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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, April 25, 2002

Kaua'i utility 'docket' restricted

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The state Public Utilities Commission has refused requests from Life of the Land, the Hawai'i Renewable Energy Alliance and a local citizens group to be involved in the deliberations on the proposed sale of Kaua'i Electric to a local cooperative.

Kaua'i Island Utility Co-op has proposed buying Kaua'i Electric from Citizens Communications for $215 million. The utility had asked the commission to deny the interventions.

The PUC, in a statement issued yesterday, said Life of the Land and the Hawai'i Renewable Energy Alliance did not meet requirements set by the Hawai'i Administrative Rules for intervention. Life of the Land director Henry Curtis said the decision was no surprise.

"In 31 years, the PUC has never allowed us into a utility docket when the utility says, 'Don't let them in,' " Curtis said.

The commission also rejected a request by a group of Kaua'i residents, calling themselves Concerned Residential Customers, to be admitted as participants. The residents include Carol Bain, Ray Chuan, Ed Coll, Charles Lanphier, Walter Lewis and David Seielstad.

The commission, in its order, said that the state's Consumer Advocate under law has the duty to represent all consumers, including residential consumers. Chuan said the members of his group have been closely involved in discussions of the Kaua'i Electric purchase and "believe we have a better insight into some aspects of the case than the Consumer Advocate."

The approved parties to the PUC deliberations are Kaua'i Electric, the cooperative, Kaua'i County, the Department of the Navy and the state Consumer Advocate.

Curtis argued that there are serious issues at stake, not the least of which is the governance of the cooperative, which he said has just nine actual members, but a 17-member board of directors. Chuan agreed that the co-op itself is an issue.

"There are a lot of amusing things like that. You could argue whether the entity before the commission is a properly constituted entity," Chuan said.

The PUC yesterday announced it will hold a public hearing on Kaua'i on the proposed transfer of ownership. The hearing is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. May 22 at the Kaua'i War Memorial Convention Hall.

A public hearing is not required, but the PUC decided it would be a good idea.

"The sale of the only major electric public utility on the island is clearly a matter of great concern to everyone on Kaua'i," said PUC chairman Dennis Yamada, a former Kaua'i resident.

In its order denying the Concerned Residential Customers request to participate, the PUC said "the public hearing will be an appropriate forum at which consumers and patrons of Citizens may present oral and/or written testimony to the commission."

Copies of the application to purchase the utility are available at public libraries on the island as well as at the PUC office in room 302C of the State Building in Lihu'e.