KIUC addresses community concerns

LIHUE — Increasing concerns about high electricity rates and a shift toward renewable energy took center stage Thursday at a series of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative meetings held islandwide.

The meetings, which were held simultaneously at the Historic Waimea Theater, Princeville Community Center and the cooperative’s headquarters in Lihue, presented information about the electricity-provider’s revised list of long-term plans.  

The new plan, which did not lay out changes to specific costs, projects or policies, was created to set future priorities for the cooperative and its officials when decisions on allocating resources — such as money, time, personnel and technology — must be made between now and 2025.

Cooperative Chief of Operations Mike Yamane said initial efforts to create a strategic plan dates back to 2007, when KIUC board members sought to decrease the cooperative’s reliance on imported fossil fuels.

The first plan was later completed in December 2009 and lays out an ambitious goal for the cooperative to have renewable resources generate at least half of the island’s energy by 2023.

Sitting KIUC officials say the need to revisit and revise these plans are becoming increasingly important as the cooperative begins to addresses issues stemming from the rise of photovoltaic systems and consumer concerns.

One of the biggest concerns raised by cooperative members in a survey last year and those at the Lihue meeting were gradual electricity cost increases on the heels of several renewable energy projects.

In all, renewable energy now accounts for 15 percent of all cooperative electricity sales, compared to 5 percent in 2008.

Financial Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Karissa Jonas said members’ rates are projected to remain flat over the next decade as the cooperative continues to find a balance between fossil fuels and renewable energy options.

“Investing in these projects, because they are offsetting oil, … will dampen that impact,” Jonas said.

But what concerns some cooperative officials are the substantial costs also needed to manage the influx of these new energy sources,  including the use expert engineers to create a more robust grid.

“I don’t think it’s a real practical idea to think that costs will go down when there’s inflationary effects on those costs,” Regulatory Affairs Manager Tim Blume said. “We can bring down the cost of generation by doing these renewable projects at a lesser cost … and we hope they net out at something better than if we hadn’t done the projects, so the idea then is rate containment as opposed to really bringing the rates down. We would love to bring the rates down … but we’re competing against what the rest of the world is competing against.”

Other members with non-photovoltaic users said they were concerned about paying more in fixed costs to maintain the cooperative’s system than those who do have those systems in place.

“I’m happy that you’re looking at that (renewable energy options) — that is an issue that should be addressed,” Lihue resident Robert Girald said. “I’m not cutting the people who have taken the steps to put PV (photovoltaic systems) in — I applaud them for that because it all goes into the green idea — but I think somehow along the line those costs must be shared equally.”

Jim Mayfield, one KIUC’s founding board members, acknowledged that electricity costs bourne to Kauai customers is high but said the cooperative has taken steps in recent years to decrease them.

“I’m not disagreeing that our costs have come up but it’s not fair to look at it just like that — we should be looking at it relative to all the other utilities in Hawaii,” Mayfield said during the meeting. “We have a long way to go, but we still have made substantial progress.”  

• Darin Moriki, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0428 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com.