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The Maui 10
Who's the county's most powerful player?
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September 20, 2007
WHAT'S TRANSPARENCY, REALLY?
 | | RANK | PREVIOUS | COMPANY | | 1 | 1 | Monsanto Hawai`i | | 2 | 4 | Tesoro Hawai`i | | 3 | 2 | Dowling Co. | | 4 | 3 | Maui Land & Pineapple Co. | | 5 | 5 | Alexander & Baldwin | | 6 | 6 | Weinberg Foundation | | 7 | 7 | Wailuku Water Co. | | 8 | 8 | Maui Electric Co. | | 9 | 9 | Goodfellow Brothers | | 10 | 10 | Hawaiian Telcom |
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You have to salute a corporation that has the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) carrying its water—or in this case, gasoline. According to the Sept. 13 Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the latest weekly gas price reports from the oil companies—including good ol' Tesoro—are just as "vague" as ever. The reports show the wholesale price of gas on Oahu was a full dollar lower than the retail price, but not much else. The reason? "[S]ome prices and figures for inventory could not be published," the paper reported. "Because there are only two oil refiners in the state, some information had to be kept confidential for competitive reasons, the PUC said." Astonishing—and I thought the PUC existed for the benefit of the state's consumers. How could I be so naïve?
HOTELS, NOTELS
And in more bad news for the tourist industry, Dowling and ML&P drop a notch on news that hotel occupancy throughout the state is still dropping. According to a Sept. 4 online Pacific Business News posting, the occupancy rate on Maui is running at 70.1 percent—down four points from the same period last year. Over on Oahu, the rate is a little bit better—70.4 percent—but it was 76.4 percent this time last year. Oh, and room rates themselves are rising: of Kauai, the Big Island, Oahu and Maui, guess who has the most expensive average room rate? You're exactly right: we do, at $231 a night! The next priciest island would be Kauai, with an average room rate of $197 a night. MTW
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