STAND. COM. REP. NO.1397

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 10

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 10, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require electric utilities to make annual disclosures to their retail customers of the fuel mix and price of electricity purchased by the customers.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Consumer Advocate, Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Public Utilities Commission, Hawaiian Electric Company, and Life of the Land.

This measure will facilitate consumer awareness of the characteristics and costs of energy resources utilized in the production of electricity by requiring the electric utilities to disclose fuel mix and pricing information on retail customer billing statements and on the utilities' websites.

Your Committee has amended this measure:

(1) To clarify that the fuel mix and pricing information disclosed shall relate to the prior calendar year;

(2) By replacing the requirement for pricing disclosure in a format that allows each retail customer to undertake a comparison of similar electricity products and services with a requirement for disclosure of the utility's average retail price of electricity for each rate class of service for the prior calendar year; and

(3) To remove "imputed" generation sources from the definition of "fuel mix" and redefine the term as the actual generation sources of electricity sold to retail electricity customers expressed in terms of percentage contribution by generating source.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 10, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 10, H.D. 2, S.D. 1.

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

		____________________________ RON MENOR, Chair