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People cannot take continuously rising electricity rates. The Consumer Advocate should be on our side.

Oahu rate payers will pay for the bulk of the rate subsidy. The purchase price of the biofuel will be close to $200 per barrel and the contract will last for 20 years.

We are opposed to the Aina Koa Pono biofuel purchase proposal, it will raise electricity rates. We want lower rates.

Now we need to concentrate on writing letters to the Public Utilities Commission explaining how our families, our businesses, and our communities which are hurt by rising electricity prices.

The PUC will make the final decision. We have until Nov. 30 to submit letters to the PUC. You are the most effective person to tell your story.

You can email testimony to: hawaii.puc@hawaii.gov
PUC Docket #2012-0185
Application for approval of biofuel supply contract with Aina Koa Pono – Ka’u LLC

Electricity costs are to most of us like taxes. One of the primary pillars of our way of life, electricity provides basics from food storage to preparation, from entertainment to health, from bathing to keeping our clothing clean and durable. We have built our lives around its use.

Stopping our use of electricity would take a massive shift in everything we do and a massive shift by our suppliers and our government. The costs of electricity are pervasive.

A 1 percent or even $1 increase does not stop simply at our monthly bill. It is reflected in virtually all goods we purchase and all services we receive. A 1 percent or even $1 increase to us comes back to us in either more costly or reduced service for essential services from our government. Just look at the uproar that a potential tax increase causes — such increases are now virtually unthinkable to our political leaders.

Yet our power providers come forward with 4 percent increases and the public sees itself as virtually helpless to stop it. If the PUC does not stand up and say “enough is enough” and our Consumer Advocate does not recognize rate increases as a problem — then, in fact we become helpless.

In a community that pays four times the national average for its power is it any mystery why our long term economy is stalled? Is it any question why many of our citizens are stuck living like they are in a third world country?

And yet we are now being asked to pay an additional surcharge — for the “benefit” of buying fuel at twice today’s market cost. It is hard not to wonder if we have found ourselves living with Alice in her Wonderland.

The AKP contract might actually make economic sense if:

• There were no lower cost alternatives already on the market such as hydro or geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy can be produced at 11 cents per kilowatt hour which is lower in cost than creating electricity from oil using today’s oil price. If geothermal electricity was used to replace the 80 megawatt that the Keahole electric plant generates, it would save $77million every year. (80 MW is equal to 80,000 kilowatts per hour. 80,000 kilo watts per hour times 11 cents per kilowatt hour is equal to $8,800 saving per hour. $8,000 times 24 hours is a savings of $211,200 savings per day. That times 365 days equals $77 million saving per year). This would be enough to pay off the remaining debt and lower peoples electricity bill.

• There were no lower cost alternatives being used by other markets that we could use here with upgrades (natural gas).

• There were no lower cost alternatives being developed on a fast track (solar, wave action, etc).

All of these alternatives are out there for Hawaii Island. It is not as if AKP were the only near or long term alternative. It is simply the most costly of those alternatives — why are we starting there?

Our focus is on making Big Island electricity rates the lowest in the state. There are alternatives that can actually stabilize and lower electricity rates. The Hu Honua biomass plant in Pepeekeo, for example, will use wood chips to boil water and make steam. We know this is proven technology and at this point it looks to be cost effective.

HELCO is about to issue an RFP for 50 MW of geothermal power. Geothermal does not have to burn anything to create steam. It uses the earth’s heat and steam to make electricity. It is cost effective . . . and, if HELCO is successful in its negotiations of the former avoided cost contract, we will be well on our way to achieving our objective of lowest electricity rates in the state. These two projects will result in a total of 110 MW of affordable, proven technology electricity.

Our objective is to promote balance. We want to use what we have in a smart, common sense way, in a manner that takes care of the greatest number of us. We support schools, hospitals, government services, businesses and the most defenseless among us. These groups all have one thing in common — they need a strong electric grid.

In the interest of supporting balance, we support lowering electricity rates and working to find the ways to help our electric utility help us, the customers, as it helps itself. We are all in this together.

About the author: This is submitted by the Big Island Community Coalition. Its steering committee is made up of Richard Ha, Dave DeLuz, jr, John Dill, Rockne Freitas, Wallace Ishibashi, Kuulei Kealoha Cooper, D. Noelani Kalipi, Ka’iu Kimura, Bob Lindsey, H. M. (“Monty”) Richards, Marcia Sakai, Lehua Veincent, William Walter.

Richard Ha owns Hamakua Springs Country Farms, a 600-acre, fee-simple, diversified Big Island farm. He is also chairman of the board of Ku‘oko‘a, which aims to purchase Hawai‘i’s public utility and convert it to geothermal energy. He posts frequently about farming, self-sufficiency in terms of renewable energy, the Islands’ food security and more on his .

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