How to think about Hawaiian Electric’s profits

Kathryn Mykleseth, reporting for the Star-Advertiser:

On Tuesday the parent company of the state’s largest electrical utility reported a profit of $44.6 million, or 41 cents per share, compared with $42.3 million, or 39 cents a share, for the same period in 2015.

Or to put it another way: Hawaii could have saved $44.6 million in the last quarter if the Hawaiian Electric companies were publicly-controlled or were run in a not-for-profit model.