KAILUA-KONA — Hawaii Electric Light Co. wants customers to pay more for electricity, but several ratepayers in West Hawaii are having none of it. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA — Hawaii Electric Light Co. wants customers to pay more for electricity, but several
KAILUA-KONA — Hawaii Electric Light Co. wants customers to pay more for electricity, but several ratepayers in West Hawaii are having none of it.
Those in attendance at a public hearing Wednesday night in Kailua-Kona overwhelmingly opposed HELCO’s proposal, offering critical commentary to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), which presided over the hearing. A similar hearing was held in Hilo on Tuesday.
The 6.5 percent rate hike, which was put forth in September, is the first such proposal from HELCO in six years and would increase its annual revenue by $19.3 million. It would also add $9.31 every month to the typical residential electric bill.
“I know that no one wants to pay more,” said HELCO President Jay Ignacio. “(But) the revenue increases are needed to achieve our clean energy objectives and keep our service reliable.”
Ignacio said new investments are integral if the state hopes to reach its goal of 100 percent renewable energy usage by the year 2045.
He added that over the last six years, the company has made $290 million in capital investments to cover the modernization of generation equipment to handle a greater amount of renewable energy, improve transmission lines in West Hawaii and replace distribution conductors and transformers, among other costs.
Ignacio highlighted $14 million spent since 2010 to create better customer service systems and integrate nearly 11,000 customer-owned rooftop solar systems into the grid, as well as the rising cost of managing and clearing vegetation.
He said the annual price of vegetation management and removal has jumped from $2.5 million six years ago to $7 million today, lauding the effectiveness of the company’s program by citing examples of fewer power outages and quicker restoration efforts following two tropical storms that made landfall on Hawaii Island this year.
Public pushback
Ratepayers almost unanimously dressed down HELCO and its proposal Wednesday, offering critical rebuttals to Ignacio’s arguments ranging from the company’s management of its finances to questions about how seriously and effectively the utility actually is pursuing clean energy objectives.
Bill Bugbee, a director at Community Enterprises, noted that the 49 percent renewable energy figure HELCO favors citing is misleading because of how much of it comes from geothermal energy production — an energy source he contends is neither clean nor compatible with the community.
“(HELCO) has failed to meet the obligation of 2045 clean energy goals in the state,” Bugbee said. “This is a fossil fuel-based utility and it remains a fossil fuel-based utility. It imports dirty fuels and puts that into the atmosphere. And you’re going to reward them with a 6.5 percent increase in rates? I think not.”
Ernest Knapp, a retired Kona resident, said the rate hike would disproportionately effect residents in West Hawaii, as many are retired and on fixed incomes.
Peter Bosted, a physics professor from Ka’u, implored stockholders in HELCO to pick up the tab, which he asserted has grown at least in part because of “poor decisions and botched planning” by the company.
He questioned why rates in Hawaii should swell when, according to his research, ratepayers already face the highest electricity-cost burden in the nation at three times the national average.
He also voiced concerns that a rate hike would further incentivize a mass exit from the grid, then suggested a shift in priorities.
“I believe HELCO should instead find constructive ways to transition to the new era of micro grids and improved energy storage systems, including the new generation of high efficiency and low cost batteries for local storage, and the use of wind power to pump water to high elevation reservoirs for large-scale, long-term storage,” Bosted said.
Nalani Freitas, owner of Overstock N Discounts, referenced Ignacio’s mention of capital investments saying she isn’t interested with how much money HELCO has spent, but rather how much it has made. She questioned whether the company needed an extra $19-plus million per year in order operate as effectively as possible or simply to maintain a favorable profit margin.
Nani Ward — who works with the poverty-stricken via Ka’analike, a local nonprofit — expressed concern for Hawaii Island’s economically disadvantaged families, on whom she said the rate hike could prove onerous.
“These are the families that we talk to who make the choice — a very difficult choice — of paying rent, paying electricity, paying water or paying for their groceries,” Ward said. “This is an undue burden to put upon our residents in Hawaii.”
However, there was one public voice in favor of the rate adjustment, that of Michael Last, a retired electrical engineer.
“I believe that HELCO, as a private, investor-owned electric utility, has the right to do whatever they want to continue to provide the low cost energy to the people who elect to be served by said utility,” Last said. “No one is mandated to purchase any electricity from HELCO.”
The next steps
Dean Nishina, acting executive director of Hawaii’s Division of Consumer Advocacy, was also in attendance Wednesday night. He said the Consumer Advocate will consider all public comments before completing its review of the rate increase proposal, at which time it will offer a recommendation to the PUC.
Randall Iwase, chair of the PUC, said the next phase of the process will be a contested case hearing, after which the commission will issue a written decision.
Comments are still being accepted in written form until Dec. 27.
They may be submitted by email at puc.comments@hawaii.gov or mailed to the Public Utilities Commission at 465 S. King Street, Room 103, Honolulu, HI, 96813. Those who wish to submit written comments are asked to include their names, the name of any organization they represent and to reference Docket No. 2015-0170 in their correspondence.
