Dean Nishina has been named executive director for 鈥檚 Division of Consumer Advocacy.

He has been serving as acting executive director since Sept. 1, following the departure of Jeffrey Ono, who returned to private practice.

Ono, you may recall, was a familiar voice during the consideration of the rejected NextEra Energy merger with Hawaiian Electric.

As the consumer advocate, says a DCCA press release, “Nishina will oversee the division鈥檚 representation of consumer interests before the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission and other local and federal agencies.”

Nishina previously served in the role from December 2009 to January 2011.

鈥淚 look forward to continuing to advocate on behalf of the state鈥檚 consumers in this dynamic period,鈥� said Nishina. 鈥淗awaii鈥檚 energy environment has seen significant changes over recent years. Going forward, we remain committed to balancing the demands of Hawaii鈥檚 energy landscape to promote renewable energies to achieve the state鈥檚 goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2045.鈥