The County of Kaua’i will request intervenor status regarding the Kauai Electric sale application filed before the state Public Utilities Commission. Friday is the deadline to request intervenor status. The Kaua’i Island Utility Co-op has a deal to buy Kauai
The County of Kaua’i will request intervenor status regarding the Kauai Electric sale application filed before the state Public Utilities Commission.
Friday is the deadline to request intervenor status. The Kaua’i Island Utility Co-op has a deal to buy Kauai Electric for $215 million. But the transaction requires PUC approval before it can be finalized.
As of yesterday, only the U.S. Department of Defense and Life of the Land had requested intervenor status, but Beth Tokioka, county public information officer, said the county would request intervenor status as well before Friday’s deadline.
A Life of the Land spokesman said he expects the Hawaii Renewable Energy Alliance to request intervenor status before Friday’s deadline as well.
The PUC must rule on each request for intervenor status, and there is a five-day response time for anyone interested in filing opposition to any motion to intervene, said Kevin Katsura, PUC attorney assigned to the Kauai Electric application.
The PUC rules set a deadline for requesting intervenor status (20 days after an application is filed), and other PUC rules pertain to when a party should be allowed intervenor status, Katsura explained.
By state law, the state consumer advocate intervenes on behalf of all Kauai Electric rate-payers, and when the co-op tried unsuccessfully to buy Kauai Electric two years ago for $270 million, the U.S. Department of Defense and County of Kaua’i were both granted intervenor status.
Then, all three intervenors argued that the sale price was too high to adequately protect rate-payers from future rate increases, among other points of opposition. The PUC failed to approve the sale in 2000.
The DOD argued successfully that national security and defense interests related to the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands on Kaua’i’s Westside (one of the island’s top users of electricity) made it something other than an ordinary rate-payer, and the County of Kaua’i was granted intervenor status in 2000 on the basis that it is also a major user of electricity and represents the entire island as the local governmental entity.
After the intervenor status matters are settled by the PUC, those granted intervenor status will get together and agree on a schedule for when the PUC deliberation regarding the sale application can begin, said Katsura.
Intervenor status gives intervenors the ability to ask specific questions of the buyer and seller, and obligates the buyer and seller to answer those questions. Oftentimes, intervenors express concerns and give reasons why an application should be denied.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
