THIRD ROUND OF HECO-NEXTERA PUC HEARINGS SET
February 11, 2016 — “Hawaii PUC Chairman Randy Iwase said the public hearings, which began on Nov. 30, now will head to a third round. The hearings will be held in the same conference room at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center from Feb. 29 to March 4 to review whether NextEra’s purchase of the state’s largest electric utility is in the public interest. The hearings are scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ‘We expect the hearing will conclude by no later than March 4,’ Iwase said.”
The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) ended its first 12 days of hearings on the proposed acquisition of Hawaiian Electric by Florida based NextEra Energy on December 16, 2015. Due to the extended testimony and questions from the PUC commissioners and intervenors, the hearings went over the planned timeframe. At the end of the final day, PUC Chair Randal Iwase, Esq. announced that the hearings would continue from February 1-10, 2016 and they did.
Former State Senator Randal Iwase was appointed by Governor Ige in January 2015, for a term ending on June 30, 2020. By any measure, these hearings are very enlightening and at times, great theater. – Scott Foster
NOTE: For a concise background on the first “trial like” PUC hearings, read this enlightening out-of-state article from July, 2015, about earlier events which set the stage for these ongoing hearings:
“Inside Hawaii’s landmark regulatory proceeding to value distributed resources. Phase 1 of the tumultuous docket has brought only ‘general disagreement’ among stakeholders.” Read it HERE.
