Capital Program Planning for Hawaii Electric Utilities

by | Oct 21, 2026

Hawaii · Electric & Grid Utilities

Hawaii pays America's highest power prices — and still has to reach 100% renewable by 2045.

The state burns imported oil for roughly two-thirds of its electricity, runs the most isolated island grids in the country, and is absorbing a nearly $2 billion Maui wildfire bill. Every one of those forces reshuffles the projects on your capital list. Invizion helps electric utilities re-sequence a capital portfolio in a click — and defend every decision.

See how Invizion helps utilities See what Hawaii utilities face Download the briefing (PDF)
The bottom line: Hawaii pays America's highest power prices, still burns oil for two-thirds of its electricity, and must reach 100% renewable by 2045 — all while absorbing a nearly $2 billion Maui wildfire bill on isolated island grids. The utilities that manage it will be the ones whose capital plans can re-sequence as fast as the constraints change.
~38¢1
Average retail price per kWh in 2024 — the highest of any US state.
~67%2
Share of Hawaii's electricity still generated from imported petroleum.
100% by 20453
The nation's first 100%-renewable electricity mandate.
~$1.9B4
Hawaiian Electric's share of the Maui wildfire settlement, paid over four years.

The Hawaii Landscape

Four forces are moving your project list at once

None of these is theoretical, and none of them waits for your next budget cycle. Together they mean the capital plan you approved last year may already be the wrong plan.

Demand — A Different Load

The load driver here is decarbonization, not data centers

Hawaii's demand story is electrification, not hyperscale campuses. Nearly a third of single-family homes already run rooftop solar, and solar supplied about 19.5% of the state's electricity in 2024.5 As cars, buses, and buildings electrify, new load has to be served on grids that still burn imported oil for roughly 67% of generation.2

And every island stands alone — no interconnection to a neighbor or the mainland — so each megawatt of new load is a capacity decision made island by island.1

Reliability — Islands On Their Own

No neighbor to lean on when the grid is tight

Hawaii's grids are the most isolated in the country: no island can import a single megawatt when a unit trips or a fuel shipment slips.1 That makes storage and firm capacity a resilience question, not just a clean-energy one.

Reliability is now inseparable from wildfire risk. A downed line likely sparked the August 2023 Lahaina fire that killed 102 people, and Hawaiian Electric now runs public-safety power shutoffs and a 52-station weather network across the islands.6

Generation — 100% By 2045

Retire the oil, hit the mandate, on a capital clock

Hawaii was the first state to require 100% renewable electricity — 30% by 2020, 40% by 2030, 70% by 2040, 100% by 2045.3 Oahu's last coal plant, the 180 MW AES facility, closed in September 2022.7 Hawaiian Electric reached about 33% renewable across its islands in 2023 and is still oil-heavy.8

Closing that gap means procuring firm and variable renewables at scale — the utility's latest planning RFP alone seeks roughly 1,650 GWh of new renewable energy plus grid-forming and firm capacity.4

Capital — Harden And Rebuild

Wildfire, storm, and settlement, all on one balance sheet

Hawaiian Electric is advancing a roughly $190 million grid-resilience program — about half federally funded — to harden against wildfire, hurricane, and flooding.9

On top of that build, the Maui settlement adds four annual payments of $479 million — nearly $1.9 billion — and wildfire-mitigation costs the utility now plans to securitize.4 New obligations don't replace the backlog; they stack on it, and something on the list has to move.

Who Runs Hawaii's Grid

One dominant investor-owned family of utilities, plus a Kauai cooperative

The Hawaiian Electric utilities serve about 95% of the state's people across three island systems; Kauai runs on a member-owned cooperative. The pressures are shared; the accountability path differs.

Investor-owned utilities

Rates & capital recovery regulated by the Hawaii PUC

Hawaiian Electric (HECO) Oahu · largest of the three systems8
Maui Electric (MECO) Maui, Lanai & Molokaʻi8
Hawaiʻi Electric Light (HELCO) Hawaiʻi Island (Big Island)8

Together the Hawaiian Electric utilities (NYSE: HE) serve about 468,000 customers — roughly 95% of Hawaii's population.810

Cooperative & consumer-owned power

Governed by members & an elected board

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) Kauai · ~38,695 member-owners11
KIUC governance Nine-member elected board11
KIUC renewables 100% renewable in daylight on most sunny days11

KIUC is Hawaii's only electric cooperative and the sole consumer-owned utility in the state.11

Rate-Setting & Oversight

Every capital dollar has to be defensible

Whether you answer to the PUC or a member board, the question is the same: why this project, why now, why at this cost?

  • Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulates rates, capital recovery, and integrated grid planning for the Hawaiian Electric utilities.12
  • Performance-Based Regulation — the PUC's Decision & Order No. 37507 (Dec 2020, effective June 2021) sets five-year target revenues with performance incentive mechanisms and an earnings-sharing mechanism.12
  • Wildfire-mitigation cost recovery — Hawaiian Electric plans to securitize wildfire-mitigation costs, subject to PUC approval.4
  • The 100% RPS is a compliance clock, not a goal — 30% by 2020, 40% by 2030, 70% by 2040, 100% by 2045, tracked against every resource decision.3

Funding On The Table

The money is moving — can your plan absorb it?

Hawaii utilities have more grid and resilience capital available than in a generation. The constraint is readiness: which projects qualify, which are shovel-ready, and how the timing lines up.

