HONOLULU — The Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission has dismissed a formal complaint with prejudice against the Kauai Island Utilities Commission. The complaint, filed June 19 by Mark Naea of Kapa‘a, charged discrimination among KIUC members regarding the rollout of smart
HONOLULU — The Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission has dismissed a formal complaint with prejudice against the Kauai Island Utilities Commission.
The complaint, filed June 19 by Mark Naea of Kapa‘a, charged discrimination among KIUC members regarding the rollout of smart meters.
Naea also requested that KIUC make available an opt-in form for all members in an effort to stop smart meter installations.
According to PUC documents, Naea sought to require KIUC to uphold and enforce the settlement between KIUC and Kapa‘a taro farmer Adam Asquith as a “uniform and nondiscriminatory rule” applicable to all co-op members and immediately halt all non-consent smart meter service “to rectify the deficiencies with respect to his complaint.”
KIUC agreed not to install a smart meter on Asquith’s property and later filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, noting that the utility does not discriminate among customers, who all have the same deferral option given to Asquith.
“I took KIUC to District Court to keep them from putting a smart meter on my home,” Asquith said Tuesday. He later received a written confirmation of opting out of the smart meter installation.
Asquith said Naea submitted the complaint to the PUC to ensure KIUC offered the same ability to opt out of the installations to all of the utility’s customers.
Naea was unavailable for comment before press time.
According to the PUC documents, KIUC stated that it “acknowledges that as a general rule, regulated utilities may not unreasonably discriminate amongst similarly situated customers.”
Some residents, concerned about health and privacy issues, declined to have the smart meters installed on their property.
According to the KIUC, just under 2,300 customers opted out of the installations out of 33,000 homes and businesses scheduled to receive smart meters.
“The PUC ruling described Mr. Naea’s arguments as ‘unreasonable,’ ‘baseless’ and ‘unpersuasive’ — that pretty well sums up the substance of his complaint,” Jim Kelly, KIUC communications manager, said in an email. “The policy we have applied consistently since installations began is that if you don’t want one, you don’t have to have one.”
The KIUC has printed information for customers to opt out of smart meter installations prominently displayed on the front desk in their Lihu‘e offices for customers to fill out.
“The complaint had no impact on our program,” Kelly said. “We’re on track to hit 20,000 installations by the end of the year.”
