STAND. COM. REP. NO. 499

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1045

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 1045 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Direct the Public Utilities Commission and the Division of Consumer Advocacy to specifically consider the ownership structure and interests of an electric cooperative; and

 

     (2)  Authorize the Public Utilities Commission to waive or exempt an electric cooperative operating in the State from compliance with chapter 269, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as well as any other applicable charters, franchises, rules, decisions, orders, or other laws.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Division of Consumer Advocacy of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Public Utilities Commission, Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, and nine individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Blue Planet Foundation.

 

     Your Committee finds that chapter 269, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is structured to provide regulatory oversight of investor-owned electric utilities.  Although electric utility cooperatives are member-owned and operate on a not-for-profit basis, existing law does not provide any exceptions for these cooperatives.  This measure provides the necessary exemptions for electric utility cooperatives, while also providing adequate protection to the cooperative's members/owners by requiring a cooperative to apply for a waiver or exemption to the Public Utilities Commission.

 

     Your Committee further finds that this measure is not intended to permit the Public Utilities Commission to utilize its discretionary authority to usurp statewide clean energy policy mandates.  Rather, this measure is intended to permit the Commission to apply its discretionary authority judiciously in certain situations where existing laws, such as methodologies in the regulation of utility rates or ratemaking procedures, may not directly apply to the cooperative structure.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that this measure is not intended to exempt electric cooperatives from statutory statewide clean energy policy mandates, such as the State's Renewable Portfolio Standards and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1045, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1045, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

 

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair