Earlier this summer, Hawaiian Electric asked for a new docket, 2011-0112, to allow it to be reimbursed for $3.9 million spent on planning. County Energy Coordinator Doug McLeod says the total is closer to $7 million, much of that from federal stimulus funds, and the project seems to be much further along than the public has been told.

Last week, the county asked to intervene in the new docket. It wants the reimbursement, if any, to be delayed until the project is better understood, or at least not to put the reimbursement onto the rate payers of the Maui Electric Co. grid “until HECO demonstrates that there is significant community acceptance from the island communities of Lanai, Molokai and Maui, represented in part, through the identification and support of one or more community benefits packages.”

In a letter to PUC Chairwoman Hermina Morita last month, McLeod wrote, “we have many residents looking for the proper forum to directly comment on the reasonableness of the Big Wind project, including these particular expenses.”