A state Senate hearing on utility regulation had a last-minute item added to its agenda — an anonymous complaint against top officials at the Public Utilities Commission.

State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole said his office received an anonymous memo last Friday containing serious concerns about leadership at the PUC.

The complaint alleged that PUC Chief of Policy and Research Randy Baldemor had created “a toxic and ineffective work environment.”

It claimed that PUC Chair Leo Asuncion passed over more qualified candidates in order to install Baldemor as head of the Policy branch.

The anonymous sender wrote that Baldemor was “not capable of performing the duties of the Chief of Policy and Research due to his complete lack of regulatory and industry experience and apparent disinterest in learning about utilities.”

In addition, Baldemor allegedly “degrades and bullies” staff.

“If no action is taken,” the complaint continued, “the Commission risks a mass departure of critical staff enduring continuous verbal and emotional abuse by Randy Baldemor.”

Hawai’i State Senate

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Questionable relationship between PUC and HECO

The anonymous sender further claimed Asuncion and Baldemor may be overly friendly with executives of Hawaiian Electric, one of the many entities that the PUC oversees.

It described a specific instance when Asuncion allegedly said that he and Baldemor “barbeque together with HECO executives.”

Asuncion denied the comment during yesterday’s hearing.

Asuncion worked for Hawaiian Electric from 2005 to 2011. Since then, he has been employed by different state agencies. He was appointed to the PUC as a commissioner in 2019 and took over as chair in 2022 after the departure of Jay Griffin.

Baldemor previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.

During his tenure with HTA, he was fined $6,000 by the state Ethics Commission for accepting courtesy upgrades to hotels and flights while on work trips. State law generally prohibits government employees from soliciting or accepting such perks.

Baldemor resigned from HTA in 2018.

An investigation may be on the horizon

The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs was notified of the complaint on Monday by Keohokalole’s office. DCCA Director Nadine Ando told lawmakers during Tuesday’s hearing that her office believed it warranted an investigation.

Ando explained that DCCA would keep the identities of those they contact and interview during the investigation confidential. She urged the anonymous sender to come forward.

“If they are able to step forward and identify themselves to us in the process of our investigation, it would enable us to do a more thorough investigation into these concerns,” she said.

“Right now, I’m looking at this and [it] doesn’t have a lot of factual detail to make it possible to do as thorough an investigation as we could.”

In a statement provided to HPR, the PUC said it “takes any complaint seriously and will fully cooperate with any investigation relating to a complaint.”

View the full anonymous memo below: