Will Hawaiian Electric go bankrupt (“Hawaiian Electric stock slides another 15% on wildfire worries,” Star-Advertiser, Top News, Aug. 17)? Will the state end up taking over Hawaii’s only electric company?
The proposed $4.3 billion buyout of Hawaiian Electric by NextEra Energy in 2016 surely looks good right now. However, the state Public Utilities Commission in its wisdom rejected the deal, determining that it was in the public interest for Hawaiian Electric to go it alone.
Today, nobody would pay anything close to $4.3 billion for Hawaiian Electric. Merging Hawaiian Electric, which has a market value of $2 billion, with NextEra, which has a market value of $137 billion, would have been the wise thing to do, especially in this world of increasing climate risks.
Whatever the outcome, Hawaii’s people, who already have the burden of the nation’s highest electricity rates, will be paying much, much more. How many more will be priced out of paradise?
Bert Oshiro
Hawaii Kai
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