Hawaiian Electric today assured its customers that it will pay all prepayments owed by Swell Energy Inc., a now defunct company that operated the Home Rewards Battery Program.
Swell Energy was a third-party supplier that Hawaiian Electric contracted in 2021 to aggregate home battery systems to create a “virtual power plant” to support the electric grid.
Swell enrolled Hawaiian Electric customers with battery storage systems in the Home Battery Rewards program and paid customer incentives in the form of both an upfront payment and monthly bill credit.
In total, approximately 1,200 such customers are enrolled in the program on the islands of Oahu, Maui and Hawaii.
Hawaiian Electric said it has sent letters to program participants informing them that it would prepay all premiums owed by Swell, but only to eligible Home Rewards Battery Program customers who qualify under the terms of their contract.
Hawaiian Electric did not say what the sum of these incentives would be for customers.
Starting in October, Hawaiian Electric said it would pause monthly credits and work with customers to remove their systems from the program.
Swell Energy was part of Hawaiian Electric’s, which aimed to encourage customers to give the utility access to their systems when needed.
However, with the closure of Swell, the utility will no longer be able to receive these network services from customers’ batteries.
“This situation is unprecedented and we appreciate customers’ patience and understanding as we work toward a positive resolution,” Yoh Kawanami, co-director of energy resources for Hawaiian Electric, said in a news release.
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