Electric energy markets will likely be in the clear for celebration in the next PUC docket

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Additional options for consumers choosing who to buy energy from is coming to Hawaii, which could be a major change in HECO’s decades-long monopoly.

It’s a surprising revelation that a vigorous discussion board KHON2 produced to raise energy reliability problems in the wake of habitual blackouts.

“We’re going to start it,” said Leo Asuncion, chairman of the Crowded Utilities Commission. “I have asked my staff if we can start it from July 1^{scheduled tribe}Open a docket, an investigative docket, taking into account all the discussions over the last 20-plus years.

Asuncion is talking about wheeling – an important business term when an impact producer that is not of major importance uses the general grid to transmit electrical energy to the buyer. In other words, renting an experience along the lines of HECO to provide customers with an alternative option.

This is something that has been discussed for many years but never got out of the gate, with HECO on most of the islands and KIUC on Kauai as the only real energy companies, unlike most alternative primary mainland cities where Wheeling is common and the festival is big.

“Actually, when I was at the utility, we were discussing it,” Asuncion said. “The commission is going to consider what is the right framework for wheeling in this state? We are already doing this in smaller areas such as community-based renewable energy. But it is being looked at in totality. Could this be a model that utilities use? “Can this be a model that everyone can use?”

Hawaii is no longer completely exotic. A brand new public sun venture recently introduced on Molokai is closer to a wheeling fashion, in which the electricity generated there can be allocated to different locations based on importance for the benefit of consumers.

“Shared solar really allows you to produce in one place and basically give credit to people all over the island,” defined Mark Glick of Hawaii Environment Power Place of Business. “This will be the first large-scale community-based renewable energy that is definitely worth looking at widely. I would say it’s not as effective as it could have been, and it’s definitely taken a lot more time. So I discussed it with LEO and the Public Utility Commission. I think that would be something that they might be able to address through regulations.

It all came together in the upcoming KHON2, which called on the importance of legislation, policy, lawmaking and federal leaders to figure out how to prevent common energy problems from becoming the norm and make Hawaii’s energy resources more valuable, abundant and sustainable. What is being done for. Hot habitual outages are prompting many patrons to wonder: Can HECO keep the lights on and could additional suppliers or models for investor-owned monopolies do it better?

“I think on Kauai, we’ve shown that this can happen in Hawaii,” defined Beth Amaro from the Kauai Island Importance Cooperative. “A utility needs to be prepared for a sale or to be able to make an acquisition, and so that’s probably the biggest part. But as it happened here in Kauai, it will require a group of individuals willing to put in their sweat, working with the National Renewable Cooperative Organization to work with the resources available to make it possible, but “It certainly could be replicated on other islands.”

However, even lawmakers who hold HECO accountable say it’s easier said than done.

“The economy of Oahu alone is 40 times larger than that of Kauai,” said Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, chair of the Senate Trade and Consumer Coverage Committee. “So just saying that what works on one island will also work on another island is not that simple. These types of changes can be very disruptive, but we have a model to compare, and so it’s something we’ve taken very seriously in the legislature.

For its section, HECO says that they listen to people loudly and quietly and so they try to agree with them.

“Safe, reliable electricity that is cost-effective and that people can afford can take care of those who are least in a position to advocate for themselves,” said Jim Kelly, Hawaiian Electrical vice president of presidency and families of the people. The members said. “Everyone is committed to the 100 per cent renewable target and the decarbonisation of our economy. There is disagreement about the best way to get there, the fastest way to get there. But the good thing is that we are all working together on this.”