http://www.disappearednews.com/2012/05/what-could-possible-go-wrong-with.html

What I am getting from the media is that there is a subterranean debate going now on whether HEI/HECO needs to be broken up the way Ma Bell was, and its various parts either made into county agencies or privatized.

The system we seem to have with this utility in Hawaii is neither capitalism or socialism, it’s really corporate welfare. In fact, it’s monopoly welfare. The energy monopoly in Hawaii is protected by law, but its not run to minimize costs the way public utilities are meant to, but to maximize them. Moreover, the purpose of a PUC is to tightly control a utility that has been granted a monopoly, but in fact in Hawaii the energy monopoly through its various enterprises (banking, real estate, shipping, insurance) seems to control the political system.

As far as I know, Hawaii is the only place in the US with this situation.

(The richest man in the world is perhaps the Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who built an empire of successful businesses throughout the western hemisphere based on his monopoly of cell phone service in Mexico, which is his personal cash cow. I am not sure how honest his cell phone empire is in relation to the Mexican state. HECO seems to be the perfect model for his business strategy.)

Also, this situation exists because people don’t protest against it. People in Hawaii might grumble in private about their energy bills, but they never take action the way people in democracies typically do. In fact, there is the possibility that people in Hawaii actually like this monopoly arrangement, that having a monopoly exploit and even abuse them gives them a certain kind of feeling of security, much like the peculiar relationship between a prostitute and her pimp.

So the real problem with HECO might not be economic. The bigger problem is how it has contributed to distort the thinking of the population. It’s not just the policies and their practical consequences that matter, but the way it reflects dysfunctional thinking and, in turn, keeps the society from growing and diversifying.

Then there are decisions made to insure profitability in the long term that would be unnecessary.

Then there is all the campaign cash that wouldn’t need to be paid.

Until recently, aides in your own state Senators and Representative offices were often on paid leave from certain major entities who will remain nameless.

Small steps…

If the C&C owned the electric utility, then perhaps we, the ratepayers, would also own the generation plants and infrastructure, rather than paying for their cost but having them owned by HECO.