Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. President and CEO Shelee Kimura, testifying at a US House hearing Sept. 28, defended the utility company's actions that preceded a deadly August fire on Maui.
Hawaiian Electric (HECO) subsidiaries Maui Electric Co. Ltd. and Hawaii Electric Light Co. Inc. serve customers on the island. HECO started developing a protocol in 2019 that does not call for the kinds of targeted preemptive shut-offs required in California, Kimura told the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
"That wasn't the appropriate fit for Hawaii," Kimura said. "We have other protocols in place for when there's high winds." Those include disabling a setting on the system that automatically closes a circuit if there is a fault so the line will not reenergize, Kimura explained.
Those protocols had been initiated by the morning of Aug. 7 after the first red flag warning indicated that stronger winds from Hurricane Dora could increase fire risk, but West Maui power lines were not deenergized until 7 a.m. the following day, about a half-hour after a smaller fire had begun, Kimura said.
The County of Maui filed a complaint in a state court in August alleging that parent company Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., Maui Electric, Hawaii Electric Light and HECO "inexcusably kept their power lines energized during the forecasted high-fire danger conditions," which the county said ultimately resulted in a series of infernos Aug. 7–8. The fires killed 97 people and displaced thousands.
On Aug. 28, HECO called the lawsuit "factually and legally irresponsible."
"Because of the invasive plants, because of the wooden poles, because the wires weren't insulated — these were all risks that were known" ahead of that critical period, subcommittee chairman US Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) said during the Sept. 28 hearing.
But HECO's easements and rights of way on Maui also do not include a "stated right" to take care of flammable grasses underneath power lines on private property, according to Kimura, though she added that it is "an issue that I think we all in our state need to be looking at given what happened on Aug. 8."
The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has not yet approved a 2022 application submitted by Hawaiian Electric utilities for a $189.7 million wildfire resilience project because it is waiting for financial assistance from the federal government, PUC Chairman Leo Asuncion noted during the hearing.
President Joe Biden on Aug. 30 announced the US Energy Department will provide $95 million to bolster Hawaii's electric grid, which "does save our ratepayers basically half the cost of the project," Asuncion noted, adding that the PUC has committed to issuing a decision about the 2022 application within 90 days of that announcement.
When asked about potentially running power lines underground, Kimura responded that the standard in Maui is for lines to run overhead, but customers can opt to pay for undergrounding. About 50% of the island's lines are already underground, and some in Lahaina have asked about doing more, but the process is about five times more expensive than on the US mainland "in a place where we have the highest [electric] rates in the nation," Kimura said.
The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the office of Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez expect that their investigations into the fire will likely take 12 to 18 months. HECO's inquiry will also take "many months," according to Kimura.
Regarding whether HECO will make its investigation report publicly available, Kimura said, "It's too early to speculate on exactly what comes out of this and in what form, but we are committed to sharing what's critical."
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