Hawaiʻi’s families are struggling, Hawaiian Electric is not
By Kirsten Kagimoto | Reading Time: 2.5 min
The past year has been rough on most of Hawaiʻi. Although things are starting to look up, many of Hawaiʻi’s families continue to face hard financial decisions, as close to 60,000 of our friends, family and neighbors are still unemployed due to the pandemic.
But you know who isn’t struggling? Hawaiian Electric Company. They reported earning more in 2020 than any year before, pocketing $169.3 million dollars. This record profit comes despite the global pandemic and its resulting economic plunge that has led to thousands of unpaid electric bills from households struggling to get by.
The icing on the cake is the bonuses that Hawaiian Electric Company’s executives saw as a result. The top six leaders at the corporation saw bonuses totalling over $2.8 million. While most of us stress over just making it by—the CEO himself received more than a million dollars in bonuses.
The executive’s total bonuses alone could have paid for 14,147 electricity bills. We don’t know how many households have been unable to pay their bill during the pandemic but we do know that the $2 million pocketed by the execs would go very far in offsetting the debt faced by many.
Our families and friends are struggling. Hawaiian Electric is not. That is why we are doubling down on our action demanding Hawaiian Electric offer bill forgiveness directly to its customers that can demonstrate a loss of income due to COVID-19. We urge you to take action today—email Hawaiian Electric’s CEO, asking him to do what is right for Hawaiʻi’s communities and use a small percentage of Hawaiian Electric’s profits to offer direct bill forgiveness. It will only take a second.
Hawaiian Electric has a long history of putting profits over people. Hawaiʻi pays the highest electricity rates in the nation, almost three times more than the national average. This is largely because the electric monopoly has dragged its feet in our islands’ transition to clean energy, keeping us hooked on expensive fossil fuels that lead to higher rates and therefore higher profits. Hawaiian Electric has also long exploited working class communities, placing dirty fossil fuel plants or impactful clean energy projects in low-income neighborhoods—disproportionately impacting indigenous and people of color. The exploitation goes alllll the way back to the establishment of the corporation, which not-so-coincidentally occurred right around the same time as the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Enough is enough. This is a chance for Hawaiian Electric to use its political, social and economic standing to do what is right for Hawaiʻi’s people. They have tried every but offer direct bill forgiveness and none of the payment plans, assistance programs or other relief efforts have gone far enough on the scale that is needed to back a widespread difference. Take action today!
The current utility shutoff moratorium set by the Public Utilities Commission runs through March 31, 2021. We will also be calling on the PUC for another extension, as we have yet to see meaningful economic recovery in our islands. Stay tuned!