In Hawaii, Aloha means hello and goodbye. Hawaii Utility Regulators (HPUC) issued an order on Friday that outright rejected Florida Power & Light (FPL) parent company Nextera Energy’s bid to buy Hawaii Electric Industries (HEI), Hawaii’s largest utility. The long awaited decision affirms Hawaii’s commitment to customer choice and clean energy. While Nextera will forfeit $90 million exiting the deal plus an additional $5 million in expense reimbursements. The biggest loss -- Pride.
Days after the announcement of the merger, solar advocates were quick to draw parallels to Florida. Postcards were sent. Details emerged of FPL’s history of anti renewable -- anti customer -- activity. FPL's responsibility behind Florida’s solar industry failing to advance to even a fraction of its potential was called into question. Over 20 groups and the Governor of Hawaii opposed the deal.
Meanwhile, tone deaf to concerns, Nextera’s pushed on. Its presence immediately spread like a contagion from the mainland. A media campaign depicting a locally controlled, pro-customer utility of the future blanketed primetime media. Solar activity on the island told a different story. Under the preliminary Nextera regime HEI began to resemble FPL. Quickly stalling over 3600 net-metering applications forcing the commission to intervene. Hawaii was the first state to end net-metering. As a result, Hawaii's once booming solar industry lost over 35% of its jobs – and unlike in Florida -- people noticed.
The result, regulators rejected the merger and did not hold back. The key points cited to support their decision to reject the merger drew parallels themselves. Specifically recommending that it was not in the best interest of the public to welcome Nextera to Hawaii. A commitment to lower energy costs was not guaranteed. Local control of the utility was not guaranteed. They concluded that Nextera was not able to demonstrate that their business goals were significantly in-line with that of the people of Hawaii.
The most damaging critique directly pointed to inactivity in Florida. Nextera's lack of experience in managing and dealing with high levels of adoption of customer owned solar and other distributed resources. Nextera’s inability or unwillingness to provide specific recommendations or plans to advance customer sited, customer owned solar and storage was outright unacceptable. The conclusion, Nextera is seemingly uninterested in advancing rooftop solar and predisposed to only advancing utility scale options.
As a result, the final order made it clear, the commission was engaged with interveners and the public while keeping its eye on Florida. Additionally, the commission saw throughout the duration of the merger, rather than support Hawaii in its 100% RPS goal, FPL amplified and doubled down on anti-solar political campaigns, successfully keeping solar adoption at a meager .01% of total customers for the tenth year in a row.
FPL’s success in Florida is Nextera’s failure in Hawaii. The Hawaii PUC’s decision makes it clear that Nextera needs to do some work at home developing its own utility of the future. The utility of the future is powered by it’s customers. A Postcard Jim Robo should have read sooner. Hopefully he got the message as the company plans to outbid Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway for Texas’s largest electric transmission company Oncor would still need regulatory approval.
The Aloha Spirit of Hawaii is alive and well.