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Fuel oil and purchased power. The electric utilities rely on fuel oil suppliers and IPPs to deliver fuel oil and power, respectively. See “Fuel contracts” and “Power purchase agreements” in Note 3 of the Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company estimates that 66% of the net energy generated and purchased by the Utilities in 2014 will be generated from the burning of fossil fuel oil. Purchased KWHs provided approximately 40% of the total net energy generated and purchased in 2013, 2012 and 2011. Failure or delay by the electric utilities’ oil suppliers and shippers to provide fuel pursuant to existing supply contracts, or failure by a major IPP to deliver the firm capacity anticipated in its PPA, could interrupt the ability of the electric utilities to deliver electricity, thereby materially adversely affecting the Company’s results of operations and financial condition. Hawaiian Electric generally maintains an average system fuel inventory level equivalent to 47 days of forward consumption. Hawaii Electric Light and Maui Electric generally maintain an inventory level equivalent to one month’s supply of both medium sulfur fuel oil and diesel fuel. Some, but not all, of the Utilities’ PPAs require that the IPPs maintain minimum fuel inventory levels and all of the firm capacity PPAs include provisions imposing substantial penalties for failure to produce the firm capacity anticipated by those agreements. Other operation and maintenance expenses. O&M expenses increased by 1% in 2013 and 4% in 2012 and decreased by 1% in 2011 when compared to the prior year. The change in O&M expenses (excluding expenses covered by surcharges or by third parties) was 1%, 4% and de minimis for 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively, when compared to the prior year. O&M expenses (excluding expenses covered by surcharges or by third parties) for 2014 are projected to be relatively flat when compared to 2013 as the electric utilities expect to manage expenses to near-2013 levels. Other regulatory and permitting contingencies. Many public utility projects require PUC approval and various permits (e.g., environmental and land use permits) from other agencies. Delays in obtaining PUC approval or permits can result in increased costs. If a project does not proceed or if the PUC disallows costs of the project, the project costs may need to be written off in amounts that could have a material adverse effect on the Company. For example, two major capital improvement utility projects, the Keahole project (consisting of CT-4, CT-5 and ST-7) and the East Oahu Transmission Project, encountered opposition and were seriously delayed before being placed in service, with a writedown being required for both the Keahole and EOTP projects in 2007 and 2011, respectively. More recently, the Utilities and the Consumer Advocate signed a settlement agreement, subject to approval by the PUC, to write off $40 million of costs in 2012 in lieu of conducting the regulatory audits of the CIP CT-1 and the CIS projects. See Note 3 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for a discussion of additional regulatory contingencies. Competition. Although competition in the generation sector in Hawaii is moderated by the scarcity of generation sites, various permitting processes and lack of interconnections to other electric utilities, the PUC has promoted a more competitive electric industry environment through its decisions concerning competitive bidding and distributed generation (DG). An increasing amount of generation is provided by IPPs and customer distributed generation. Competitive bidding. In December 2006, the PUC issued a decision that included a final competitive bidding framework, which became effective immediately. The final framework states, among other things, that: (1) a utility is required to use competitive bidding to acquire a future generation resource or a block of generation resources unless the PUC finds bidding to be unsuitable; (2) the framework does not apply in certain situations identified in the framework; (3) waivers from competitive bidding for certain circumstances will be considered; (4) the utility is required to select an independent observer from a list approved by the PUC whenever the utility or its affiliate seeks to advance a project proposal (i.e., in competition with those offered by bidders); (5) the utility may consider its own self-bid proposals in response to generation needs identified in its RFP; and (6) for any resource to which competitive bidding does not apply (due to waiver or exemption), the utility retains its traditional obligation to offer to purchase capacity and energy from a Qualifying Facility (QF) at avoided cost upon reasonable terms and conditions approved by the PUC. The Kalaeloa Solar Two photovoltaic energy PPA and the Kawailoa Wind windfarm PPA are two renewable projects that resulted from Hawaiian Electric’s Renewable Energy RFP under the Competitive Bidding Framework. The Utilities received PUC approval for exemptions from the competitive framework to negotiate modifications to existing PPAs that generate electricity from renewable resources, including the City & County of Honolulu’s HPower facility expansion and the Puna Geothermal Venture geothermal facility expansion. Also, certain renewable energy projects were “grandfathered” from the competitive bidding process, including the Kahuku Wind Power, Auwahi Wind Energy LLC, and Kaheawa Wind Power II wind farms. The PUC can also grant waivers to renewable energy projects that are not exempt from the Competitive Bidding Framework such as for the Hu Honua biomass facility. Distributed generation. In January 2006, the PUC issued a D&O indicating that its policy is to promote the development of a market structure that assures DG is available at the lowest feasible cost, DG that is economical and reliable has an opportunity to come to fruition and DG that is not cost-effective does not enter the system. The D&O affirmed the 60