STAND. COM. REP. NO 60

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 488

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 488 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the installation of meters to measure electricity utility use by individual units in condominiums.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Division of Consumer Advocacy.

     Your Committee finds that the cost of the total electric consumption for most master-metered buildings is divided among units, not taking into account a resident's individual consumption.  This often leads to master-metered building residents consuming more electricity than residents with individual apartment metering because master-metered building residents do not bear electricity costs in proportion to individual consumption levels.  Installing meters to measure electricity use by individual units in condominiums will require each resident to be financially responsible for the resident's own energy consumption and thereby improve energy conservation.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Energy and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 488, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 488, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environment,

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair