General powers and duties
HRS §269-6
in effect269-6. General powers and duties
(a) The public utilities commission shall have the general supervision hereinafter set forth over all public utilities, and shall perform the duties and exercise the powers imposed or conferred upon it by this chapter. Included among the general powers of the public utilities commission is the authority to adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 necessary for the purposes of this chapter.
(b) The public utilities commission shall
consider the need to reduce the State's reliance on fossil fuels through energy
efficiency and increased renewable energy generation in exercising its
authority and duties under this chapter. In making determinations of the
reasonableness of the costs pertaining to electric or gas utility system
capital improvements and operations, the public utilities commission shall
explicitly consider, quantitatively or qualitatively, the effect of the State's
reliance on fossil fuels on:
(1) Price volatility;
(2) Export of funds for fuel imports;
(3) Fuel supply reliability risk; and
(4) Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions;
provided that the public utilities commission may waive the requirement for a
lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions assessment for energy projects that do not
involve combustion.
The public utilities commission may determine that
short-term costs or direct costs of renewable energy generation that are higher
than alternatives relying more heavily on fossil fuels are reasonable,
considering the impacts resulting from the use of fossil fuels. The public
utilities commission shall determine whether such analysis is necessary for
proceedings involving water, wastewater, or telecommunications providers on an
individual basis.
(c) The analysis described in subsection (b)
shall not be required for a utility's routine system replacements, such as
overhauls and overhead or underground line determinations, or determinations
that do not pertain to capital improvements or operations, including but not
limited to financing requests.
(d) In exercising its authority and duties
under this chapter, the public utilities commission shall consider the costs
and benefits of a diverse portfolio of energy resources and of maximizing the
efficiency of all electric utility assets to lower and stabilize the cost of
electricity. Nothing in this section shall subvert the obligation of electric
utilities to meet the renewable portfolio standards set forth in section
269-92.
(e) The public utilities commission, in
carrying out its responsibilities under this chapter, shall consider whether
the implementation of one or more of the following economic incentives or cost
recovery mechanisms would be in the public interest:
(1) The establishment of a shared cost savings
incentive mechanism designed to induce a public utility to reduce energy costs
and operating costs and accelerate the implementation of energy cost reduction
practices;
(2) The establishment of a renewable energy
curtailment mitigation incentive mechanism to encourage public utilities to
implement curtailment mitigation practices when lower cost renewable energy is
available but not utilized through the sharing of energy cost savings between
the public utility, ratepayer, and affected renewable energy projects;
(3) The establishment of a stranded cost recovery
mechanism to encourage the accelerated retirement of an electric utility fossil
fuel electric generation plant by allowing an electric utility to recover the
stranded costs created by early retirement of a fossil fuel generation plant;
and
(4) The establishment of differentiated authorized
rates of return on common equity to encourage increased utility investments in
transmission and distribution infrastructure, discourage electric utility
investment in fossil fuel electric generation plants to incentivize grid
modernization, and disincentivize fossil fuel generation, respectively.
(f) The chairperson of the public utilities
commission may appoint a hearings officer, who shall not be subject to chapter
76, to hear and recommend decisions in any proceeding before it other than a
proceeding involving the rates or any other matters covered in the tariffs
filed by the public utilities. The hearings officer shall have the power to
take testimony, make findings of fact and conclusions of law, and recommend a
decision; provided that the findings of fact, the conclusions of law, and the
recommended decision shall be reviewed and may be approved by the public
utilities commission after notice to the parties and an opportunity to be
heard. The hearings officer shall have all of the above powers conferred upon
the public utilities commission under section 269-10.
[L 1913, c 89, §4; RL
1925, §2192; RL 1935, §7944; RL 1945, §4705; am L 1949, c 253, §1; RL 1955,
§104-5; HRS §269-6; am L 1976, c 165, §5; am L 1983, c 219, §3; gen ch 1993; am
L 2000, c 253, §150; am L 2007, c 177, §2; am L 2011, c 109, §1; am L 2012, c
99, §2; am L 2013, c 37, §2; am L 2021, c 82, §1; am L 2024, c 54, §3]
Source: Hawaii State Legislature (capitol.hawaii.gov), via Internet Archive capturesURL: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0269/HRS_0269-0006.htmFetched: 11/10/2026