Hawaiian Electric Co. customers on Oahu could see rate hike
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaiian Electric Co. has put forward a proposal that would raise base rates for customers on Oahu for the first time in nearly six years.
The company filed the proposal seeking to increase customer rates by 6.9 percent with the Public Utilities Commission on Friday. The move is part of the company’s plan to generate an additional $106 million in revenue.
Under the proposal, HECO officials say an Oahu residential customer using 500 kilowatt hours a month would see an increase of $8.71 a month to $141.03, based on December bills. Any change likely wouldn’t take effect until mid-2017.
The utility said the additional revenue would help cover costs for system upgrades, improved customer service and renewable energy efforts.
HECO said in a news release that it has spent more than $900 million since 2011 on replacing and upgrading equipment to improve Oahu’s power grid.
The company’s proposal comes a week after it issued a request for information from homeowners about properties that would be available for utility-scale renewable energy projects, such as solar and wind farms. Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric and the Hawaii Electric Light Co. are looking to increase the number of clean energy projects on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Lanai.
The effort is part of the state’s goal to generate 100 percent renewable energy by 2045.
Oahu homeless shelter closes in response to new state rules
HONOLULU (AP) — An Oahu homeless shelter is closing down because its operators say they will no longer be able to run the facility under new state rules that require shelters to have more space for residents.
Waipahu Lighthouse Outreach Center housed about 75 people as of Thursday. Director William Hummel said the shelter is working to find residents a new place to stay now that the center is closing.
Shelters were required to submit an operations plan last week that detailed how they would provide guests with more private space without added construction. Hummel said he didn’t submit a plan because the shelter wouldn’t be able to able to meet the requirements, which the Legislature passed this year.
“We didn’t apply because we don’t want to enter into a contract where we agree to do things we know can’t be done,” Hummel said.
Under the new rules, shelters will also lose funding if they don’t place residents into permanent housing within a certain period of time and aren’t at least at 80 percent capacity.
Hummel said the new requirements don’t make sense in a place like Hawaii, where Gov. David Ige declared the state’s homelessness crisis an emergency last year.
“There is no permanent housing. The outcome measures, the construction requirements, they’re all irrational. I don’t want to speak for other shelters but I don’t know how other shelters can do this,” Hummel said.
Scott Morishige, Ige’s homelessness coordinator, said the governor’s administration is taking the closure of the Waipahu center “very seriously.”
“We are committed to working together with Lighthouse to find permanent housing for individuals who are residing there,” Morshige said.
