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Before the LERZ eruption, HELCO was charging $8000/pole to put in their 19th century grid distribution system. Smart people will invest their money in home power systems (that will make the grid even more expensive).
If any of you believe that Puna's electric rates are going to be anything but the highest in the nation......I have an ocean view lot on Luana St. for just $80,000.
Posts: 1,179
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nothing new
Ruderman has always been a joke... Ive ripped him many times on FB for inaccurate conspiracy based BS!
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
Posts: 1,557
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Joined: Oct 2012
Fun fact: recently had a guest who is a trouble shooter for a mainland major power grid. ( not PG@E) . .. and marveled that all these subdivisions even have continuous power.
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HELCO is a "cost plus" billing company. Their scam is that they will add 10% or whatever (10% number madeup for sake of simplicity, I don't know how high it is) markup to any services they contract out to bill us for.
So they would rather send 10% of 0.40/KWH to the shareholders than 10% of 0.11/KWH. The shareholders don't want LESS money, so the incentive is to keep electricity costs as high as possible. It's not just about electricity production, think about maintenance. Tree trimming, moving the poles over 5 feet one year for road expansion, and then another 5 feet over 3 years later, etc. Brand new trucks every few years when the old ones would do. Driving their trucks back and forth between Hilo and Kona every day over Saddle at 5-10 MPH below the speed limit for no reason, etc.
As a for-profit monopoly it is in their best interest to "find" the most expensive energy producers they can and wine/dine/bribe whoever is necessary to convince us that is a great idea and get the PUC to approve it.
HELCO doesn't want PGV to cost less than fossil fuels. They want PGV electricity cost to be as close to fossil fuel prices as possible. Soon they will convince us all that to combat global warming, we all NEED to pay more than fossil fuel prices for our electricity, and they will find companies to provide the higher prices for us.
Fortunately, they are nearing the end of their scam, because becoming grid-free is becoming more and more affordable.
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they would rather send 10% of 0.40/KWH to the shareholders
Utilities are generally considered low risk, low return equity investments. They are allowed to adjust their rates in order to reach a target return on shares as a way to encourage shareholder investment. The current rate of return is 9.5%:
Hawaiian Electric's current Authorized ROE of 9.5% was approved by the PUC
https://www.hawaiianelectric.com/about-u.../financial
Utilities are monopolies so a government agency, the PUC, sets a limit on shareholder return as there is no competition that would act as a price control in a free market. The return on equity (ROE) is a compromise between what is deemed fair for both shareholders and customers of the utility.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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grid-free is becoming more and more affordable
This is merely an oversight which will be corrected in future revisions of the building code.
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Ahhhh guerella solar, only utilized on full moons at nite.
Aloha
HPP
HPP
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Joined: Mar 2012
quote:
Ruderman lies about PGV
Even if he's from Pahoa, he's a politician.
If his lips are moving, it naturally follows that he's lying.
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Was a Democrat until gun control became a knee jerk, then a Republican until the crazies took over, back to being a nonpartisan again.
This time, I can no longer participate in the primary.
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Add to that the fact he's from Pahoa, so it naturally follows that he's going to lie about PGV in particular.
