Sooner State company hired to gauge Maui utility options

The Maui Mayor’s Office of Economic Development said Tuesday it has selected an Oklahoma-based firm to study utility options for the community.

Guernsey — an engineering, architectural and consulting firm — will come up with an analysis of alternative forms of ownership and business models for Maui County’s electrical utility. The study will give the county a better idea about NextEra Energy Inc.’s proposed purchase of Hawaiian Electric Industries and whether it is in the best interests of the community, the Mayor’s Office said.

Maui Electric Co. is one of HEI’s three utility subsidiaries. HEI’s other utilities are Hawaiian Electric Co. on Oahu and Hawaii Electric Light Co. on Hawaii island.

The Mayor’s Office of Economic Development filed a request for proposals in May seeking the costs and benefits associated with public power and energy cooperatives’ forms of electrical utility ownership. Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa said in April that making MECO a public utility would help Maui adopt renewable energy resources at a faster pace and save customers money.

Guernsey will report back to Maui County in mid-October with its findings.

The contract for the study was originally set at $30,000. The amount was amended to $70,000 and the deadline moved up to next month to provide more information to help the county’s position in the NextEra/HEI merger docket.

“We have the natural resources to wean ourselves off of oil here in Maui County, but in order to do that we need a utility that will be able to evolve with the changing energy industry,” Arakawa said in a news release. “Hopefully this study will be able tell us what is the best option for this type of utility evolution. This is important information that we can use to decide what’s best for the future of Maui County.”

Maui is the second of HEI’s three service areas looking at possibly stepping out from underneath the HEI umbrella. A group on Hawaii island, Hawaii Island Energy Cooperative, said in February it is considering turning Hawaii Electric Light Co. into a cooperative.