§269-19 Merger and consolidation of public utilities. (a) No public utility shall sell, lease, assign, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of or encumber the whole or any part of its road, line, plant, system, or other property necessary or useful in the performance of its duties to the public, or any franchise or permit, or any right thereunder, nor by any means, directly or indirectly, merge or consolidate with any other public utility without first having secured from the public utilities commission an order authorizing it so to do, unless:
Every sale, lease, assignment, mortgage, disposition, encumbrance, merger, or consolidation that requires authorization from the public utilities commission under this subsection and is made other than in accordance with the order of the commission shall be void.
(b) A public utility, under circumstances that it deems exigent and in its judgment require a response that rapidly restores one of its customers to normal, or near normal, operating status in order to prevent serious disruption of essential public services, or avoid serious risk to public safety, or to mitigate severe economic losses to that customer, may transfer, assign, or otherwise dispose of its property without prior approval from the public utilities commission as required in subsection (a); provided that in so doing:
For purposes of this subsection, "property" does not include real property. [L 1933, c 169, pt of §4; RL 1935, §7957; RL 1945, §4718; RL 1955, §104-18; HRS §269-19; am L 2008, c 7, §2; am L 2023, c 178, §1]