  • ~$190M grid-resilience program — roughly half federally funded, half customer-funded (pending PUC approval), to harden against wildfire, hurricane, and flooding.9
  • 52-station weather network across four islands, with roughly half of the project funded through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.6
  • Settlement securitization — Hawaiian Electric is funding four annual $479M Maui settlement payments and plans to securitize wildfire-mitigation costs to protect ratepayers and its balance sheet.4
  • IRA elective-pay credits put utility-scale solar and storage within reach for cooperatives and public projects — a lever a member-owned utility like KIUC can pull directly.

Where Invizion Fits

Turn Hawaii's grid build-out into a defensible capital plan

Invizion is scenario-based capital portfolio optimization built for utilities. When load forecasts jump, a grant lands, or a retirement date moves, you don't re-plan by hand for weeks — you model it and decide with a record to stand behind.

1

Model the “what-if” before it's forced on you

A data-center interconnect, a delayed transmission line, a moved retirement date — build the scenario and see the impact on the whole portfolio, side by side with today's plan.

2

Re-sequence 500 projects in a click

When priorities move, Invizion re-orders the portfolio automatically — accelerating, stretching, or deferring projects against the constraints you set, not weeks of spreadsheet surgery.

3

Give regulators or your board a defensible record

Every prioritization and trade-off is captured. When you're asked “why this project, why now,” the answer is documented — not reconstructed after the fact.

Hawaii's Grid, In Brief

Questions Hawaii utility leaders are asking

Short, sourced answers — the same facts we dig into with utilities looking at their capital programs.

Why are Hawaii's electricity prices the highest in the US?
Hawaii's average retail price was about 38 cents/kWh in 2024 — the highest of any state — largely because roughly 67% of its electricity is still generated by burning imported oil, whose price the state can't control.12
What is Hawaii's renewable-energy mandate?
Hawaii was the first state to require 100% renewable electricity, with interim targets of 30% by 2020, 40% by 2030, and 70% by 2040. Hawaiian Electric reached about 33% renewable across its islands in 2023.38
How much is Hawaiian Electric paying for the Maui wildfires?
Hawaiian Electric is paying nearly $1.9 billion — four annual installments of $479 million — as its share of a global settlement exceeding $4 billion tied to the August 2023 Maui fires.46
Why can't Hawaii just import power when the grid is tight?
It can't. Each island runs an isolated grid with no interconnection to another island or the mainland, so storage and firm capacity — not imports — carry reliability during a shortfall.1
What grid funding is available in Hawaii?
Hawaiian Electric is advancing a roughly $190 million grid-resilience program, about half federally funded, and its 52-station wildfire weather network is partly funded through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.96
How does Invizion help Hawaii electric utilities plan capital?
Invizion is scenario-based capital portfolio optimization for utilities. It lets you model how a wildfire-mitigation mandate, a settlement payment, an oil-price swing, or a renewable RFP reshuffles your whole project list, re-sequence the portfolio automatically, and keep a defensible record of every decision for the PUC or your board.

Go Deeper

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About the Author

GB

Guy Barlow

President, Invizion

Guy Barlow leads Invizion, a capital lifecycle management platform for water and wastewater utilities. He has spent two decades at the intersection of utility capital programs, funding, and analytics, helping utilities make faster, more defensible capital decisions.

Explore Further

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Invizion helps utilities model, optimize, and defend their capital programs. Explore how it works, or read our latest thinking on capital planning across the utility sector.

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This briefing was last reviewed September 2026.

Sources

  1. U.S. Energy Information Administration — Hawaii electricity profile 2024: average retail price 38.00¢/kWh (ranked #1 nationally); net generation 9,160,979 MWh. www.eia.gov
  2. Wikipedia — Energy in Hawaii: ~67% of electricity from petroleum (2023); highest share of petroleum use in the US. en.wikipedia.org
  3. National Conference of State Legislatures — State Renewable Portfolio Standards: Hawaii 30% by 2020, 40% by 2030, 70% by 2040, 100% by 2045. www.ncsl.org
  4. StockTitan — Hawaiian Electric (NYSE: HE) results: four annual $479M Maui settlement payments (first paid Apr 2026); IGP RFP for ~1,650 GWh renewable energy; wildfire-mitigation costs to be securitized, 2026. www.stocktitan.net
  5. Wikipedia — Solar power in Hawaii: ~1/3 of single-family homes with rooftop solar (2022); solar ~19.5% of electricity (2024); 1,808 MW installed (2023). en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia — 2023 Hawaii wildfires: 102 deaths; downed power line likely cause; global settlement over $4 billion; ~$165M HECO liability insurance; 52 weather stations (roughly half IIJA-funded). en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia — AES Hawaii Power Plant: 180 MW, Hawaii's only coal-fired plant, closed September 1, 2022. en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia — Hawaiian Electric Industries: ~468,668 customers, ~95% of Hawaii's population; HECO / MECO / HELCO subsidiaries; 33.3% renewable generation (2023). en.wikipedia.org
  9. Hawaiian Electric — Wildfire Safety: ~$190M multi-year grid-resilience plan, funded roughly 50% federal / 50% customer (pending PUC approval). www.hawaiianelectric.com
  10. Wikipedia — Hawaiian Electric Company (NYSE: HE): HEI holding company; largest supplier of electricity in Hawaii. en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia — Kauai Island Utility Cooperative: ~38,695 member-owners; nine-member elected board; 100% renewable during daylight on most days; Hawaii's only electric coop. en.wikipedia.org
  12. Hawaii Public Utilities Commission — Performance-Based Regulation: Decision & Order No. 37507 (Dec 23, 2020), effective June 1, 2021; five-year multi-year rate period with PIMs and an earnings-sharing mechanism. puc.hawaii.gov