Posted on: Wednesday, June 25, 2003

EDITORIAL
Electric project debate more than just routes

Hawaiian Electric customers should not be surprised by — nor should they particularly object to — the idea that creating new underground transmission lines to increase "reliability" will add to their electric bill.

That is, once they accept the idea that spending tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in pursuit of greater reliability is necessary in the first place.

After its unhappy experience with an effort to put above-ground lines along Wa'ahila Ridge to beef up reliability, the electric company is back with three other options.

Public opposition to the Wa'ahila Ridge proposal was intense, primarily from aesthetic and environmental points of view. But opposition also generated questions about the need for the project.

Hawaiian Electric insists there is a need, and cites a number of authorities who agree, including an early decision by the Public Utilities Commission, the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Unfortunately, the "need" question never got formally resolved since the Wa'ahila Ridge project stalled when it failed to win a conservation district use permit from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Since the latest "reliability" proposals (there are three in all) would run through urban areas and go underground, there will be no conservation district issue this time around. The Public Utilities Commission will have the job of deciding whether the project is needed, once Hawaiian Electric comes up with a preferred option.

Commendably, the utility has taken a different approach this time, offering an extensive series of public hearings and consultations on the three proposed alternatives. Each offers pluses and minuses.

The most expensive, through McCully and Palolo, would cost up to $122 million and would offer the greatest reliability. It would add around $2 a month to the average residential electric bill.

Two other options, which would cost less than half the McCully-Palolo route, would offer partial improvements in reliability and would add 70 cents to a dollar to the monthly bill.

The public hearing process is focused on which route the community prefers and what tradeoffs between cost, reliability and construction impact they are willing to accept. That's reasonable as far as it goes.

Hawaiian Electric says the issue of need for a project at all is strictly the business of the Public Utilities Commission, once a preferred route has been chosen.

That may be true legally. But Hawaiian Electric must recognize that the "need" issue has become a matter of concern and some controversy within the community. The company has done a good job of bringing the public in on the discussion of routes; it must do the same on the issue of need as well.