PUC Annual Report–Fiscal Year 2004-05 - Public Utilities Commission

ANNUAL REPORTFISCAL YEAR 2004-05(HAW. REV. STAT. § 269-5)PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSIONSTATE OF HAWAIII. INTRODUCTION.Public utilities continue to undergo significant changes due to developments intechnology, markets, economic conditions, consumer needs, and environmental concerns.Regulatory commissions throughout the United States must recognize these changes and adaptand adjust regulatory practices to these changes to protect the public interest, while itsimultaneously allows and encourages the public utilities to efficiently operate, grow, and developin their respective industries.The Public Utilities Commission (“Commission”) of the State of Hawaii (“State”) submitsthis Annual Report pursuant to Section 269-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as amended (“HRS”). Inshort, this report summarizes the activities and operations of the Commission and the publicutilities it regulates during the July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005 fiscal year (“Fiscal Year”), as well asthe Commission’s goals and objectives.II.COMMISSION HISTORY AND BACKGROUND.The Commission is responsible for regulating all chartered, franchised, certificated, andregistered public utility companies that provide electricity, gas, telecommunications, private waterand sewage, and motor and water carrier transportation services in the State. The Commissionhas statutory authority to establish and enforce applicable state statutes, administrative rules andregulations, and to set policies and standards.A. HISTORY.The Commission was established in 1913 by Act 89, Session Laws of Hawaii (“SLH”)1913, as a part-time, three-member body with broad regulatory oversight and investigativeauthority over all public utility companies doing business in the Territory of Hawaii. This act,amended over the years and codified in Chapter 269, HRS, is the basis for utility regulation inHawaii. The Commission’s authority to regulate various classifications of motor carriers ofpassengers and property is derived from the Hawaii Motor Carrier Law (Chapter 271, HRS)enacted in 1961. Responsibility for all commercial water transportation carriers of persons andproperty within the State is derived from the Hawaii Water Carrier Act of 1974 (Chapter 271G,HRS). Chapter 6-61, “Rules of Practice and Procedure Before the Public Utilities Commission,”of the Hawaii Administrative Rules (“HAR”) sets forth general procedural requirements forintervention and participation in proceedings before the Commission. Other HARs and generalorders of the Commission set forth the standards, rules, and other procedures governing electric,gas, telecommunications, private water and sewage, and motor and water carrier transportationservices.The Commission’s statutory responsibilities also involve establishing the maximumpre-tax wholesale gasoline prices and regulating subsurface installations. The Commission’sauthority relating to the determination of the maximum pre-tax wholesale gasoline prices isderived from Chapter 486H, HRS. Responsibility for the establishment and administration of aone call center which will provide advance warning to excavators in the State of the location ofsubsurface installations in the area of an excavation is derived from Chapter 269E, HRS.