Shaun Peck wants to know why he keeps losing power when the weather’s fine, why the lights across Hawaiʻi Kai Marina are on while his house is dark, or why, say, his mother’s lights go out in Portlock while he’s fine just a few miles away in Kuliʻouʻou.
None of it makes sense to Peck, the co-owner of Paradise Ciders, whose training in food safety makes him all too aware of the dangers of losing power to his refrigerator. If it’s above 40 degrees for more than a couple of hours, the food needs to be thrown out.
He figures he’s lost thousands of dollars in wasted food thanks to Hawaiian Electric Co., which, piling on to his frustration, is hoping to raise the price he pays for power, which now amounts to about $500 a month…