Hawaiian Electric Industries is reporting a loss of about $1.3 billion for the second quarter of 2024. The fall is related to the costs of ongoing litigation with Maui wildfire victims and their families.
The company, along with the State of Hawaiʻi, the County of Maui, and four other defendants, have agreed to pay $4 billion to resolve all legal claims brought by victims of the Aug. 8 wildfires.
Hawaiian Electric will contribute just under $2 billion, but the company doesn't yet have a plan in place to finance that sum. Company officials said they were working with their financial advisors, but declined to get into specifics with investors on an earnings call last Friday.
HEI is expecting that payments on the settlement would start in mid-2025 at the earliest, which officials said would give the company "sufficient time" to come up with a plan.
Still, the company's stocks dipped by 22% on Monday after the announcement.
HEI president Scott Seu said that the company does not anticipate raising customer rates to cover the cost of the proposed settlement.
