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Hawaiian utility: customers to pay more after Imperium scraps plant
A Hawaiian utility committed to using "green" fuel says its customers will have to pay up to $2 more per month after Seattle's Imperium Renewables scrapped plans to build a biodiesel plant there. Pacific Business News reports Hawaiian Electric Co. of Oahu will have to pay more to ship, store and transport fuel from Imperium's lone biodiesel plant in Grays Harbor, Wash.
The newspaper writes that under an amended contract Imperium will ship between 5 million and 12 million gallons of biodiesel annually to Oahu's Kalaeloa Harbor, and from there Hawaiian Electric will pay a company called Aloha Petroleum to store and deliver the fuel to the utility's power plant. The additional storage and transport costs will result in an extra 90 cents to $2 per month for the average residential customer, "with commercial customers presumably paying more." The contract must be approved by Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission.
The article said Imperium spokesman John Williams declined to answer questions. The troubled Seattle biodiesel company in October announced that existing investors had "recapitalized" the business to help settle some of its debts. The company also said it had retained a debt restructuring firm to help negotiate with creditors and retain enough capital to resume operations.
Amid growing questions about the economic viability of biodiesel, Imperium has endured a string of setbacks, including the sudden departure of CEO Martin Tobias, the cancellation of a $345 million initial public offering and numerous layoffs. The company also lost a key contract to supply biodiesel to Royal Caribbean Cruises.
About John Cook
John Cook is co-founder and executive editor of TechFlash. He has been covering the technology beat for nearly a decade, writing about startups, entrepreneurs and venture capital, most recently serving as a reporter/blogger at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
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