Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa sent a letter to state regulators on Tuesday urging them not to allow Maui Electric Co. to recoup $800,000 in costs from ratepayers for developing long-term energy plans. 

A 68-member community advisory group has met for a year to assist the utilities in coming up with five-year energy plans. The utilities on Maui, Oahu and the Big Island submitted their final plans to Hawaii’s Public Utilities Commission last week. 

But members of the group have complained that utility officials didn’t do their part in providing them with information in a timely manner and that some of the information showing up in the final report they had never seen before. 

Arakawa says that MECO didn’t abide by the planning framework laid out by the PUC. 

“The MECO action plan does not respect community input received at countless public hearings,” wrote Arakawa. 

He adds, “Before each deadline there is a last minute deluge of information on the IRPAG members, all of whom are forced to read carefully to see what surprises they will find in the materials.”

HECO spokesman Darren Pai said in a prepared statement that the utility respects Arakawa’s opinions and shares his commitment to clean energy. 

“It’s important to note that this is the first year that Integrated Resource Planning is going through a new PUC-approved process and given the many different ideas and the number of parties involved, it’s understandable that there are differing expectations,” wrote Pai.

You can read Arakawa’s letter here: