I have been trying for some time to get a reasonable explanation for the outrageous cost of electricity in Hawaii. As a part of my search, I've written to Richard Rosenblum, CEO of Hawaiian Electric Co., who has yet to reply to my request.
The manufacture of electricity and its distribution to customers is not rocket science. We've been there and done that for more than a century.
We all would like an explanation as to why Hawaii's costs for electricity are more than three times that of the national average per kilowatt hour. Do we not basically use mixes of manpower and generating machinery similar to our 49 sister states? How can we be so out of synch, cost wise, with the rest of America?
Additionally, I asked Mr. Rosenblum, after five years of active service by the wind turbines above Maalaea Bay, how much fuel oil has been saved as a result of the wind farm operation? Is it true that the company must keep its generators idling at about 70 percent revolutions per minute, due to the inconsistent and fluctuating power received from the wind farm? If this is true, does it not negate the very essence of why we have windmills? Can we ever expect wind-generated electricity to be a competitive enterprise?
History teaches us that there is a direct correlation between affordable and reliable energy and the well-being and prosperity of mankind.
James Wagoner
Kula
