Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. HE
Dividend Power Score
A single, comprehensive score designed to measure the true strength of a company’s dividend.
This score combines three essential pillars of dividend quality:
Consistency – Measures how reliable the dividend has been over time, focusing on payment history, stability, and the absence of cuts or suspensions.
Payability – Assesses the company’s financial ability to sustain its dividend, taking into account cash flow, earnings coverage, balance sheet strength, and overall financial health.
Growth – Evaluates the long-term growth of both the dividend and the company’s share price, highlighting businesses that consistently increase payouts while creating shareholder value.
Higher scores identify companies that have historically delivered dependable income alongside sustained dividend growth and long-term capital appreciation.
Company Overview
Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HE) is a Hawaii-based holding company whose operations have historically centered on regulated electric utility services and banking. Through its principal utility subsidiaries, the company supplies electricity across most of the Hawaiian Islands, serving residential, commercial, military, and governmental customers. HE operates primarily in the utilities and financial services industries, although the company announced plans in 2024 to exit the banking business through the sale of its banking subsidiary. The company’s principal revenue drivers have been regulated electric utility operations and, historically, interest income and banking-related services.
The company’s utility operations are conducted through Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Hawaii Electric Light Company, Inc., and Maui Electric Company, Limited, which together provide electric service to approximately 95% of Hawaii’s population. HE’s strategic positioning is tied to Hawaii’s isolated island grid systems and the state’s aggressive renewable energy mandates, including a statutory goal of achieving 100% renewable electricity generation by 2045. Hawaiian Electric Industries traces its origins to the late 19th century, with electric utility operations dating back to 1891. Over time, the company expanded into banking through American Savings Bank, creating a diversified utility and financial services structure that remained in place until the announced divestiture process.
Business Operations
HE’s operations have historically been organized into two principal business segments: Electric Utility and Bank. The Electric Utility segment generates revenue primarily through regulated electricity sales, grid services, and cost recovery mechanisms approved by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission. The utility subsidiaries operate generation facilities, transmission infrastructure, and distribution networks across the islands of Oahu, Hawaii Island, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai. The company has increasingly invested in renewable integration technologies, battery storage systems, distributed energy resource management, and grid modernization initiatives intended to improve resiliency and reduce fossil fuel dependence.
The Bank segment was conducted through American Savings Bank, F.S.B., one of Hawaii’s largest financial institutions by assets, offering consumer and commercial banking, residential mortgage lending, and deposit services. In 2024, HE announced an agreement to sell American Savings Bank to an investor group led by independent financial investors as part of a broader capital and strategic restructuring effort following significant wildfire-related liabilities associated with the 2023 Maui wildfires. HE maintains operations primarily within Hawaii, though the utility business interacts with mainland U.S. energy technology providers, infrastructure contractors, and financial institutions through procurement and financing relationships.
Strategic Position & Investments
Hawaiian Electric Industries’ strategic direction has focused on transitioning Hawaii’s electric grid toward renewable generation, enhancing wildfire and climate resiliency, and stabilizing the company’s balance sheet after the Maui wildfire events. The utility subsidiaries have pursued investments in utility-scale solar procurement, battery energy storage systems, distributed rooftop solar integration, and grid reliability infrastructure. The company has also worked with state agencies and independent power producers to reduce dependence on imported petroleum generation, historically a major cost driver for Hawaii’s electricity system.
A major strategic development was the announced divestiture of American Savings Bank, intended to strengthen liquidity and support utility-focused operations. HE has also been involved in wildfire mitigation planning, emergency response improvements, and infrastructure hardening initiatives following extensive scrutiny related to the 2023 Lahaina wildfire disaster. The company’s investment priorities increasingly emphasize renewable integration, system resiliency, and regulatory alignment with Hawaii’s decarbonization targets. Public disclosures indicate continued engagement with independent renewable developers and technology providers, although some future financing and liability outcomes remain subject to regulatory proceedings and litigation. Data regarding the ultimate financial impact of wildfire-related claims remains inconclusive based on available public sources.
Geographic Footprint
Hawaiian Electric Industries operates primarily within the state of Hawaii, with utility service territories spanning the islands of Oahu, Hawaii Island, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai. The company is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, and its infrastructure footprint includes power generation assets, substations, transmission lines, and distribution systems located across multiple island grids. Historically, American Savings Bank maintained branch and financial operations throughout the Hawaiian Islands as well.
Although HE’s operational footprint is concentrated in Hawaii, the company maintains broader economic and investment relationships through mainland U.S. capital markets, equipment suppliers, renewable energy developers, insurers, and institutional investors. Hawaii’s geographic isolation gives Hawaiian Electric a uniquely self-contained operating environment compared with most mainland utilities, requiring localized grid balancing, fuel logistics management, and renewable integration strategies tailored to island-based electricity systems.
Leadership & Governance
Hawaiian Electric Industries operates under a publicly traded holding company governance structure overseen by a board of directors and executive leadership team. The company’s leadership has emphasized renewable energy transition, operational resiliency, customer affordability, and financial stabilization following the Maui wildfire crisis. Public filings and investor communications have highlighted management priorities around infrastructure modernization, wildfire risk mitigation, and regulatory collaboration with Hawaii state authorities.
Key executives include:
- Scott K. Seu – President and Chief Executive Officer of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. and Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.
- Gregory Y. Kim – Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
- Shawn M. Ichinose – Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
- Shelee Y. Kimura – President and Chief Executive Officer of Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. prior to leadership restructuring announcements tied to utility operations
- Ann Teranishi – Former President and Chief Executive Officer of American Savings Bank
- Constance H. Lau – Former Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.
Leadership strategy has consistently emphasized long-term renewable energy adoption, regulatory coordination, and maintaining electric reliability across Hawaii’s isolated island grids. Recent governance attention has also focused heavily on wildfire preparedness, legal risk management, and capital structure stabilization.