no NextEra merger

[kalakoa]

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news...n-electric

Hooray, or boo, or whatever.

[macuu222]

Looks like the governors special appointment to the puc board swung the vote in his favor. Amazing the things you can do as governor!

[Chunkster]

Actually, the governor's new guy abstained. It was 2-0 without him.

[kalakoa]

the governor's new guy abstained

Bummer, now we don't get more lawsuits (instead of roads, etc).

[randomq]

"The devil you know"?

Now can we go 100% renewable and drop rates to .05/kwh? I might go on-grid for that...

[kalakoa]

The "full story" today:

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news...ity-merger

"This decision is a huge win for local consumers and affirms that from this day forward major utility decisions must make the interests of local residents a priority, that the centralized utility monopoly must change and that replacing one monopoly with an even bigger one isn't the answer people are looking for," state Rep. Chris Lee

Tell that to Oceanic/TimeWarner/Spectrum/whatever they're called this week...

[leilanidude]

So Hawaii, which is blindly trying to get to 100% renewable energy rejects a company that already owns and generates more renewable energy than any other company worldwide?

Hawaii, which has the highest electric costs in the nation, rejects a company who has residential rates 30% lower than the national average?

Another terrible decision by Hawaii government.

Just wait to see if they blindly approve of this instead...

http://finance.yahoo.com/m/feefd431-712e...0%99s.html

If they thought NextEra Energy would be a bad fit, wait until they see how Berkshire Hathaway operates their companies.

[kalakoa]

rejects a company who has residential rates 30% lower than the national average?

I seriously doubt that Hawaii would see any savings -- besides the obvious "must import all fuel (and equipment, etc)" I don't think NextEra really has any idea what it means to "do business in Hawaii" (read: buy everyone off at each step of the project).

Another terrible decision by Hawaii government.

Another decision made by people on Oahu, for people on Oahu; especially ironic in this case, where each island is its own grid. Perhaps Maui (or the Big Island) would have welcomed new ownership of their "local" electric utilities?

[leilanidude]

Way to go, PUC !
---
"The company pulled out of several projects including a study exploring the possibility of an undersea power cable between Oahu and Maui, which could — if eventually built — help the state meet its renewable energy goals.

They also pulled out of a proposed wind farm on Lanai that has stalled in recent years."
---
Of course, the PUC immediately claims it isn't an issue...

However...
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"NextEra also pulled out of a regulatory proceeding to review Hawaiian Electric’s “Power Supply Improvement Plan,” a review that some describe as planning the energy infrastructure for the state.

That withdrawal was expected after the failed merger, but it’s significant because NextEra would have had a lot of influence over the way things were built out in Hawaii, said state Rep. Chris Lee.

“The plan’s been criticized in the past because it relied very heavily on maintaining the fossil fuel generation fleet for considerable amount of time, instead of focusing on leveraging new technology and new rate designs to much more cheaply move toward renewable power here in Hawaii,” Lee said."

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http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news...y-projects

[alaskyn66]

I don't understand why they are so bent on the renewable energy malarkey. This state will always use petroleum. Whether it's for power Or fuel.I ts not like they are stinking up anybody's air... we're in the middle of no where.

The problem is slowly fixing itself as the price of solar panels goes down.. more people and business create their own power.i n the mean time if it ain't broke.. don't fix it.

It won't be long before all the power company has to do is maintain the lines.

Fuel incidentally is Hawaii's largest export..
Aviation fuel ... diesel for ships.