NEXTERA ENERGY, INC. – HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC MERGER

Update as of 7/15/2016:

NextEra Energy, Inc. and Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. are seeking to merge in a $4.3 billion transaction that would fundamentally change the ownership structure of our state’s largest electric utility.

NextEra Energy, Inc. is a Juno Beach, Florida-based publicly traded company with two primary subsidiaries: Florida Power & Light, a Florida electric utility with 4.7 million customers, and NextEra Energy Resources, a renewable energy developer with wind and solar projects located across the mainland United States and Canada. If the merger is approved, Hawaiian Electric would join NextEra Energy, Inc. as the company’s third primary subsidiary.

The merger is subject to review and approval by the Public Utilities Commission in an ongoing Docket. You can view all the public documents filed in the merger proceeding on the PUC’s Document Management System. Go to https://dms.puc.hawaii.gov/dms/ and enter Docket No. 2015-0022.

You can see the Division of Consumer Advocacy’s Direct Testimony, filed on August 10, 2015, here,  Rebuttal Testimony, filed on October 7, 2015, here, and Pre-Hearing Brief, filed on November 23, 2015, here.

The Division of Consumer Advocacy was actively involved in reviewing the proposed merger, providing expert witnesses and analysis to assess whether the merger is in the best interest of Hawaii’s consumers. The Consumer Advocate ultimately recommended to the PUC that the merger be rejected in its entirety. That can be found in the Post-Evidentiary Reply Brief that was filed on May 2, 2016. You can view that filing here.

The PUC held a series of public listening sessions regarding the proposed merger across the state during the months of September and October.

The PUC held 12 days of an Evidentiary Hearing at the Neal Blaisdell from November 30 to December 16, 2015. Through these proceedings, the PUC, Consumer Advocate, and diverse intervenors were given the opportunity to cross examine witnesses representing Hawaiian Electric and NextEra.

The Evidentiary Hearing was scheduled in February 2016. More information is available here.

You can view archived footage of the Evidentiary Hearing proceedings to date on the Olelo Youtube channel, here.