NextEra-HEI hearings likely to be extended again

Hawaii Public Utilities Commission Chairman Randy Iwase said the hearings to review NextEra Energy Inc.’s proposed $4.3 billion purchase of Hawaiian Electric Industries likely will be extended to a third round of testimony that will resume in late February.

Today is the final day of the second portion of hearings. The public hearings run from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.

“We’re trying to confirm dates, if we don’t finish by tomorrow,” Iwase said Tuesday. “It appears, given the number of witnesses and the time it has taken for each witness, we have to find dates.”

Iwase said it looks like the PUC may be able to secure the same conference room at the Blaisdell from Feb. 29 to March 4.

He said the third round should conclude the evidentiary portion of the review. After the close of hearings, the parties will be able to file closing briefs, and then the board will take the entire application under advisement. Iwase said he could not predict when the PUC will make its decision about the sale.

“At the commission we have to make sure we do it in a methodical way so we can, to the best of our abilities, get this decision right,” Iwase said.