Consumer office seeks input on HECO plan
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The state's consumer advocate says public input on large utility projects, such as the $60 million Hawaiian Electric Co. proposal being discussed tonight at the state Capitol, is critical to his forming an opinion.
HECO's plan: Hawaiian Electric Co. wants to bury nearly 3 miles of 46,000-volt lines under city streets. The East O'ahu Transmission Line would be built in two phases, the first between the Makaloa Substation and McCully Substation along Makaloa, Kalakaua, Fern, Pumehana and Lime streets and the second along King Street from the Archer Substation on HECO's Ward Avenue property to the intersection of McCully and Young streets. Public hearing: 6 p.m. today in the lower-level auditorium at the state Capitol. To comment: Send comments to the consumer advocate, call 586-2800, or write to Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Division of Consumer Advocacy, 335 Merchant St. Room 326, Honolulu, HI 96813, or e-mail consumeradvocate@dcca.hawaii.gov.
"The public is who we represent and we want to hear their concerns, whether it affects them individually or maybe their business or organization or community," said John Cole, the executive director of the Division of Consumer Advocacy, commonly called the consumer advocate. "It's that input that the (Public Utilities Commission) and my division are looking for."
Hearing tonight
Today's hearing marks the beginning of several months of information gathering and evidentiary hearings by the PUC leading to a final decision on the HECO project sometime next year.
Cole said his division, which falls under the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, by law takes a position on every case filed at the PUC.
"Our role is to review an application given to the PUC whether it is for a rate increase or a capital improvement project," he said. "We do an independent look at it — kind of like a watchdog, if you will. What we want to do is figure out if the proposal is in the best interests of the public. We want to ensure the public is going to be receiving reliable service at reasonable rates."
HECO has filed an application with the PUC and completed a draft environmental assessment for its 46-kilovolt electric line project in the Ala Moana-McCully-Mo'ili'ili area, which is designed to bring reliable power to East O'ahu. If the project is approved by the PUC, an average O'ahu monthly electric bill will go up $1 a month for 40 years to pay for it.
Fern Street resident Jack Katahara is concerned about the electric and magnetic fields that will be produced by the powerful lines to be buried under the sidewalk in front of his home. Katahara said HECO has assured him that it will not cause any health concerns, but he hopes the state will look into this more closely.
"You want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time for myself, my wife and grandchildren who visit us, we are worried about that exposure," Katahara said. "We don't want somebody looking back in 20 years and saying if we had done this or that then we wouldn't have had this problem."
The project is HECO's alternative to its failed attempt to install a $35 million transmission line along Wa'ahila Ridge. The Wa'ahila proposal was rejected by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources in 2002.
Hundreds of people attended HECO's own public meetings on the project last year. Questions could be submitted during those meetings, but no testimony was allowed.
If the PUC approves the project, HECO expects to begin construction of the first phase in 2006 and complete the second phase in early 2009.
The environmental watchdog group Life of the Land and several legislators from the area have been allowed to intervene in HECO's case before the PUC, which means they can take part in and provide testimony during official hearings related to the project.
Four community groups — Malama O Manoa, Ho'olaulima O Palolo, Kapahulu Neighbors and the Palolo Community Council — were given "participant" status in the case. They will be allowed to submit statements of position but cannot cross-examine or bring in witnesses of their own.
Opponents of the plan say HECO has never demonstrated the need for the project or looked seriously at a widely used alternative — distributed generation, in which small power generation facilities are established near the area where power is needed.
Reach James Gonser at 535-2431 or jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com.
