ÌìÃÀÊÓƵ

The last act of one of the most intense political dramas in recent history could be coming to an end next week.

State regulators are signaling they are close to a decision on whether NextEra Energy, one of the largest utility companies in the country, will be allowed to take over Hawaiian Electric Industries, one of Hawaii’s oldest and most important companies. It is another chapter in a long and rich story for the venerable utility, a tale that is filled with palace intrigue, political maneuvering and financial fortunes won and lost.

It’s not a stretch to say that the history of HECO is in many ways the history of Hawaii.

Created in 1891, the Hawaiian Electric Co. has for decades supplied electricity to all the islands except Kauai. A group of local men started up a small power company that ended up securing exclusive rights to provide power to Hawaii — after they helped overthrow the queen and the Hawaiian Kingdom.

The development of Oahu followed the routes they chose for power lines. They weaned an early generation of Hawaii residents off wood stoves and kerosene lanterns, teaching everyday housewives to use electric ovens, vacuum cleaners and other appliances. They powered the plantations, the military bases and just about everything that an isolated island community needed to grow and prosper.

The power company even helped pull Hawaii out of the Great Depression, through World War II and into statehood. At one time Hawaiian Electric’s holding company had economic investments that stretched from the crowded beaches of Waikiki to the sparse plains of Inner Mongolia.

The idea that a company that has been so deeply entwined in the economic, political and social fabric of Hawaii would be sold off to people from the mainland really grabbed us. Was this a rumbling in the Force, a major shifting in the tectonic plates of Hawaii life?

We decided to take a very deep look at the role Hawaiian Electric Co. has played in shaping Hawaii over the past 125 years. Could an examination of the past tell us anything about the future? It turns out there are lessons to be learned and plenty of ironies on the road from a few lights at Iolani Palace to the surge of solar panels that run thousands of homes and businesses today.

Special projects editor Eric Pape has spent the past several months on a journey through time. He interviewed dozens of people, searched through tens of thousands of pages of historical records and visited HECO’s aging Oahu facilities. HECO has graciously allowed us to use many of its old photos, and our own photographer, Cory Lum, has produced even more.

The result is “Electric Dreams,” a multi-part series that launches Tuesday. We’ll publish subsequent pieces over the next couple weeks. It’s most definitely the kind of in-depth reporting effort you’ll find only on Civil Beat.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I’ve liked editing it. And now I’m dying to see what the Public Utilities Commission does with the merger. (Hint: The PUC has been a thorn in HECO’s side since 1913.)

Save

Save

Save

Save