Title 15, Transportation And Utilities

[§269-32] Injury to public utility property. Any person who injures or destroys, through want of proper care, any necessary or useful facility, equipment or property of any public utility shall be liable to the public utility for all damages sustained thereby. The measure of dama…

§269-33 Public utilities commission special fund. (a) There is established in the state treasury a public utilities commission special fund to be administered by the public utilities commission. The proceeds of the fund shall be used by the public utilities commission and the div…

[§269-34] Obligations of telecommunications carriers. In accordance with conditions and guidelines established by the commission to facilitate the introduction of competition into the State's telecommunications marketplace, each telecommunications carrier, upon bona fide request,…

[§269-35] Universal service. The commission shall preserve and advance universal service by:

[§269-36] Telecommunications number portability. The commission shall ensure that telecommunications number portability within an exchange is available, upon request, as soon as technically feasible and economically reasonable. An impartial entity shall administer telecommunicati…

[§269-37] Compensation agreements. The commission shall ensure that telecommunications carriers are compensated on a fair basis for termination of telecommunications services on each other's networks, taking into account, among other things, reasonable and necessary costs to each…

§269-38 Regulatory flexibility for effectively competitive services. The commission may allow telecommunications carriers to have pricing flexibility for services that the commission finds are effectively competitive; provided that universal service is preserved and advanced. [L …

[§269-39] Cross-subsidies. (a) The commission shall ensure that noncompetitive services shall not cross-subsidize competitive services. Cross-subsidization shall be deemed to have occurred: (b) The commission shall determine the methodology and frequency with which providers calc…

§269-40 Access to advanced services. The commission shall ensure that all consumers are provided with nondiscriminatory, reasonable, and equitable access to high quality telecommunications network facilities and capabilities that provide subscribers with sufficient network capaci…

§269-41 Universal service program; establishment; purpose; principles. There is established the universal service program. The purpose of this program is to: The commission shall administer the universal service program, including the establishment of criteria by which the purpos…

§269-42 Universal service program; contributions. (a) There is established outside of the state treasury a special fund to be known as the universal service fund to be administered by the commission to implement the policies and goals of universal service through the universal se…

[§269-43] Carriers of last resort. (a) The commission may define and designate local exchange service areas where the commission has determined that providing universal service funds to a single provider will be the most appropriate way to ensure service for these areas. (b) The …

[§269-44] Solar water heater system standards. Not later than July 1, 2009, or as soon as reasonably practicable, the public utilities commission shall adopt or establish by rule, tariff, or order, standards for solar water heater systems to include, but not be limited to, specif…

[§269-45] Gas utility companies; renewable energy; reporting requirements. (a) Each gas utility company shall submit an annual report to the public utilities commission on or before March 31 of each year that shall include but not be limited to the following information: Within t…

[§269-45.5] Renewable gas tariff. (a) Each gas utility in the State shall file a proposed initial renewable gas tariff or tariffs with the public utilities commission by August 31, 2025, to establish appropriate and reasonable rates for renewable gas for customers who choose to r…

[§269-46] Microgrids. (a) By July 1, 2018, the public utilities commission shall open a proceeding to establish a microgrid services tariff. (b) Any person or entity may own or operate an eligible microgrid project or projects; provided that the person or entity complies with all…

[§269-46.1] Distributed energy resources installation goal; tariffs; requirements. (a) The public utilities commission shall establish a goal for new customer-sited distributed energy resources, to be installed in the State by December 31, 2030. (b) The public utilities commissio…

[§269-46.2] Compensation for solar and energy storage exports. (a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, energy exported to the electric grid past a participating customer-generator's point of common coupling from photovoltaic solar systems paired with energy storage as part o…

[§269-46.3] Microgrids; public utility; exception. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, a person that constructs, maintains, or operates a new microgrid shall not be considered a public utility under section 269-1 solely as a result of furnishing service through that ne…

[§269-46.4] Wheeling; renewable energy; rules. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, the authorization for wheeling under this chapter shall be restricted to wheeling of renewable electricity. (b) No later than January 1, 2027, the public utilities co…

[§269-47] Electric power systems data access and transparency; principles. (a) The commission, in carrying out its responsibilities under this chapter, shall consider the value of improving electric power systems data access and transparency within the State in order to empower r…

[§269-48] Coal power purchase agreements; prohibited. Beginning after June 30, 2020, the public utilities commission shall not approve:

§269-5 Annual report and register of orders. The public utilities commission shall prepare and present to the governor in the month of January in each year a report respecting its actions during the preceding fiscal year. This report shall include summary information and analytic…

[PART II.] CONSUMER ADVOCATE §269-51 Consumer advocate; executive director of the division of consumer advocacy. [(a)] The executive director of the division of consumer advocacy shall be the consumer advocate in hearings before the public utilities commission. The consumer advoc…

