The past 10 months have been decidedly dreadful for Hawaiian Electric. Serving the electrical utility needs of about 95% of Hawaii’s population, HECO companies face hundreds of lawsuits filed by victims of the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires that claimed 102 lives. Shareholder lawsuits targeting executives and board members are also pending, and the company’s credit rating has been decimated. HECO’s aging grid — dating back to statehood in some areas — is showing cracks, with recent days-long power outages crippling downtown Honolulu and Chinatown.
Against this backdrop, an overarching initiative to meet the state’s ambitious goal of transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2045 trundles along. It is a fraught and expensive path — one that will require utility customers to pay for supporting efforts big and small — that is undeniably necessary to thwart the impacts of climate change.
Last year’s tragedy in Lahaina underscores the need for immediate action and has sharpened industry focus on wildfire mitigation, rightly so, but HECO cannot afford to be myopic and must instead make big-picture considerations if it hopes to survive the fallout. Shelee Kimura, HECO president and CEO, told the Star-Advertiser editorial board that the company’s push into renewable energy remains on track amid a bevy of new or updated projects relating to wildfire risk, grid hardening, service reliability, energy security and sustainability.
PARTNER FACILITIES like AES Hawaii’s Maui solar facility are slowly coming online across the state — some estimated for completion in 2033 — but the bulk of HECO’s accessible renewable energy mix is customer-sited solar, or photovoltaic panels installed by more than 100,000 ratepayers.
Like a switch away from fossil fuels, managing customer-sited solar is an adaptation to standard operating procedures that requires a delicate balance of new technology and new habits. For this, HECO introduced a “shift and save” pilot program to about 14,000 randomly selected Oahu and Hawaii island customers in February to encourage a change in energy use to daytime hours, rather than evening and overnight. Under the one-year pilot, which for now is entirely optional, residential and business rates per kilowatt-hour during the day, when solar energy is more abundant, are about half the price of existing regular fees. Overnight rates fall roughly in line with current prices — but evening peak rates, when power is generated by fossil fuels, are about 50% more expensive.
Shift and save is plainly in the interest of HECO, which is looking to effectively manage a glut of incoming customer-sited solar power, though the program can also work to benefit a segment of ratepayers — if they are willing and able to modify a lifetime of ingrained energy-use routine. The work-from-home crowd and kupuna are at an advantage here, able to use power-hungry appliances and complete chores within the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. “daytime” window of cheaper energy. Those who commute or have children are less likely to see an upside to shift and save, as many return home between the 5 to 9 p.m. “peak evening” period, prime time for all that needs to be done around the home. More needs to be done to protect the working families of Hawaii from further financial burden, and Kimura says HECO is sensitive to that fact.
NO OFFICIAL DATA has been gleaned from the pilot yet, but Jim Kelly, HECO vice president of government and community relations and corporate communications, says he’s hopeful that customers will begin to see shift and save as a benefit. An initial accounting is expected in August and, after HECO parses the data, a report will be sent to the state Public Utilities Commission for scrutiny ahead of a decision on whether shift and save will be expanded to all customers in 2025.
Preliminary data and customer feedback can also bring in federal grant money, a consequential need for HECO as the utility’s post-Lahaina credit position precludes it from raising funds through conventional avenues. HECO was awarded $95 million, to be matched with a PUC-approved $95 million in customer money, initially earmarked for general resilience funding that is going toward grid hardening against natural disasters, with a portion rerouted to wildfire mitigation involving state-of-the-art monitoring technology. Some systems are already in use, including fast trip, which quickly de-energizes power lines when they are struck, perhaps by a falling tree branch. Customers may have noticed more outages recently, and that is by design to bolster public safety.
HECO is going after another $500 million in federal grants to offset customer costs for a variety of grid improvement projects.
Embracing a new normal is difficult, and Hawaii is particularly averse to change. But as the state and HECO move all-in on renewable energy — and crucial disaster mitigation projects ramp up — it is in everyone’s best interest to be nimble and push for a safer and more sustainable future.
