REQUESTING THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION TO CONDUCT A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS ON THE BEST PATHS TO MAXIMIZE COST REDUCTION AND MINIMIZE FINANCIAL RISK TO HAWAII RESIDENTS WHILE MEETING STATE GOALS.

SCR172

THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

172

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the public utilities commission to conduct a
comprehensive analysis on the best paths to maximize cost reduction and minimize
financial risk to hawaii residents while meeting state goals
.

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WHEREAS, Hawaii
is extremely vulnerable to sudden and enormous cost increases as a result of
its reliance on imports, including from global conflicts, international
politics, and numerous other forces outside of Hawaii's control, which has
spiked the cost of natural gas and oil, whose costs to acquire have
dramatically risen as a result of the Iran conflict; and

����
WHEREAS, the
cost of renewable technologies continues to dramatically fall, with battery
storage and solar costs dropping ninety percent over the last decade, while
their generation and storage capacity continue to expand as rare metals, such
as lithium, are being replaced by common sodium and other long-duration storage
innovations; and

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WHEREAS, states
such as California have made remarkable progress on their grid by leveraging
innovative renewables and battery storage to replace natural gas and coal,
helping to reduce cost volatility and improving grid reliability with
innovative renewables and long-duration storage that have completely eliminated
brownouts and blackouts as a result of a lack of capacity, an issue that Oahu
now faces monthly; and

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WHEREAS, section
226-18(a)(2), Hawaii Revised Statutes, directs the state agency plans,
decisions, and strategies to account for "increased energy security and
self-sufficiency through the reduction and ultimate elimination of Hawaii's
dependence on imported fuels for electrical generation..."; and

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WHEREAS, the
Legislature found that "Hawaii's dependence on imported fuel drains the
State's economy of billions of dollars each year", and "a stronger
local economy depends on a transition away from imported fuels and toward
renewable local resources that provide a secure source of affordable
energy" which it wrote into Act 97, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, mandating
one hundred percent renewable energy by 2045; and

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WHEREAS, the
Public Utilities Commission decided in 2016 against plans that would have led
to the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the Hawaii Supreme Court, in
2022, decided against allowing the Commission to pass the cost of other natural
gas projects on to ratepayers because the agency failed to fulfill its
"affirmative duty to reduce the State's reliance on fossil fuels through
energy efficiency and renewable energy generation"; and

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WHEREAS, in
January 2025, the Hawaii State Energy Office published its "Alternative
Fuels, Repowering, and Energy Transition Study", in which it justified
reviving plans to import LNG to Hawaii, though in March 2026, an independent
review found basic errors in the calculations of the study, including a failure
to count the LNG fuel costs in the cost‑benefit analysis which eliminates
claimed cost savings from LNG and instead would increase costs to consumers by
at least $300 million; and

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WHEREAS, the
Hawaii State Energy Office's "Alternative Fuels, Repowering, and Energy
Transition Study" was also limited to considering replacing existing fuels
for power generation with new fuels and did not make a meaningful comparison to
or evaluate replacing existing fuels with cheaper renewable options,
potentially missing billions of dollars of savings for consumers as a result of
innovative technology such as moving beyond Hawaii's typical four-hour energy
storage to a newer one hundred hour or greater energy storage that would enable
additional cheaper renewable energy capacity, a strategy already proving
successful elsewhere; and

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WHEREAS, the
Public Utilities Commission previously opined that plans developed by
stakeholders that may eventually be considered by the Commission are frequently
developed with predetermined limitations or assumptions artificially limiting
the scope of a plan, such as focusing on strategies that may be a priority in a
stakeholder's interest, but missing others that might be in the public interest;
and

����
WHEREAS,
decisions likely to be made in the next few years may lock Hawaii and its
residents into billions of dollars in additional costs, or billions of dollars
in additional savings, so it is of absolute, critical importance that the best
options are thoroughly evaluated to help inform ongoing state and utility
planning so the best decisions can be made for the people of Hawaii; and

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WHEREAS,
recent events continue to highlight Hawaii's vulnerability to the volatility
and rising costs to local families of relying on imported fuels, such as cold
weather and polar vortexes driving up heating demand and fuel costs in the
United States and geopolitical events, such as the war in Iran, which has
triggered the latest giant spike in natural gas and oil prices that increase
costs for local consumers and siphon billions of dollars out of Hawaii's
economy each year; now, therefore,

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BE IT
RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii,
Regular Session of 2026, the House of Representatives concurring, that the
Public Utilities Commission is requested to conduct an objective, independent analysis
and evaluation on the best paths to maximize cost reduction and minimize
financial risk to Hawaii residents for energy while meeting the State's
established goals; and

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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to contract and
engage with experts as may be appropriate to develop two separate independent
and objective analyses to ensure beyond a reasonable that the paths are
thoroughly evaluated; and

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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the analyses are requested to examine the best potential paths
for Hawaii to maximize cost reduction and minimize financial risk to Hawaii
residents for energy while meeting established state goals, from now through
2055, accounting for what costs or savings Hawaii residents will bear in a
period beyond 2045 based on the paths evaluated; and

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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the analyses are requested to, at minimum, be designed to
consider the latest strategies, technologies, innovations, and options being
developed and implemented in Hawaii and other states and jurisdictions that are
proving most successful and may help Hawaii maximize cost reduction and
minimize financial risk to Hawaii residents while meeting established state
goals; and

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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to submit a
preliminary report of findings and recommendations, including any proposed
legislation, to the Legislature no later than thirty days prior to the
convening of the Regular Session of 2027; and

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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to submit a final
report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation,
to the Legislature no later than thirty days prior to the convening of the
Regular Session of 2028; and

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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the
Governor, Executive Officer of the Public Utilities Commission, and Chief
Energy Officer.

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

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