The state Public Utilities Commission kicked off a series of town halls about storm-related blackouts to sparse attendance Monday.
The PUC will hold five public informational meetings on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island throughout October to collect feedback from residents about the reliability of Hawaiian Electric’s service amid this year’s many storms. The first of those meetings, held on Monday in Kailua, was brief, with only a handful of people providing vocal testimony.
PUC commissioner Naomi Kuwaye explained at the meeting that the testimony submitted during the meetings will be used for future decision-making regarding HECO’s service. While she didn’t specifically mention it, those future decisions will likely include decisions on whether to approve a HECO proposal to raise its rates by an estimated $11 to $15 per month.
Consequently, the few Kailua-area residents who did speak at Monday’s meeting urged the PUC to review HECO’s processes before approving any future rate increases. Kailua resident Aria Castillo said the canoe manufacturing business she works for in the Kapa‘a Quarry Industrial Park “regularly experiences power outages,” which directly impacts her own income.
Castillo said repeated shutdowns during Hurricane Lala caused damage to a canoe under production, which required the business to sell it after a loss. Despite this, that loss of revenue could not qualify for insurance coverage, forcing the business and its workers to shoulder the impacts themselves.
“This is basic infrastructure, and doing business in Hawai‘i is already so hard, and small businesses and their employees cannot continue to absorb the cost,” Castillo said, urging PUC to impose standards for HECO to account for documented business losses as a result of service interruptions.
Scot Matayoshi, state Representative for Kailua, also appeared at the meeting to suggest that the PUC establish a capped damage claim that people could file to be potentially reimbursed by HECO for losses such as food spoilage or loss of income.
“That might incentivize HECO to harden certain parts of the grid or provide backup power, generators, may batteries,” Matayoshi said. “A lot of people in my district were very deeply affected by the power outages. They lost a lot of food, the food banks in my district lost all of everything in their freezers and refrigerators, all the meat, everything.”
Another attendee, Cori Terayama, said that, whenever HECO service is lost in ‘Āhuimanu, all cell service is cut off as well, which has serious safety implications in the case of potentially hazardous weather events. Terayama asked HECO develop redundant power systems for cell towers in such vulnerable areas.
Shari Ishikawa, HECO’s vice president of energy delivery, said the company is working on equipment upgrades for East O‘ahu circuits, and is planning underground cable replacement projects next year.
“We recognize that hearing about projects underway does not make it less frustrating when the power goes out,” Ishikawa said. “We have more work to do both in strengthening our infrastructure and also communicating during outages.”
The next town hall meeting will be held Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Kapolei High School. The remaining three meetings will be on Hawai‘i Island on Oct. 20, 21 and 26, at Waiākea, Kealekehe and Kā‘u, respectively.
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