Ige is looking to HECO to help cool schools

Gov. David Ige has been contemplating a plan to have Hawaiian Electric Co. install air conditioning in the public schools that need it, and to reimburse the utility for the cost of the program through a fee tacked on to utility customers’ bills, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser has learned.

Cindy McMillan, director of communications for Ige, confirmed the administration has been working on “dynamic and changing” plans to provide air conditioning for schools, but said she was unable to provide any details. If the administration were to announce any such initiative, it would likely be during the governor’s State of the State address on Monday, she said.

Ige Chief of Staff Mike McCartney said through McMillan that it is “incorrect” that the administration intends to have the utilities handle the air-conditioning work, and to reimburse them with a new charge on ratepayers.

However, Public Utilities Commission Chairman Randy Iwase said he has heard about the proposal, which was a subject of much discussion last week among both government and utility officials. Iwase declined to discuss the details because “it’s the governor’s policy call,” and the issue could eventually come before the commission for consideration.

If the Ige administration does seek a surcharge on utility bills to finance air conditioning for the schools, it could pursue the initiative either by asking for PUC approval, or by asking the state Legislature to change state law to establish a surcharge on consumers for that purpose, Iwase said.

Iwase’s wife, Jan, is the principal at Hale Kula Elementary School at Schofield Barracks, and during the extreme heat this past summer “there were issues and concerns and complaints raised at her school,” Iwase said. “It was hot and humid.”

“Dealing with the oppressive heat and its effect on the education of our kids, we all want to do that,” Iwase said.

Darren Pai, spokesman for Hawaiian Electric, declined to answer specific questions about the governor’s plans because he said the utility does not know exactly what the administration intends to do.

“We know the Governor has been evaluating various ways to tackle this issue, but we don’t have details of where those plans stand,” Pai said in an email.

“We understand how critical this issue is,” Pai said in a prepared statement. “If the Governor moves forward with a program to address this important issue, we are certainly willing to see how we can best help.”

One of the possible benefits to having private utility companies handle the work outside of state government is that they would not be subject to the bureaucratic delays and legal restrictions that come into play working within state government, including the complexities of the state procurement code. Those challenges can sometimes cause state-funded projects to stall, or can increase costs.

Overheated classrooms became a focus of public attention last year as Honolulu temperatures hit record levels in the summer, and reached 90 degrees more than three dozen times in August, September and October.

Fewer than 10 percent of the state’s 256 public schools have central air conditioning for all classrooms. The state Department of Education purchased hundreds of portable air conditioners last year for the state’s hottest classrooms, and has installed more than 100.

The DOE also adopted other strategies such as installing heat-reflective materials on rooftops of portable classrooms, or installing ceiling fans in schools.

The department estimates that installing central air conditioning at all public schools would cost $1.7 billion, and would take years even if the state could afford it. Many of the state’s older schools would also need upgrades in their electrical systems to handle the additional load.

Hawaii State Teachers Association President Corey Rosenlee declined to comment on the Ige administration’s plans until he has more information about how the state plans to proceed. Rosenlee has been urging the state Department of Education to do more to keep the state’s classrooms cool.

“What happened this year, and this is not the first year it happened, is that we had students and teachers going to the emergency rooms for all sorts of reasons heat-related, and this has been an ongoing problem not just for years but for decades in Hawaii,” he said.

Rosenlee said he has seen a better effort by the DOE to respond to the problem this year, “but I’m afraid that when the temperatures go down a little they won’t see it as big of an emergency, and this is something that we cannot wait another two decades to try to solve,” he said.