Before NextEra, Hawaiian Electric Co. had been busy asking investors to bring their money to Hawaii and construct over 150 megawatts of solar, geothermal, and biofuels projects to reduce our dependence on costly fossil fuels, create local jobs and attract investment to our island economy.

Most people don’t know that since NextEra arrived it has contractually controlled HECO’s actions, exercising power over final decisions. Unfortunately, those decisions reversed course and canceled more than $350 million dollars in solar projects already under construction, putting over 100 local people out of work and eliminating over 400 jobs that were to be created.

Investors lost $42 million they had already poured into these renewable energy projects. The PUC issued a strong statement calling it “a step backward.”

Three months after NextEra arrived, the utility unilaterally ceased allowing local residents installing solar panels to connect to the electric grid, killing competition from the solar industry and threatening thousands of local jobs. Fortunately, the PUC intervened and forced the utility to backpedal, though hundreds of jobs were lost because of the slowdown with many residents now waiting years to be interconnected.

About the same time, the utility appeared to reverse itself on a 25-megawatt geothermal project on the Big Island that it initiated. Hawaii Electric Light Co. pushed the business partner it had selected to build the project out of negotiations, killing jobs and millions that investors already poured into the project.

Most recently, the utility terminated a PUC-approved power purchase agreement with developers of a biomass project already under construction and halfway complete; $137 million was already invested, and another $125 million was committed to finish the work. HELCO has resisted attempts to restore the agreement. Hundreds more local jobs and all that investment have been put at risk.

If the utility is allowed to continue to act in this manner, Hawaii will continue to suffer.

Every project has its challenges and delays, but in Hawaii we work through them in good faith. To suddenly cancel contracts, change the rules mid-stream and treat investors and local workers so poorly is not how we should act here in Hawaii. So why would the utility take actions that hurt so many people, businesses and investors in our community?

The answer may have materialized two weeks ago. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the utility disclosed that it planned to charge ratepayers $458 million to convert existing power plants to liquefied natural gas. It would also buy a 60-megawatt Big Island power plant and convert it to LNG.

The utility earns a profit off every dollar of ratepayer money it spends on LNG plant conversions, which means bigger utility profits than switching to renewable power from competing geothermal or biofuels plants.

Nearly everyone thinks it would be easier for the utility to win approval for its LNG plan and purchase of the additional fossil fuel plant if it cancelled or delayed geothermal and biofuels plants competing to provide the same power. In fact, HELCO offered to buy the additional fossil fuel plant six months ago, which could mean the utility strung renewable project developers and investors along for months without ever intending to finish negotiations.

I know the people at Hawaiian Electric. They are from here and would not sacrifice the jobs of hundreds of local workers, undermine renewables and critically damage Hawaii’s reputation as a place to invest money. But I have no doubt that’s exactly what NextEra would do to squeeze every last dollar out of Hawaii for its shareholders.

If the utility is allowed to continue to act in this manner, Hawaii will continue to suffer. The Legislature must empower the PUC to review this kind of utility behavior next legislative session. There are too many jobs and too much more at risk to stand idly by as investors are chased out of our economy.