������Ƶ

Question: Why would a state that fought so hard and so long to escape colonial bondage want to chain itself to a new mainland master?

As Nextera’s multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign comes to a climax, and the PUC’s critical decision on the so-called “merger” looms, many of us simple folk out here in Ratepayerland are wondering why this isn’t a no brainer.

The Governor has stated it’s a bad deal. So have energy officials on Maui and the Big Island. So have many expert witnesses in the hearings.

Many of us who’ve attended NextEra’s public meetings have come away with a clear sense — despite all the fuzzy, feel-good rhetoric – that this deal is less about helping Hawaii than about helping themselves. Mr. Eric Gleason is a personable and agile fellow, who has repeatedly adjusted his message and shuffled his sales team as he learns more about his audience.

But he has yet to offer anything with one hand that he isn’t ready to take back with the other. The bottom line throughout has been: “First OK the merger, then we’ll get serious about benefits and rate cuts.”

Last year NextEra circulated a glossy flyer adding 50 new commitments to sweeten the deal. Yet a full paragraph of fine print at the bottom explained that these commitments are just “forward looking statements,” and that “any forward looking statement is not a guarantee of future performance.” The paragraph alluded to shifting conditions, the future price of oil, etc.

What this means, in plain English, is that there are no commitments. If this deal is approved, NextEra will do as it likes with Hawaii, no matter what has been vowed or whispered during the long courtship. Why is this so hard to grasp? Why can’t we just say no?

From the beginning, some officials, businesses and individuals have been dazzled by all the wonderful things NextEra could do for us. They could get us cheaper loans; they could upgrade our obsolete plants and equipment; they could invest in smart grids and increase the saturation of rooftop solar; they could harness state-of-the-art geothermal energy; they could link the islands by cable and realize the Linglecrombie vision of “one big grid;” they could wean us from fossil fuel and at the same time miraculously lower our rates.

Yes, no doubt they could. It’s a beautiful, shimmering vision. It shimmers, however, because it’s a mirage.

The big question is: What will NextEra actually will do, if they are granted monopoly control of electric power in Hawaii? This is a perfectly reasonable question. No company makes multibillion dollar purchases without detailed financial and engineering analysis. Only those who still believe in the Tooth Fairy can really believe that NextEra has no strategy or specific plans. Yet they have coyly insisted, in a hundred forums, that it’s just too early to say.

All we can do, therefore, is extrapolate from their record in Florida and elsewhere. That record suggests that NextEra will extract maximum profit from a state already accustomed to paying up to 50 cents a kilowatt hour. That record suggests that they will bury our excellent but underfunded PUC with a blizzard of legal and technical paperwork. That record suggests that they will do what’s best for their shareholders, no matter the consequences for tiny, out-of-the-way Hawaii. NextEra may indeed propose certain large scale “green” energy projects in our state, but these are more likely to be adapted to the landscape of tax credits, than to our fragile island topography.

Then there’s our old friend HECO. Back in 2013, when this merger was only a gleam in Connie Lau’s eye, our PUC tried to get tough with our utility, directing them to re-invent themselves and come up with a new business plan which would lower rates, improve service, embrace new technologies, and meet our renewable energy goals.

After 100 plus years of easy monopoly and light regulation, that directive must have looked to HECO executives like “the end of the world as we know it.” It meant huge new investments, employee retraining and replacement, and a long string of quarters with a flat bottom line. Instead of rising to the challenge, their response was to negotiate a hasty bailout, with golden parachutes for themselves, and unforeseeable consequences for their loyal customers. HECO would like us to see this deal as a big opportunity; it’s actually an abdication.

Merger supporters warn us that, if the deal is denied, we will still be left to confront all our old problems. They are quite correct.  We will still have to re-invent our utilities or get new ones.

But without NextEra we will at least keep the power to find solutions that make sense for us, island by island, district by district, and house by house. We will still be in control of our own destiny. The merger has many hidden costs, and no doubt some genuine benefits, but the biggest known cost is the loss of control over our utilities, and in part, over our economy.

If we work together, the governments, the businesses, the university, and the people of this state have plenty of will and talent to meet our energy challenges. Yearning for a corporate savior with magical powers, on the other hand, will only make us a colony of Florida. The plantation era is our past; it should not be our future.

Please Commissioners, let’s just say no, and move on.