More than 250 Oahu residents gathered Tuesday night at the McKinley High School auditorium to voice their opinions on the proposed purchase of Hawaiian Electric Industries by Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc.
The “listening session” was hosted by the Public Utilities Commission, the state agency tasked with deciding whether the takeover can go forward. It was the last of seven such meetings — one each had been held on Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kauai, and two were held on Hawaii island.
The meeting was split between those in support of NextEra, who said it would lower electrical rates and preserve jobs, and those who opposed the purchase, who said NextEra would thwart the spread of rooftop solar power systems and move control of the state’s largest utility to Florida.
Many of speakers in favor of NextEra had ties to unions.
“NextEra will not only create more jobs; the company promised to preserve employment for those already working,” said Kai Hoohuli, speaking on behalf of the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters. “We want to unite with our fellow union bothers and sisters of IBEW Local 1260 to support this merger.”
“We believe this is a good deal for Hawaii, the environment and our citizens, and we ask that you please support this merger,” said Brooke Wilson, also from the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters.
Eddie Flores, CEO of L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, who was one of the first to speak, said NextEra could lower electric rates and would be good for business.
State Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R-Kailua, Kaneohe), who followed Flores, opposed the sale.
“It’s not a merger, folks,” Thielen said. “It’s a sale to a corporation 5,000 miles away.”
Ben Schafer, a resident from Kahana Bay, said he was against the merger because of NextEra’s track record on rooftop solar in Florida. “Every house in Hawaii should have rooftop solar,” Schafer said. “The whole idea is to make everyone energy-sufficient.”
About 3,000 of NextEra’s 4.8 million Florida customers have rooftop solar. In comparison, Hawaiian Electric has approved almost 70,000 rooftop solar systems and has a total of 450,000 customers on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island. NextEra has said the company’s low electricity rates are why there are fewer rooftop solar systems in Florida than Hawaii.
About 20 protesters waved signs in front of the high school before the meeting started, chanting, “Hawaii is green. NextEra is greed.”
“NextEra has historically shown they don’t support renewable energy, especially solar,” said Jeff Kim, with the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, who helped organize the protest.
NextEra has stepped up its campaign to win over the PUC and the public in recent months.
The company hired Jennifer Sabas, longtime aide to the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, in June. The Hawaii State Association of Electrical Workers said in a news release Monday that three electrical unions with more than 7,000 members support the purchase. That followed IBEW Local 1260’s decision last week to change its stance and support the transaction. Local 1260 was one of the official intervenors in the PUC case and had previously opposed the sale.
Three prominent business leaders — Christine Camp, CEO of Avalon Group, Stanford Carr of Stanford Carr Development and Flores — wrote an op-ed in Monday’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser voicing their support for NextEra.
NextEra has run into opposition since it announced in December its intent to buy the state’s largest electrical utility for $4.3 billion. The sale won the support of NextEra and HEI shareholders, but Gov. David Ige and most of the 27 intervenors have opposed the sale.
To move forward NextEra needs the endorsement of PUC Chairman Randy Iwase and PUC Commissioners Lorraine Akiba and Mike Champley. They have said they will make their decision by June.
HECO President and CEO Alan Oshima and NextEra Energy Hawaii President Eric Gleason, as well as members of some of the 27 groups involved in the PUC review, sat in the audience at the listening session.
Duke Hartman, representing Makai Ocean Engineering Inc., a renewable energy company on Oahu, said he was in support. “I am strongly in support of this merger. They bring financing, technology and management,” Hartman said.
The next step in the PUC’s review consists of a separate set of trial-like hearings. The intervenors, HEI and NextEra will be able to testify at those hearings. The commission will host the hearings at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, Dec. 7-11 and Dec. 14-16. The public is allowed to attend but will not be allowed to speak at the hearings.
HEI is the parent company of Hawaiian Electric Co. on Oahu, Maui Electric Co. and Hawaii Electric Light Co. on Hawaii island. If the sale is finalized, HEI’s utilities under the name Hawaiian Electric Holdings will become a third principal business of NextEra. NextEra’s other subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Co. and NextEra Energy Resources.
