Hawaiʻi’s top utility regulator has announced his resignation amid a staff exodus and criticism for failing to implement programs designed to push the state toward its goal of generating all electricity with renewable resources by 2045.

Gov. Josh Green gave no explanation late Monday when he announced Leo Asuncion will step down as chairman of the Hawaiʻi Public Utilties Commission next week. Appointed by former Gov. David Ige in 2019 and named chair in 2022, Asuncion is leaving about seven months before his six-year term expires at the end of June.

The PUC chairman plays a central role in setting polices that have a profound impact of the cost of living for Hawaiʻi residents. With the chairman playing the lead role, the three-member PUC often acts as arbiter in highly technical regulatory proceedings known as dockets, which impact things like electricity and interisland shipping rates.

Hawaiʻi Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, chairman of the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee, said Asuncion’s departure comes at a critical time, as the commission has struggled to keep up with a massive workload amid staff departures.

“I have deep concerns about the ability of the PUC to do all of the very important things they need to do in the next several years,” Keohokalole said. “It’s my understanding that they’re in the throes of internal exodus, and now they have no leadership.”

Asuncion and PUC spokesperson Deborah Kwan did not respond to requests for comment. State offices were closed for the Veterans Day holiday,

Major work pending before the PUC includes a proposed rate increase for Young Brothers, Hawaiʻi’s monopoly interisland shipper, and a raft of dockets related to Hawaiian Electric Co. Those include a plan to overhaul the utility’s grid and a rate reset that could lead to higher electric bills. The PUC also will be in charge of limiting the ability of victims to sue HECO in the event of future wildfires.

On top of this, the PUC could soon need to set up an entirely new regulatory regime related to a new energy source for Hawaiʻi. In October, Green announced a tentative $2 billion deal with Tokyo-based JERA Co. Inc to import natural gas to Hawaiʻi to fuel generators while the state transitions to renewables over the next two decades. The project would include an offshore terminal, new pipelines and generators updated to use liquefied natural gas.

Proponents, including the Hawaiʻi State Energy Office, say LNG is a cleaner-burning, less-expensive alternative to oil, which Hawaiʻi uses far more than any other state.

Critics Blast Outgoing Chair

Keohokalole blamed Asuncion’s leadership for what the senator said had been a major loss of skilled staff, upward of 30%, including 10 departures in the past six months.

The lack of staff has hindered the commission’s ability to work out policy changes through dockets, according to people who frequently participate in PUC cases.

The hiring of Randy Baldemor, a former bureaucrat with limited utility experience, for a high-level PUC job also raised concerns after an anonymous staffer filed a complaint alleging that Baldemor wasn’t equipped to do the job and had created a “toxic work environment” at the commission. The Hawaiʻi Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs later said an investigation cleared Baldemor, but the department didn’t make the investigation report public.

While main players in PUC dockets include regulated utilities and the Division of Consumer Advocacy, which represents the public’s interest, other parties are allowed to participate as intervenors, representing various environmental and economic interests.

“In terms of turmoil, this one takes the cake.”

Henry Curtis, Life of the Land

Henry Curtis has closely watched the PUC or intervened in dockets for 30 years as executive director of the nonprofit Life of the Land.

Curtis said he has seen shifts in policy stances and degrees of openness by PUC leadership over the decades, but he said he’s never seen the level of instability that occurred under Asuncion’s watch.

“In terms of turmoil,” Curtis said, “this one takes the cake.”

Isaac Moriwake, an attorney with Earthjustice’s Hawaiʻi office, said commissions starting with former Gov. Linda Lingle through Ige had made steady progress toward Hawaiʻi’s clean energy goals, but that changed when Asuncion took over as chair.

“Hawaii used to be a national leader on clean energy policy,” Moriwake said. “Now, in just two years, we’ve become a backwater.”

He pointed to examples like a stalled docket to create more equitable access to renewable energy services and what critics called a step backward from a widely celebrated new way of setting electric rates designed to protect customers. Moriwake also noted that Asuncion’s PUC never conducted an investigation into the 2023 Maui wildfires, as required by law.

Rocky Mould, executive director of the Hawaiʻi Solar Energy Association, also pointed to a failure to update regulations for rooftop solar in light of vastly improved technology.

“There was a slow and not-so-slow deterioration of effectiveness,” Mould said.

Now the commission faces bigger challenges. They include not just the likely need to adopt new regulations if Green’s natural gas deal works out, but also more definite tasks. Last session, for instance, the Legislature passed a bill that could eliminate HECO’s dominance as Hawaiʻi’s main electricity supplier.

It would let independent renewable electricity producers pay HECO a fee to use its grid to deliver electricity directly to customers, potentially ending the utility’s standing as the sole choice for most electric consumers in the state. The PUC will have to open a docket to put the law into action.

And it will be up to Green to appoint Asuncion’s replacement, subject to Hawaiʻi Senate approval. 

“I hope whoever is appointed is committed to upholding the law and ensuring ratepayers are put first,” said Hawaiʻi Rep. Nicole Lowen, who chairs the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee.

CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to reflect that the Division of Consumer Advocacy is independent from the Public Utilities Commission. The PUC is administratively attached to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which the Division of Consumer Advocacy falls under.