STAND. COM. REP. NO. 446-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2243

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 2243 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTRIC ENERGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require all electric utilities to provide transparent customer bill impact analyses that are accessible to the public in an electronic format reasonably usable by ratepayers;

(2) Establish requirements for bill impact analyses; and

(3) Require electric utilities to submit annual reports to the Public Utilities Commission.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Clean Power Alliance. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Life of the Land and Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; Office of Information Practices; Public Utilities Commission; and Hawaiian Electric.

Your Committee finds that ratepayers currently lack visibility into the assumptions, methodologies, and modeling used by electric utilities when presenting projected customer bill impacts for proposed generation and storage projects, limiting the public's ability to assess affordability and evaluate whether such projects are in the public interest. Your Committee further finds that increasing transparency around bill‑impact modeling will enhance ratepayer understanding, support more informed participation in regulatory proceedings, and improve accountability in utility planning. This measure addresses these concerns by requiring electric utilities to disclose the assumptions, data, and calculations underlying bill impact analyses and to update those analyses when material changes occur.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2243, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2243, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection,

____________________________

NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair