How HECO plans to replace that electricity for Oahu customers is still unknown but Hawaii’s last coal-fired power plant intends to shut down in just five years.

Regulators have approved a long-delayed biomass to energy plant that may produce up to 12 percent of the island’s power.

Commissioners are pushing HECO to do more to keep prices in check and customers from leaving the system.

Public comments are being taken through Aug. 9 on a rough draft of the utility’s scaled-back upgrade proposal.

Hawaiian Electric is drafting a new strategy after regulators rejected an earlier $736 million proposal in part because it didn’t serve solar users well.

Opponents see the rejection as payback against Gov. David Ige for opposing NextEra Energy’s $4.3 billion attempt to buy Hawaii’s utility.

UPDATED But the full Senate will ultimately decide whether Tom Gorak’s appointment to the PUC will be confirmed.

The utility company had canceled its contracts with SunEdison as it headed toward bankruptcy, but NRG Energy has stepped up in its place.

They want a state agency to look into the legal services Tom Gorak was providing while general counsel for the Public Utilities Commission.

The companies’ latest submission to state energy regulators eschews the use of liquefied natural gas as a bridge to renewable power.

The project could provide energy as well as irrigation needs on the island.

Its principal subsidiary is spending millions on a measure to leave solar power generation solely in the hands of utilities.