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FYI: I recieved this via email and feel compelled to ask for your support of this petition. It is time for the people to own the Utilities Company in this County (as Kaua'i does), if not the State of Hawaii.
We need to make change for the people of this land, which is all of us. Each and every day, HELCO maintains their record setting profits, and we pay the highest rates in the nation. Will you help us please?
Time for the people of this island to be Onipa'a (steadfast) in this common ground issue. No matter your political or social beliefs, no matter your race or religious belief, no matter your opinion on alternate energy, we need to agree that this egregious monopoly needs to be broken. We deserve a Public Utility Company in the true sense of the language.
KU'E! KU'E! KU'E! JUST MY OPINION, and mahalo for allowing me this opportunity. Thank you, Mr. Wagner, who sent me the following:
Aloha Everyone,
Mahalo Nui Loa to all those who have shared their thoughts and signed Class Action Lawsuit Seeks To End Hawaiian Electric Industries Monopoly petition. With your help, we've reached 357 signers in only 5 days, but if we are going to have an impact, it's critical that more residents sign and share their thoughts and contact lead attorney ( of 3 lawyers + 3 more interested ) John Carroll, to support his efforts by becoming plaintiffs. See bottom of petition for his contact information.The printed petition, signatures, and comments, will be included as supporting evidence in the lawsuit to be filed this summer.
Can you please forward this email to five of your friends right now? With your help, we can reach our goal! Share this link: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/class-action-lawsuit-6
Thank you for taking a stand on this important issue.
Mahalo Nui Loa & Malama Pono,
Mr. Ed
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/class-action-lawsuit-6
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???? Reported earnings of $ 0.34/share and paid a whopping 4.4% dividend to shareholders of $ 0.31/share. Record setting profits?
Must be cheap to ship all that oil across the ocean and install all that new infrastructure to facilitate population growth and new alternative energy distribution.?????
And you figure the politicians would be more efficient?
Really.
Dan
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Yeah, but isn't electricity just a luxury for rich people? The year is still 1908 right?
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Not only is HELCO not forcing anyone to purchase their product, they don't have to listen to lawmakers, the PUC, or petitions. Like most corporations, they only care about money (and more money).
If you want to break HELCO's "egregious monopoly", take some personal responsibility for lowering your own usage and/or going completely off the grid.
Seriously, if you manage to engage HELCO in a lawsuit (and good luck with that), where do you think they'll get the money to pay their lawyers? They'll simply cite "increased operating costs" when they increase the fees and surcharges.
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It's a class action lawsuit, not a petition. These class action lawsuits are like chain letters, they make a lot of money for the lawyers and their firms, the "class" may get pennies. These class action types of lawsuits are starting to fall into the pattern of patent trolls, companies that buy up patents to file lawsuits.
There have been bills submitted to the Hawaii legislature a few times with the same general case for the state to take over Hawaiian Electric. These bills never make it very far but if one did, it would probably mean the state would have to buy out HE for market value, about $3 billion right now. Then the PUC would have to replace all the HE employees with state employees meaning at least a new division and more like a new department. So, instead of a private corporation like HE taking care of all employee benefits and expenses, like vacations, maternity leave, sick leave, health insurance policy, liability, and retirement funds, the state takes that over also. Hundreds of more state employees, probably costing more than the profits from the sale of electricity to tax paying citizen customers.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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HELCO is a public utility, and subject to rules/laws passed by the Hawaii legislature. In past experience when a Utility is taken Public from the corporation running it it makes a lot of money initally for the rate payers, but as any public orginazation it sucks the profits out and then wants to raise taxes to keep running. Which is worse?
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
Mahalo
Rick
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
Mahalo
Rick
Posts: 14,083
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Joined: Aug 2012
The energy companies have achieved "regulatory capture", which means THEY write the rules and laws by which they are governed.
Fox guarding the henhouse is how America works now.
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I think it is interesting to note that HEI and American Savings Bank are one company.
Connie Lau, the HEI CEO came from the ASB side of the company.
The HEI dividend has been stagnant at 1.24/yr. for at least 10 years I think.
At the moment it is largely considered not to be a very good investment in most quarters for various reasons.
This idea is about as Socialist as you can get. I hope you were up in arms about the SuperFerry. THAT was "shibai". Was this downtown attorney filing a class-action then?
KIUC was formed out of self preservation plain and simple. Had nothing to do with fighting a monopoly. The existing power company wanted to quit so they formed a non-profit and bought the utility just so they could keep the lights on. I'm pretty sure there were no bidding wars for the company, $215M for 32,000 accounts to run a utility? Not a very good business investment in any market.
Kauai residential is paying $10 for account service and $.42/KWh. Not a whole hell of a lot cheaper than here and their rates will have to go up if they retrofit to accept solar to the grid just to pay for the changes.
Agree with DanielP, the worst thing that could happen is having the State take over. You really expect costs to come DOWN? Personally, I have absolute faith in the government screwing up ANYTHING it touches.
Your argument is fundamentally contradictory. On the one hand you advocate the essence of the free market - competition. Yet you argue that competition is stifled and therefore this utility should be socialized. You assume that there are in fact, other players that can, and are willing, to compete in this very small market (yes, even Oahu is a small market in this game) at the level that HECO provides.
HECO exists in a Natural/Geographic monopoly. What is the alternative? Allow other companies to put up their own transmission lines, power plants etc..split the market in two then what?
How many abandoned lines, transformers, solar arrays will be left once the competitor goes belly up?
No one is stopping you from going off grid. Helco is no more obligated to buy your surplus as you are obligated to buy their power.
The GNOME cracks on them for not retrofitting their system to incorporate solar. Why should they? Because they are making a profit they should do something that equates to financial suicide?
Only governments do that.
Perhaps someday HECO will be forced economically by the MARKET, to revamp their system and integrate a million solar/wind generation plants owned by homeowners and businesses. Either you buy/lease their infrastructure, or violate their 14th Amendment rights, and steal it from them.
Either way, renewable energy technology (aside from nuclear) has yet to evolve to the point where it can replace conventional power production at the same level of reliability and power demand.
Kudos Mr. Carroll. Every ambulance chaser dreams of cases like this.
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HE not HEI
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
Mahalo
Rick
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
Mahalo
Rick
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