Hawaiian Electric Put Green Energy Goals Ahead of Fire Mitigation

Hawaiian Electric is facing increased scrutiny and multiple lawsuits for the role it may have played in the deadly Maui wildfires, including one complaint that accuses the power utility of years of fire mitigation inaction and negligence.

The lawsuit, obtained by NBC News, alleges that Hawaiian Electric helped set the stage for the devastating wildfires that killed at least 110 people last week. The plaintiffs accuse the utility company, which supplies 95% of the state's electricity, of knowingly failing to protect its equipment and customers from the threat of fire.

"Hawaiian Electric is not just responsible, and they weren't just negligent," Mikal Watts, a lead attorney on the case, told NBC. "They were grossly negligent by making conscious decisions to delay grid modernization projects that would have prevented this very tragedy."

Three other lawsuits filed in the aftermath of the disaster that were reviewed by NBC make similar claims.

During the 2019 wildfire season, which was one of the worst in Maui's history, Hawaiian Electric concluded it needed to do much more to prevent its power lines from emitting sparks; the company devoted resources to building out the utility's green energy network instead and took little action to mitigate fire risk, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to regulatory filings, the power company spent less than $245,000 on projects to mitigate fire risk between 2019 and 2022.

A spokesman for Hawaiian Electric told the Journal the company reduces wildfire risk by trimming or removing trees and upgrading, replacing, and inspecting equipment. The company has spent approximately $84 million on maintenance and tree work in Maui County since 2018, the spokesman said.

While the fire's cause has not yet been determined, mounting evidence suggests that the utility's equipment was to blame. In one video taken by a resident, a downed power line ignited dry grass along a road near the historic town of Lahaina, which was destroyed by the blaze. In the hours before the fire began, a firm that monitors grid sensors reported dozens of electrical disruptions, including one that coincided with video of a flash of light from power lines.

During a press conference earlier this week, Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura said the utility would be conducting its own investigation.

"We will be doing our own investigation," Kimura said. "The state will be doing an investigation. We will cooperate fully in that. I think we all believe it's important to understand what happened, and I think we all believe it's important to make sure it never happens again."

Hawaii has been pushing to convert to renewable energy since 2008, when an increase in oil prices sent electrical rates at Hawaiian Electric — which relied on petroleum imports for 80% of its energy supply — sky-high. According to the Journal, Hawaii enacted a first-in-the-country law in 2015 mandating that the state's electrical grid be 100% powered by renewable energy by 2045.

A complete restructuring of the regulatory framework to guide the transition was completed in 2021, which offered Hawaiian Electric bonuses for finishing green energy projects on time and threatened it with fines for missing deadlines.

"You have to look at the scope and scale of the transformation within [Hawaiian Electric] that was occurring throughout the system," Mina Morita, who chaired the state utilities commission from 2011 to 2015, told the Journal. "While there was concern for wildfire risk, politically the focus was on electricity generation."