HECO pledges repayment of battery systems incentives owed by insolvent third-party provider

Hawaiian Electric is assuring customers with battery storage systems that it will pay any upfront incentives consumers are owed by Swell Energy Inc., a now-insolvent third-party provider that operated the Home Rewards Battery Program.

Recently, Swell Energy closed its doors. It is no longer supporting its Home Battery Rewards Program offered to Hawaiian Electric customers. HECO contracted with Swell in 2021 to deliver grid services that included aggregating home battery systems to create a “virtual power plant.”

Swell enrolled Hawaiian Electric customers with battery storage systems into the Home Battery Rewards Program, aggregated and operated the fleet of systems and paid customer incentives. There are about 1,200 customers enrolled in the program on O‘ahu, Maui and Hawai‘i Island.

The program’s incentives include both an upfront payment and monthly bill credits. In a letter to program participants, Hawaiian Electric said it would pay customers any upfront incentives they are owed by Swell. Upfront payments will be made only to eligible Home Rewards Battery Program customers who qualify under the terms of their contract.

Because Swell is no longer operating, Hawaiian Electric is not able to receive grid services from customer battery systems. As a result, Hawaiian Electric will pause monthly credits starting in October and work with customers to unenroll their systems from the program so they can have better control over their energy resources to help manage their energy costs. Future options include continuing the current program or potentially transition customers to a new program.

“This situation is unprecedented, and we appreciate customers’ patience and understanding as we work toward a positive resolution,” said Yoh Kawanami, Hawaiian Electric customer energy resources co-director.

Swell Energy was part of Hawaiian Electric’s Power Partnership Program, an initiative that incentivizes customers to play a greater role in operating the electric grid reliably and efficiently while helping Hawai‘i reach its clean energy goals. The program relies on independent companies to recruit and sign-up customers with solar systems, batteries, electric vehicles and other load flexibility devices to aggregate their services to support the grid.