The Public Utilities Commission needs an official finding of what caused the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires before investigating whether a lack of preparation by utility companies contributed to the tragedy that killed 98 people.

PUC Chair Leodoloff R. Asuncion Jr. told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in an interview that the deliberative body is bound by Hawaii Administrative Rules and must follow due process.

Commissioners can’t call Hawaiian Electric in and ask whether they properly set up and maintained utility polls and power lines because they saw a video of a wire starting a fire in the Lahaina grass, Asuncion said.

“We need some definitive type of information so we can go in and have our process. What we’re doing right now is keeping our options open,” said Asuncion. “We could open an investigation tomorrow, but at some point in time it’s going to come to a stop because we have all these other investigations ongoing. We’re going to need certain information because it all goes back to the cause.”

The investigation into the cause and origin of the Lahaina fire by the Maui Fire Department and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is ongoing. There is no timetable for its conclusion.

In addition, the state Department of the Attorney General is conducting an independent investigation into the response and management of the disaster and pledges to publicize the findings in phases.

HECO is also doing an internal investigation, but the utility has not promised to release the findings.

Once a cause and origin are determined, the PUC would focus its probe on the “technical side” he said.

“For the PUC, we don’t have the expertise on staff to actually figure out what was the cause of the fire,” he said. “If the cause of the fire was, say, a wire … did you construct that wire, or was it put up, notwithstanding the high winds, did you put it up in the proper manner? Was it maintained in the proper manner? It’s always forward- looking for us, be it Hawaiian Electric’s line, who knows which line was on that pole?”

Asuncion said he was asked often why the PUC didn’t go into the disaster area and start investigating in the immediate aftermath.

He said it would be a “major mistake” if every entity went in.

The jurisdictions that exist in Lahaina are numerous, and a glut of government and private agencies rushing into a disaster zone trying to find out what happened would create more problems than answers.

With utility bills coming due in the immediate aftermath of Aug. 8, the PUC was focused on supporting the recovery. Commissioners and staff worked to pause all utility disconnections on Maui, islandwide.

They also worked to allow nonregulated water carriers like Matson and Pasha Hawaii to hep Young Bros. ferry supplies and emergency response equipment to Maui.

“We do have a renewed focus on public safety and emergencies,” said Asuncion, noting that the PUC is looking at the emergency and disaster plans and policies of all of the utilities it regulates.

HECO is also seeking for the PUC to spend $190 million over five years on pole and line upgrades, cameras, weather stations and other resiliency projects.

This project includes installing eight weather stations and 16 cameras each on Oahu, Hawaii island and in Maui County for wildfire risk purposes. Pole upgrades are also part of this project, including 48 steel poles specifically for wildfire protection divided evenly among Hawaiian Electric’s three service regions.

The company, in its June 2022 application to the PUC, called the proposed project an important investment that needs to be made as soon as possible and noted, “The risk of a utility system causing a wildfire ignition is significant.”

Hawaiian Electric sought federal funding to defray the cost.

On Aug. 29 the U.S. Department of Energy said it plans to pay for half the project, subject to negotiating specific terms. The PUC has not yet approved the project.

Life of the Land, a nonprofit environmental ad­vocacy organization, is pushing the PUC to immediately look at the risks posed by electrical generation and transmission throughout the state.

On Sept. 11 the group filed a motion for leave to file post-fire information requests to the PUC and Hawaiian Electric as part of HECO’s application to spend $190 million on system resiliency fixes.

Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land, told the Star-Advertiser that his organization’s concern is that “the threat of fire will not pause for the completion of reports on the Maui fires, nor are PUC proceedings instantaneous.”

“Therefore the PUC should start now and should start with threats in general with phase two to address the Maui fires. While the PUC does regulate 1800 entities, mostly vehicles, the threat of fire should have very high priority,” said Curtis. “Surely the Leg(islature) will provide additional funds if the PUC requests it. The worst case scenario is a massive fire with more deaths while we wait on the sidelines for the reports.”

In Sept. 18 comments and recommendations to LOL’s filing, Michael S. Angelo, executive director of the state Division of Consumer Advocacy, recommended that the PUC “assess the vulnerabilities of the systems of Hawaii’s regulated utilities to threats and disasters, whether they be man-made or caused by extreme natural events.”

“The proposed proceeding would allow for identification and a thorough assessment of critical vulnerabilities to the state’s regulated utility systems, and risk mitigations to be proposed, evaluated, and prioritized,” wrote Angelo.

Angelo said LOL wants to investigate “vitally important questions regarding policy that could be developed, and actions that could be taken, to decrease the risks of wildfire from electrical equipment as an ignition source.”

Angelo said a separate proceeding to address LOL’s questions is appropriate.

“The Consumer Advocate is concerned that, if LOL’s information requests are allowed to remain in the instant proceeding, it may delay the Commission’s ability to file a final decision” that may be needed to secure matching federal funds for the resiliency project, and Angelo said he doesn’t want to delay that.

David E. Richmond, government and legislative affairs analyst for the PUC, told the Star-Advertiser the commission “is reviewing that comment and the other materials” in the docket to come to a decision on HECO’s Transmission & Distribution Resilience Project.

“Should the Commission decide to open a new investigatory proceeding, the Commission at that time will define the scope of the proceeding, determine stakeholders beyond the Consumer Advocate, develop a procedural schedule, and assemble a multi-disciplinary staff team that will work with stakeholders on the proceeding,” said Richmond.

Broad oversight

Established in 1913, the PUC employs 54 people, including commissioners, and is responsible for overseeing 1,845 entities throughout Hawaii.

Those include HECO and all of its subsidiaries, Hawaii Gas and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. The PUC is also responsible for Hawaiian Telcom among the 225 wireless and wire line companies the PUC oversees.

Commissioners and staff also regulate water and ground transportation carriers like Young Bros. and Hone Heke. In total the PUC currently monitors 1,044 passenger carriers, 580 property carriers and 40 private water and sewer companies for developments not hooked up to municipal systems.

The PUC reviews and approve rates, tariffs, charges and fees while determining the allowable rate of earnings in establishing rates.

Commissioners also issue guidelines concerning the general management of franchised or certified utility businesses, and acts on requests for the acquisition, sale, disposition or other exchange of utility properties, including mergers and consolidations, according to the state.

No staff are assigned to specific companies or industries.

They are divided into five teams, with legal/policy and research being the two biggest. The other teams are the compliance and community affairs section and the engineering and audit team.

“Those 54 people, including the commissioners, we divvy up our time, depending on what’s before us,” said Asuncion. “It’s all by teams. If HECO has 10 applications before us, there would be 10 teams, there would be some overlap. We really divvy up the work as it comes in the door.”

Under questioning in September from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, members asked Asuncion to clarify the penalties the PUC can hand down.

Asuncion noted that the PUC is “more carrot” than stick in how it manages the entities it regulates.

The company has the power to follow its process and levy monetary fines, but that’s money that does not go to addressing the identified deficiency, he said.

“The real penalty is we call them in, we ask them why (a directive was not followed) and is there an answer there,” said Asuncion.

If commissioners are not satisfied, they can rescind the approval they gave to spend ratepayer money on the project that ignored a PUC directive.

“Now if they are going to do it, they have to find another way. The only other place they could get the money is through their shareholders.”