Hawaiian Electric Industries Co., which supplies roughly 95% of the state’s residents with power, traces its roots back to 1891, just a decade after King Kalakaua met Thomas Edison to see the incandescent light bulb. Now, the utility is facing what’s shaping up to be the biggest-ever test over its future, Bloomberg News reported. In just one day, relentless selling wiped more than a $1 billion from the company’s value as the stock plunged by a third in its biggest loss on record. Investors are dumping shares amid increasing scrutiny over power equipment as the possible source of the deadly Maui wildfire. Analysts are starting to raise questions over whether Hawaiian Electric, one of the smallest publicly traded U.S. utilities, will be able to withstand the pressure if it does end up being at fault. To be clear: no official cause of the fire, which has become the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century, has been identified. And it could be weeks — even months — before any investigation is finalized. Still, lawsuits have already been filed against Hawaiian Electric amid reports of downed power lines that were knocked over by strong winds in the lead up to the blazes. Damages from the tragedy have so far reached more than $5.5 billion, according to federal estimates, an amount that dwarfs Hawaiian Electric’s market capitalization of about $2.4 billion as of Monday’s close.
