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HB978
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H.B. NO.
978
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating
to electric utilities
.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
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SECTION
1
.
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The legislature finds that the
health and welfare of the residents of the State depend largely on residents'
abilities to access reliable and reasonably priced electric utility services.
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The public utilities commission is tasked
with regulating public utilities in the State, including the provision of
electric services.
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The legislature notes that the financial condition
of an electric utility is essential to its ability to render services to its customers.
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It is widely recognized that public utilities
must be fit, willing, and able to properly perform the services offered and to
conform to the terms, conditions, and rules set forth by the public utilities
commission.
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The legislature further finds that recent
events have threatened the financial well-being of a certain investor-owned
electric utility in the State, thereby potentially threatening the well-being
of the public, specifically their health, safety, welfare, and economic
viability.
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The legislature also finds that the State's
largest investor-owned electric utility has undercapitalized its wildfire
mitigation investments, upgrades, and modernization of its distribution and
transmission grid infrastructure, as well as its generation facilities.
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Although existing law provides the public
utilities commission with the authority to appoint a receiver to operate a
failed or failing regulated water or sewer utility if it ceases to operate or
operates on a substandard or unacceptable level, existing law does not contain
express authority for the commission to act on behalf of an electric utility's
customers if the utility experiences an urgent, serious, and imminent threat to
its ability to provide adequate services.
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To ensure that the public utilities commission
has the necessary authority to take proactive measures on behalf of customers
when an investor-owned electric utility either fails to provide adequate and
reasonable service to its customers or creates a serious and imminent threat to
the health and welfare of its customers, the legislature believes that the
commission should have the power to appoint a receiver to ensure that electric services
are continued or brought back up to appropriate standards.
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The legislature further notes that the goal
of a receivership is to protect a troubled company and to help the company return
to profitability, thereby allowing it to thrive when the receivership period
ends.
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An appointed receiver can also ensure
that employees are compensated during the protected period and that operations
continue to comply with government regulations and standards.
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Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to
provide the public utilities commission with the authority to appoint a
receiver to take temporary action, should the commission find it necessary, to
assure continued adequate electric services from investor-owned electric
utilities.
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SECTION
2
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Section 269-14.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
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"(a)
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Whenever the commission finds that a regulated water utility
, regulated
investor-owned electric utility,
or regulated sewer utility is failing, or
that there is an imminent threat of the utility failing, to provide adequate
and reasonable service to its customers, and that the failure is a serious and
imminent threat to health, safety, and welfare, the commission may appoint a
receiver to take any temporary action necessary to assure continued service or
to bring the service up to appropriate regulatory standards.
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The commission may also appoint a receiver to
take any temporary action necessary to assure continued service if, after
notice and hearing, the commission finds that any water
, electric,
or
sewer utility regulated under this chapter consistently fails to provide
adequate and reasonable service.
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In
carrying out its responsibilities, the receiver and any additional outside
legal counsel, consultants, or staff the commission or receiver may deem
necessary under the circumstances, shall have the authority to gain access to
all of the utility company assets and records and to manage those assets in a
manner that will restore or maintain an acceptable level of service to
customers.
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The receiver shall be authorized
to expend existing utility company revenues for labor and materials and to
commit additional resources as are essential to providing an acceptable level
of service.
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These expenditures shall be
funded in accordance with generally accepted ratemaking practices.
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Any costs incurred by the commission, its
staff, or the appointed receiver under this section shall be the responsibility
of the utility in receivership or its ratepayers.
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Control of and responsibility for the utility
shall remain with the receiver until the utility can be returned to the
original owners, transferred to new owners, or liquidated as the commission
determines to be in the public interest."
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SECTION
3
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There is appropriated out of the
public utilities commission special fund the sum of $
or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year
2025-2026 and the
same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 for
any costs incurred by the public utilities commission in determining whether to
appoint a receiver pursuant to section 269-14.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
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The
sums appropriated shall be expended by the public utilities commission for the
purposes of this Act.
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SECTION 4.
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New statutory material is underscored.
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SECTION 5.
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This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.
INTRODUCED BY:
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Report Title:
PUC; Regulated
Investor-Owned Electric Utilities; Electric Services; Appointment of Receiver; Public
Utilities Commission Special Fund; Appropriations
Description:
Provides the Public Utilities Commission with the
authority to appoint a receiver to take temporary action necessary to assure
continued adequate electric services from regulated investor-owned electric utilities.
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Appropriates funds out of the Public
Utilities Commission Special Fund.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.