HECO wants customers to pay for study

Hawaiian Electric Co. and its Maui subsidiary are seeking approval from state regulators to have utility customers pay $405,000 for a study looking at the potential benefits of connecting the electrical grids of Oahu and Maui County with an undersea transmission cable.

The full cost of the "Stage 2" study completed in May was $775,000, with the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute paying the first $370,000 and the two HECO companies paying $202,500 each.

HECO is seeking to recover 13 cents a month over a two-month period from its Oahu customers for a total of 25 cents, according to a filing HECO made with the Public Utilities Commission last week. Maui Electric Co. is seeking to recover 12 cents a month over a 12-month period, for a total of $1.44. Both amounts are based on electricity use of 600 kilowatt-hours a month.

In a separate ruling in April, the PUC approved HECO’s request to recover $3.9 million from its customers to pay for "Stage 1" studies related to the so-called "Big Wind" projects on Lanai and Molokai that would transmit energy to Oahu via an undersea cable.

KISS founders to open Rock & Brews in Paia

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley will be on hand for the grand opening of the previously announced Rock & Brews restaurant in Paia, Maui, on Jan. 25 and 26.

The restaurant’s two-day grand-opening festivities will benefit the Wounded Warrior Project and the Paia Youth Center, with Simmons and Stanley hosting events for each.

The announcement of the restaurant’s planned arrival in Paia drew some community opposition, but publicists are describing the venue as a family restaurant that will "pay tribute to the familial warmth and character that is synonymous with Paia," according to a news release.

The Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea has announced a three-night VIP package priced at $349 per night for people attending the opening.

The two KISS frontmen are associated with the restaurant company. The concept came together at one of the band’s concerts in 2010 when tour manager Dave Furano, his merchandising industry brother Dell and restaurateur and hotelier Michael Zislis got to talking, then brainstorming.

Zislis is listed as sole manager of Rock &Brews Paia LLC.

The first Rock & Brews opened in El Segundo, Calif., in April of last year.

Go!’s on-time performance exceeds 80%

Mesa Air Group Inc.’s go! said more than 80 percent of its flights arrived on time in September and October, and the trend has stayed intact so far through November.

Go!, which is using three 50-seat CRJ-200 aircraft for its operations — with a fourth on the mainland for maintenance — said Tuesday that 85.8 percent of its flights have arrived on time so far this month. That compared with 82.2 percent in October and 84 percent in September. A flight is considered on time if it arrives within 15 minutes after its scheduled arrival time, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In addition, go! said that it had few cancellations during the near three-month period as it completed 98.3 percent of its 844 scheduled flights through most of November, 99.2 percent of its 948 scheduled flights in October and 98.4 percent of its 1,066 scheduled flights in September.

Go! has reduced its scheduled flights from the peak summer season and operates 32 to 36 flights a day.

"These performance numbers reflect the hard work and dedication of the go! team, and are in line with go!’s long- term operational performance," Go! President Chris Pappaioanou said.

"While we are very pleased with these results, we are constantly working to achieve the best operating results possible while delivering safe, low-cost travel to our passengers."

Hawaiian’s Honolulu-Beijing tickets on sale

Hawaiian Airlines has begun selling tickets for its new three-days-a-week Honolulu-Beijing service that will begin April 16. The flight will depart Honolulu at 12:01 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport at 5:55 a.m. the following day. Beginning April 18 the return leg will depart Beijing at 1:05 a.m. Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, cross the international date line and arrive in Honolulu at 4:40 p.m. the previous day — Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Hawaiian will use its 294-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft for the service.

ON THE MOVE

Title Guaranty has promoted:
>> Kyle Barker to branch manager at its Kai?lua office. He has more than 10 years of escrow servicing, operations and transaction experience at the Kai?lua branch.
>> Lesley Kizzee to vice president and regional manager of the Kai?lua branch. She has 30 years of experience in management, title research, examination and full escrow closing functions, including serving as corporate officer, project manager and escrow, title and agency operations manager for title and escrow companies across the country.

The law firm of Imanaka Asato has hired:
>> Michael L. Iosua as an associate in the civil litigation and governmental affairs department. He was previously an assistant attorney general for the government of American Samoa as well as served in an associate position at Snell & Wilmer.
>>Jeanine S. Ogawa of counsel in real estate. She was previously with the law offices of Wesley Y.S. Chang.
 

SHIP AHOY!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures