LEVER WEEKLY: For-Profit Power Is Courting Disaster

This is Lever Weekly, a recap of our work from the past week. If you only read one email from us all week, this should be it.

Along with a breakdown of our reporting, podcasts, and live events for all subscribers, we are providing paid subscribers with an original column. Lucy Dean Stockton explains how investor-owned utilities have a hand in wildfires, blackouts and power shut-offs — and why public power may provide us with a way out.

👇 Following is an excerpt of our subscriber-only column, and below that is a recap of all of our other work from the week.

For-Profit Power Is Courting Disaster

By Lucy Dean Stockton

Earlier this month, the historic Hawaiian town of Lahaina in Maui burned to the ground in what was the United States’s deadliest wildfire in modern history. The blaze was exceptionally fast-moving, exploiting an increasingly arid landscape that’s been damaged by centuries of colonialism and tourism. But the original spark most likely came from a downed power line, one that the state’s major power utility, Hawaiian Electric Company, neglected to substantially weatherize even after years of complaints from residents and watchdog groups.

While the electric company had been aware of the growing fire risk since at least 2019, only last year did the company ask state regulators to authorize $190 million to strengthen power poles. The company also delayed implementing a safer but more expensive fire prevention method — putting the lines underground — even as Hawaiians were paying the highest electricity rates nationwide.

Hawaiian Electric, like other investor-owned utilities nationwide, has largely prioritized returning money to shareholders while failing to make adequate investments in the essential public service they provide.

Since 2019, the company has spent more on lobbying, executive compensation, and dividends than it devoted to wildfire prevention. Between 2019 and 2022, the company spent just $245,000 on wildfire-specific upgrades and mitigation efforts. The utility’s CEO bonuses, which are often tied to profit and performance outcomes, were not attached to mitigating wildfire threat. Even by Hawaiian Electric’s own estimates, it wouldn’t have been catastrophically expensive to manage wildfire risk in Maui county; the effort would have cost about $6 million, less than what the company spent on executive compensation and shareholder dividends last year.

Around the country, utility companies are under growing scrutiny for…