Mahalo to the PUC and HECO
The Big Island Community Coalition is a group of concerned Hawaii Island residents with one goal: To encourage Hawaii Electric Light Co. to reduce rates to Hawaii Island customers who now pay four times the national average for power and 25 percent more than Oahu rate payers.
In an April OP-ED we encouraged the Public Utilities Commission as follows:
“HELCO needs to be a major driver in reducing the cost of electricity. We believe that HELCO is fully capable of providing us with reliable and less costly electrical power, and ask that the PUC reviews its directives to and agreements with HELCO. Its directives should now be that HELCO’s primary objective should be making significant reductions in the real cost of reliable electric power to Hawaii Island residents.
“At the same time, we ask that HELCO be given the power to break out of its current planning mode in order to find the most practicable means of achieving this end. We will support a long-range plan that realistically drives down our prices to ensure the viability of our local businesses and the survivability of our families. All considerations should be on the table, including power sources (i.e., oil, natural gas, geothermal, solar, biomass, etc.), changes in transmission policy including standby charges, and retaining currently operating power plants.
“This is not ‘us’ vs. ‘them.’ We are all responsible for creating the political will to get it done.”
Within two weeks, the PUC followed up by specifically tasking HECO and its subsidiaries to develop such a plan to reduce consumer electricity rates.
In an August report recently released to the public and widely covered, HECO — and its subsidiaries — details how it plans to reduce rates by 20 percent while increasing the use of renewables by 2030.
There will no doubt be debates over timing, method and execution of this plan.
But we would be remiss were we not to thank both the PUC and HECO for responding quickly and positively to the concerns expressed by the community. Changing modes of operation, operational goals and corporate directions is no easy task for any organization. HECO has taken the challenge and started down a new path. We appreciate this new direction and pledge to do what we can to help along the way.
Richard Ha
Chairman, Big Island Community Coalition