§269-52 Division of consumer advocacy; personnel. There shall be a division of consumer advocacy within the department of commerce and consumer affairs. The director of commerce and consumer affairs may appoint an executive director, who shall be exempt from chapter 76, and fix t…

§269-53 Legal counsel. The executive director of the division of consumer advocacy may appoint or retain, without regard to chapter 76, attorneys to provide legal services for the division of consumer advocacy. Nothing in this section precludes the director of commerce and consum…

§269-54 General powers; duties. (a) The consumer advocate shall have the authority expressly conferred by or reasonably implied from the provisions of this part. (b) The consumer advocate may: (c) The consumer advocate shall consider the long-term benefits of renewable resources …

§269-55 Handling of complaints. The consumer advocate shall counsel utility customers in the handling of consumer complaints before the public utilities commission. The public utilities commission shall provide a central clearinghouse of information by collecting and compiling al…

§269-6 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 …

§269-6.5 Electronic copies of documents. (a) No later than July 1, 2011, the public utilities commission shall accept from any person who submits a document to the commission the original or one electronic copy of each application, complaint, pleading, brief, or other document re…

§269-7 Investigative powers. (a) The public utilities commission and each commissioner shall have power to examine into the condition of each public utility, the manner in which it is operated with reference to the safety or accommodation of the public, the safety, working hours,…

§269-7.5 Certificates of public convenience and necessity. (a) No public utility, as defined in section 269-1, shall commence its business without first having obtained from the commission a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Applications for certificates shall be m…

[PART III. OTHER PROVISIONS] [§269-71] Meter tampering. Any person who, without permission or authorization from a utility tampers with, damages, destroys, removes, connects, causes to connect, disconnects, or causes to be disconnected or bypassed any wire, cable, conductor, gas …

§269-72 Electric vehicle charging system; rebate program. (a) The public utilities commission, in consultation with electric vehicle stakeholders and the Hawaii state energy office, shall administer a rebate program that incentivizes the installation or upgrade of an electric veh…

§269-73 Electric vehicle charging system; rebate program; administrator; establishment. (a) The public utilities commission may contract with a third-party administrator to operate and manage any programs established under section 269-72. The administrator shall not be deemed to …

[§269-74] Zero-emission vehicle fueling system rebate program. (a) The public utilities commission, in consultation with zero-emission vehicle stakeholders and the Hawaii state energy office, shall administer a zero-emission vehicle fueling system rebate program that incentivizes…

§269-8 Public utilities to furnish information. Every public utility or other person subject to investigation by the commission, shall at all times, upon request, furnish to the public utilities commission all information that it may require respecting any of the matters concerni…

[§269-8.2] Location of records. A public utility shall keep and maintain within the State such records, books, papers, accounts, and other documents as the public utilities commission may determine are necessary to its effective regulation. [L 1977, c 165, §1]

[§269-8.5] Annual financial reports. All annual financial reports required to be filed with the commission by public utilities shall include a certification that such report conforms with the applicable uniform system of accounts adopted by the commission. [L 1977, c 15, §1]

§269-9 Report accidents. Every public utility shall report to the public utilities commission all accidents caused by or occurring in connection with its operations and service, and the commission shall investigate the causes of any accident which results in loss of life, and may…

[PART V. RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARDS] §269-91 [Definitions.] For the purposes of this [part]: "Biofuels" means liquid or gaseous fuels produced from organic sources such as biomass crops, agricultural residues and oil crops, such as palm oil, canola oil, soybean oil, waste cook…

§269-92 Renewable portfolio standards. (a) Each electric utility company that sells electricity for consumption in the State shall establish a renewable portfolio standard of: (b) The public utilities commission may establish standards for each electric utility company that presc…

§269-93 Achieving portfolio standard. (a) An electric utility company and its electric utility affiliates may aggregate their renewable portfolios to achieve the renewable portfolio standard. (b) If an electric utility company and its electric utility affiliates aggregate their r…

[§269-94 Waivers, extensions, and incentives.] Any electric utility company not meeting the renewable portfolio standard shall report to the public utilities commission within ninety days following the goal dates established in section [269-92], and provide an explanation for not…

§269-95 Renewable portfolio standards study. The public utilities commission shall:

§269-96 Energy-efficiency portfolio standards. (a) The public utilities commission shall establish energy-efficiency portfolio standards that will maximize cost-effective energy-efficiency programs and technologies. (b) The energy-efficiency portfolio standards shall be designed …

[§269-97] Annual report; electric utility company. Each electric utility company shall track and report to the public utilities commission, on an annual basis, data and trends regarding customer retention or attrition at a time and in a manner as prescribed by the commission. [L …