Practically two months after the lethal Maui wildfires, Hawaiian Electrical Co. revealed the restricted scope of insurance coverage protection it holds within the face of doubtless billions of {dollars} in harm claims.
Hawaiian Electrical has $165 million in annual normal legal responsibility insurance coverage, in accordance with a submitting with state regulators, in contrast with the $4.9 billion in potential claims estimated by analysis agency Capstone. The utility already is the goal of a number of lawsuits alleging that its energy traces sparked the blaze that razed the historic city of Lahaina and killed at the very least 97 folks.
“I’m unsure that degree of protection will present a whole lot of consolation to folks,” mentioned Paul Patterson, a utility analyst for Glenrock Associates. The submitting was dated Oct. 2.
Shares of the utility’s mum or dad, Hawaiian Electrical Industries Inc., fell as a lot as 4% on Wednesday and has shed greater than two-thirds of its market capitalization for the reason that Aug. 8 fireplace.
Hawaiian Electrical has denied wrongdoing and the corporate’s chief govt officer advised a US congressional listening to final week that the wildfire wasn’t the utility’s fault. Whereas acknowledging its downed traces sparked an earlier fireplace, the corporate mentioned firefighters claimed they extinguished that blaze. A fireplace flared up later within the day in the identical space when the corporate’s energy traces had been de-energized and it was that fireside that burned Lahaina, in accordance with the corporate.
The utility disclosed its insurance coverage protection in response to a wide-ranging Hawaii Public Utilities Fee inquiry. Hawaiian Electrical didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
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