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The Maui 10
Who's the county's most powerful player?
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December 20, 2007
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
 | | RANK | PREVIOUS | COMPANY | | 1 | 2 | Monsanto Hawai`i | | 2 | 1 | Alexander & Baldwin | | 3 | 3 | Weinberg Foundation | | 4 | 7 | Maui Electric Co. | | 5 | 4 | Dowling Co. | | 6 | 5 | Maui Land & Pineapple Co. | | 7 | 6 | Tesoro Hawai`i | | 8 | 8 | Goodfellow Brothers | | 9 | 9 | Wailuku Water Co. | | 10 | 10 | Hawaiian Telcom |
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Talk about fantastic timing! Just days after a monster storm—but not a hurricane, tsunami or earthquake—wrecked havoc across Maui, blowing down power lines and knocking out electricity for hours and even days all over the island, Pacific Business News posted a story on its website on Dec. 12 saying that MECO has asked the state Public Utilities Commission for permission to jack up rates 3.7 percent. A MECO spokesperson told PBN that the rate hike is needed to pay for two new generators at Ma`alaea, as well as substation upgrades and "operating and maintenance costs." Considering that this request comes on top of a February request for a 5.3 percent rate hike, it's with bitter irony that I read PBN's bland statement that MECO "couldn't calculate how the rate increase would impact its 66,211 customers yet."
SOMETHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT
Bad news for companies who sell homes around here—complaints against real estate agents statewide is at its highest level in the last six years, according to the Dec. 14 Honolulu Advertiser. "The recent rise could suggest that more agents are running afoul of professional standards or displeasing customers during the cooling housing market," reported the Advertiser, "especially considering that the number of home sales this year are expected to be the lowest in five years." Of course, there are nearly 15,000 licensed realtors in Hawai`i, and there were just 122 complaints filed with the state Real Estate Commission, but if you're making your millions in large part by building homes, you never want to read phrases like "running afoul of standards" and "cooling market" in the state's biggest daily. MTW
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