Hawaiian Electric updates 3-year safety strategy to reduce wildfire risk, strengthen grid resilience
-
$350 million, 3-year plan focuses work on highest-risk areas, especially Maui
-
Continues initiatives to harden grid, minimize ignition potential, remove hazards
-
Securitization could significantly reduce customer cost, if approved
Release Date: 6/2/2025
HONOLULU, June 2, 2025 – Hawaiian Electric has filed with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) new details on the cost of the company’s expanded Wildfire Safety Strategy, which calls for deploying new technology, fortifying infrastructure, minimizing fire hazards and expanding community partnerships to significantly reduce the risk of a wildfire started by utility equipment.
This filing provides additional information about the scope of the 3-year safety blueprint Hawaiian Electric submitted to the PUC in January, which is projected to cost $350 million, including $137 million budgeted for work in 2025. More than half, about $180 million, will be spent in Maui County, mostly on the island of Maui, which is at the highest risk for wildfires.
If approved by regulators, the safety program will raise typical monthly residential customer bills by the following approximate amounts. Bills would likely not increase until 2026.
| Island | 3-year total | Est. monthly bill impact |
|---|---|---|
| Oahu | $68M | $1 |
| Hawaii Island | $101M | $3 |
| Maui County | $181M | $5 |
| Total | $350M | - |
The bill impact may be reduced under a measure, SB 897, passed by the Legislature authorizing the PUC to approve the issuance of long-term bonds to pay for safety infrastructure work. Known as securitization, the bonds are repaid by a line-item on customer bills for wildfire safety and resilience, with the cost of borrowing significantly less than traditional financing. SB 897 is currently under review by Gov. Josh Green.
Some of the cost is already funded through existing programs, including a federal grant for grid resilience received in 2024. Approximately two-thirds of the cost will go toward capital investments in upgraded physical infrastructure, with one-third for operations and maintenance, such as equipment inspections and trimming and removal of thousands of hazardous trees.
The expanded wildfire safety strategy identifies key initiatives to be completed in the next three years, including:
- Ongoing grid hardening, asset inspections and vegetation management focused on areas with medium to high risk of ignition.
- In the highest risk areas, deploy covered conductors, which are power lines protected by heavy-duty insulating material, which helps prevent bare wires from sparking if they touch another line or fall to the ground
- An initial undergrounding of about two miles of overhead power lines in critical safety areas in Lahaina with a community working group convened to provide area-specific knowledge and input. This pilot project will inform planning for future undergrounding in Lahaina and other areas
- Replace, upgrade and strengthen poles and equipment
- Enhance inspections of electrical assets
- Expand hazard tree removal, create wider clearance for power lines
- Installing more weather stations and hazard-detection cameras.
- Add more weather stations and install additional standard AI-assisted video camera stations to enable 100% camera viewshed coverage of all high and medium wildfire risk areas
- Create a wildfire-focused Watch Office, including a meteorologist, that will monitor media reports, internal and external weather products and field reports to provide more situational awareness within Hawaiian Electric
- Implement an operational wildfire risk model to inform real-time decision-making and refine the company’s Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program, potentially enabling more precise, shorter duration events
- Ongoing engagement with stakeholders and communities.
- Continue convening Wildfire Safety Working Group meetings to bring experts together and share best practices
- Continue partnerships with local organizations to host community events, reach individual residents and share resources on community-led projects such as fire breaks and clearing of invasive grasses
Hawaiian Electric first created its wildfire safety plan 2019. It was updated in 2023 in the months after the August 2023 windstorm and wildfires on Maui. The enhanced plan underscores the recent emergence of extreme weather events as requiring a coordinated effort by many organizations and supportive public policy to keep communities safe.
The filing is Docket 2025-0263
