On June 4, 2014, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism unveiled its plan to carry out Act 211 of the 2013 Legislature, which promised to bring the benefits of renewable energy to sectors of the population that had so far been unable to afford it.<\/p>\n
It did this with the filing of two applications with the state Public Utilities Commission. One sought PUC approval for the Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) program, which, DBEDT maintained, would allow nonprofits, renters, and low-income families to participate in the savings afforded by renewable technology. The second sought PUC approval for the sale of $150 million in bonds to fund the GEMS program. The bonds would be secured by a Green Infrastructure Fee (GIF) that would appear each month on the bills of all Hawaiian Electric customers. The amount of the fee would be determined by what was required to pay off the bond, recalculated periodically to ensure that the fees generated were sufficient to meet bondholder obligations (initially around $14 million a year, including $4.5 million in interest).<\/p>\n
The broad outlines of the GEMS program and the means to finance it were developed with little public input. Although Act 211 anticipated the appointment of a Hawai`i Green Infrastructure Authority to oversee the program to finance renewable energy installations for underserved populations, the authority did not exist until October 23, 2014, when Governor Neil Abercrombie appointed Jeff Mikulina, of the Blue Planet Foundation, and Wesley Machida, of the Hawai`i Employees Retirement System, as the two public members of the five-member authority. (The others are the directors of Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and the Department of Budget and Finance, and the administrator of DBEDT\u2019s Energy Office.)<\/p>\n
By that time, the PUC had approved the program, largely as DBEDT proposed. The customers of Hawaiian Electric\u2019s three utilities \u2013 HECO, MECO, and HELCO \u2013 were now stuck with a fee that will last the next 20 years, at least, to fund a program of far more limited scope, at least initially, than that anticipated by lawmakers and others who strongly supported the initial legislation.<\/p>\n
The sole opportunity for public input occurred when DBEDT made its filings with the PUC last June.<\/p>\n
As state agencies go, the PUC is not the friendliest venue for public involvement. Parties wishing to intervene must show how their interest differs from that of the general public, whose interests are nominally represented by the state consumer advocate in all PUC proceedings, known as dockets. Once they are approved as intervenors, questions they may have about the proposals in a given docket have to be posed in writing. The process can take months and is so formal and difficult that most intervenors find it necessary to hire a lawyer.<\/p>\n
In the GEMS financing docket, one individual \u2013 Sally Kaye, of Lana`i \u2013 and one organization \u2013 the Blue Planet Foundation, represented by attorney Doug Codiga \u2013 intervened. Blue Planet wholeheartedly endorsed DBEDT\u2019s program; in its three-page statement of position, it recommended not one change. Kaye, on the other hand, was highly critical.<\/p>\n
What DBEDT was proposing to the PUC, Kaye said in her 14-page statement of position, did \u201cnot accurately reflect the Legislature\u2019s intent in enacting the relevant statutory provisions.\u201d A review of testimony and standing committee reports, she continued, \u201cconfirms that there is simply no mention or discussion of, nor support shown for, a fixed fee on utility ratepayers that could stretch out for 20 years or more. To the contrary, the testimony offered, including from the Department itself, reveals a focus on 1) low-interest financing; 2) targeted at underserved markets; 3) to be paid for from the already assessed, usage-based public benefits fund; and 4) paid back via an on-bill mechanism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaye had other concerns as well, especially regarding the Green Infrastructure Fee (detailed elsewhere in this issue).<\/p>\n
Yet when the PUC issued its order approving the program, it was almost exactly as DBEDT had proposed.<\/p>\n
\u2018Stakeholder\u2019 Input<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Mark Glick, administrator of DBEDT\u2019s Energy Office, was asked who had input into the design of the GEMS. His staff worked closely with the PUC, he said, to develop the applications. \u201cOnce we made the applications, we knew we could no longer talk with them, so we wanted to know precisely what they were looking for in an application,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Helping to develop the bond package were First Southwest and Goldman Sachs, said Tanyan Chen, manager of DBEDT\u2019s Clean Energy Solution\u2019s branch. Renewable Funding out of Berkeley was hired to help develop the loan program, she said, with a contract worth around $1 million. (That is one of several contracts that Environment Hawai`i <\/i>has asked to see. So far, none has been provided.)<\/p>\n
The 2014 report to the state Legislature on the activities of the Hawai`i Green Infrastructure Authority (prepared in part by Renewable Funding) states that DBEDT and HGIA \u201chas [sic] worked with hundreds of public and private stakeholders.\u201d Pressed to give examples of public meetings, Chen could cite only the PUC deliberations, which included \u201ca technical conference\u201d as well as \u201cstakeholder meetings with industry folks.\u201d The PUC\u2019s technical conference qualified as a public meeting, she said, \u201csince they noticed it. Anybody could attend that meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chen also suggested that the public had plenty of opportunity to testify on GEMS as the enabling legislation worked its way through the legislative hearing process.<\/p>\n
Glick said that his agency had actually done \u201ca lot of scoping meetings\u201d with \u201cmembers of the solar community, environmentalists, Sierra Club, Earthjustice. We were trying to deal with the people who are ultimately going to use the funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
None of this constituted a public hearing, he acknowledged, adding: \u201cThere could be broader forms of outreach, but we are developing a loan program that has technical components. Creating too much of an open process with people who simply have opinions but who have no experience in loan development or loan packaging on the program side may not be the most effective thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, he added, \u201cThe community has the opportunity to give us feedback. I hear it all the time. People can approach us at any time and say, here\u2019s what concerns us, here\u2019s what we\u2019d like to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked whether the HGIA should be subject to the rule-making process in devising its various loan programs, Glick stated, \u201cIf it is viewed that that will be beneficial to creating a more robust program, that\u2019d be fine. I personally don\u2019t think it is necessary. But if the public or policy-makers think it would be advantageous, we wouldn\u2019t stand in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Last, an Authority<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
The Hawai`i Green Infrastructure Authority, anticipated in Act 211 to design and oversee the GEMS program, held its first public meeting on October 23, the same day its two members of the public were appointed. By that time, there was little the authority\u2019s members could do to shape the GEMS program had they wanted to.<\/p>\n
The Energy Office\u2019s Glick was asked why the establishment of the HGIA came so long after Act 211 was passed. \u201cFrom a functional standpoint,\u201d he responded, \u201cthe initial work and design of the program occurred within the Energy Office. The same people were developing and overseeing contracts for both the program and finance order, so it just became a matter of at what point did you need to have the authority up and running to oversee a functioning loan program. \u2026 It didn\u2019t seem to be imperative to have that functioning prior to the commencement of the loan program.\u201d<\/p>\n
The HGIA also met in November, to discuss hiring issues, and was scheduled to meet on February 26, to approve the appointment of Tanyan Chen as interim executive director and to approve \u201cagreements with program deployment partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
The authority\u2019s first quarterly report to the PUC, filed January 30, suggests much more activity than what was undertaken at the public meetings. \u201cThe Authority, in conjunction with the state Energy Office, has continued to seek out participants who are unable to gain access to the PV market and work with Deployment Partners to develop products to meet their needs,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n
— Patricia Tummons <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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