Renewables' facility will be located at a dairy and crop farm in Meeker County, expected to process up to 290 tons of food, beverage and farm waste each day to generate RNG. The project is anticipated by Vanguard Renewables to create up to 100 construction jobs and 10 permanent operational roles.

CenterPoint's innovation plan
This project is part of CenterPoint's five-year innovation plan submitted under Minnesota's Natural Gas Innovation Act (NGIA), which enables natural gas utilities to invest in renewable energy resources and innovative technologies to help reduce Minnesota's GHG emissions.

CenterPoint's innovation plan includes 17 pilot projects and seven research and development efforts and is expected to reduce or avoid an estimated 1.1 million tons of carbon emissions over the lifetime of the projects.

CenterPoint is committed to helping residential and business customers reduce GHG emissions attributable to their end-use of natural gas by 20-30% by 2035 (from a 2021 baseline). The company's innovation plan is designed to support customers in reducing emissions from their own energy use.

Visit CenterPointEnergy.com/NGIA for more information.

About CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) is a multi-state electric and natural gas delivery company serving approximately 7 million metered customers across Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas. The company is headquartered in Houston and is the only Texas-domiciled investor-owned utility. As of June 30, 2025, the company had approximately $44 billion in assets. With approximately 8,300 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been serving customers for more than 150 years. For more information, visit CenterPointEnergy.com.

Forward Looking Statement:
This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "goal," "intend," "may," "objective," "plan," "potential," "predict," "projection," "should," "target," "will" or other similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions of management which are believed to be reasonable at the time made and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Any statements in this news release regarding future events, such as the amounts of waste processed and RNG produced pursuant to, associated extent of GHG emissions reductions relating to, the number of jobs created in connection with, other anticipated benefits (including economic benefits) of and timing relating to CenterPoint Energy's agreement with Vanguard Renewables and the connection of the associated RNG to CenterPoint Energy's distribution system, CenterPoint Energy's ability to execute on its innovation plan and its anticipated benefits, including the planned scope of projects, the associated extent of GHG emission reductions, the advancement of decarbonization efforts and any other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement contained in this news release speaks only as of the date of this release.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the provided forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to: (1) business strategies and strategic initiatives, acquisitions or dispositions of assets or businesses involving CenterPoint Energy or its industry; (2) CenterPoint Energy's ability to fund and invest planned capital, and the timely recovery of its investments; (3) financial market and general economic conditions; (4) the timing and impact of future regulatory, legislative and political actions or developments; and (5) other factors, risks and uncertainties discussed in CenterPoint Energy's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 and CenterPoint's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2025 and June 30, 2025 and other reports CenterPoint Energy or its subsidiaries may file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Net Zero Disclaimer
CenterPoint Energy's Scope 1 GHG emissions estimates are calculated from GHG emissions that directly come from its operations. CenterPoint Energy's Scope 2 GHG emissions estimates are calculated from GHG emissions that indirectly come from its energy usage, but because Texas is in an unregulated market, its Scope 2 GHG emissions estimates do not take into account Texas electric transmission and distribution assets in the line loss calculation and exclude GHG emissions related to purchased power between 2024E-2026E. CenterPoint Energy's Scope 3 GHG emissions estimates are based on the total natural gas supply delivered to residential and commercial customers as reported in the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Form EIA-176 reports and do not take into account the GHG emissions of transport customers and GHG emissions related to upstream extraction. CenterPoint Energy's analysis and plan for execution to achieve its Net Zero GHG emissions (Scope 1 and certain Scope 2) by 2035 goals and its 20-30% reduction in Scope 3 GHG emissions by 2035 as compared to 2021 levels goal require it to make a number of assumptions. These goals and underlying assumptions involve risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees. Should one or more of these underlying assumptions require updating, CenterPoint Energy's actual results and ability to make progress towards and achieve its Net Zero and GHG emissions reduction goals and the timing thereof could differ materially from its expectations. Certain of the assumptions that could impact its ability to make progress towards and meet its Net Zero and GHG emissions reduction goals and the timing thereof include, but are not limited to: GHG emission levels, service territory size and capacity needs remaining in line with company expectations (including with respect to demand for our services); the ability to appropriately estimate and effectively manage business opportunities from new customers and load growth resulting from, among other things, expansion of data centers, energy export facilities, including hydrogen facilities, electrification of industrial processes and transport and logistics in our service territories; regulatory approvals related to Indiana Electric's generation transition plan and CenterPoint Energy's ability to obtain such approvals; impacts on affordability of customer rates; customer demand for GHG emissions free or lower GHG emissions energy; impacts of regulations, executive action or legislation, including those related to the environment and tax matters (including the effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Executive Order 14315 and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and any further changes to or the repeal of the IRA); impacts of future carbon pricing regulation or legislation; price, availability and regulation of carbon offsets; price of fuel, such as natural gas; cost of energy generation technologies, such as wind and solar, natural gas and storage solutions; adoption of alternative energy by the public, including adoption of electric vehicles; rate of technology innovation with regards to alternative energy resources; CenterPoint Energy's ability to implement its modernization plans for its pipelines and facilities; the ability to complete and timely implement generation alternatives to Indiana Electric's coal generation and retirement or fuel conversion dates of Indiana Electric's coal facilities by 2035; the ability to construct and/or permit new natural gas pipelines; the ability to procure resources needed to build at a reasonable cost, the lack of or scarcity of resources and labor, the lack of any project cancellations, construction delays or overruns (including as a result of tariffs, legislation, bans, potential retaliatory trade measures taken against the United States or related governmental action) and the ability to appropriately estimate costs of new generation; impact of any supply chain disruptions; changes in applicable standards, metrics, methodologies or frameworks; and enhancement of energy efficiencies.