| 43 | | - | WHEREAS, many households in Hawaii have difficulty paying energy bills and suffer energy insecurity, in which they are faced with difficult choices, such as whether to sacrifice food or medicine to be able to pay for energy; and WHEREAS, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism found that "household electricity burden the percentage of household income spent on electricity bills is one of the key elements contributing to a household's energy insecurity, especially for low-income households"; and WHEREAS, consequently, households with lower incomes are faced with higher levels of energy insecurity; and WHEREAS, forty-two percent of households in the State live below the ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed) threshold, meaning that almost half of all families in Hawaii are struggling to make ends meet, even though they are employed; and WHEREAS, additionally, nine percent of these ALICE families are living in poverty, and this trend has progressively worsened in recent years due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic; and WHEREAS, rising temperatures and humidity due to climate change have increased the need for air conditioning, resulting in the need for more electricity and further exacerbating the situation of energy insecurity for residents; and WHEREAS, Hawaii's electricity rates are the highest in the nation, at close to three times the national average; and WHEREAS, although the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is available for bill assistance, an average of only twenty percent of qualifying households actually receive benefits, leaving an obvious unmet need for bill assistance or rate relief to those in privation; and WHEREAS, the State's electric utilities do not offer utility specific low- to moderate-income discount rates and have limited, if any, bill assistance options; and WHEREAS, in recognition of these and other disparities contributing to high electricity burdens, some state utilities in Arizona, California, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont are authorized to offer lower rates to low- and limited-income customers to reduce residential electricity burden and ensure continued access to electrical power; and WHEREAS, when comparing electricity burden maps in the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism's electricity burden report to the Hawaii Statewide Energy Project Directory provided by the Hawaii State Energy Office, a substantial number of the current and planned energy project locations are in or near areas that have higher electricity burdens; and WHEREAS, the communities that serve as geographic hosts for major energy projects receive the same project benefit of secure provision of service as all other ratepayers, yet must live with the burdens associated with hosting those projects and are neither offered compensation for doing so nor are generally meaningfully engaged in the planning process; and WHEREAS, the burdens host communities shoulder include high concentrations of particulate air emissions, loss of open space, loss of other land uses, environmental concerns, and projects that are maligned with the host community's localized needs and priorities for provision of electrical service; and WHEREAS, without intentional and informed planning, progression toward the State's clean energy goals may therefore come at the expense of already burdened communities; and WHEREAS, current circumstances necessitate an explicit focus on energy and climate justice to ensure that the benefits and burdens of energy infrastructure development in the face of climate change are equitably distributed; and WHEREAS, the Public Utilities Commission has worked on and continues to work on energy resource issues through its docket proceedings, such as docket no. 2019-0323, which is investigating distributed energy resource policies pertaining to the Hawaiian Electric Companies; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to consider efforts to mitigate high energy burdens for low- and moderate-income customers and input by the Consumer Advocate and investigate how to integrate considerations of energy equity and justice across its work; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to examine: (1) Low- and moderate-income rate discounts, bill credits, and direct payments and whether these would be appropriate in the State; (2) Expanded availability of utility bill assistance programs and whether adequate payment plan arrangements are available to low- and moderate-income customers who are facing economic challenges, such as loss of employment; (3) Measures to protect low- and moderate-income households, senior citizens, and households with infants from service disconnections, including reporting requirements for all utilities on the number of customers annually disconnected due to non-payment; (4) The advantages and disadvantages of rate design, program offerings, and the requirements of community benefits agreements to address energy burden, energy insecurity, and environmental and energy justice concerns related to energy projects and programs; and (5) Other customer-centric solutions to lessen the energy burden on low- and moderate-income customers and determine appropriate benefits above and beyond those accrued to the overall electric grid for communities that serve as geographic hosts to utility scale energy projects; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to establish the necessary proceeding or proceedings to conduct this examination; provided that the proceedings are not duplicative, but rather focus on the need for integration of energy equity and justice in the ongoing and future work of the Public Utilities Commission; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to submit a report to the Legislature of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2023; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Public Utilities Commission and Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Consumer Advocate. Report Title: Public Utilities Commission; Low- and Moderate-Income Customers; Energy Burden; Energy Equity and Justice |
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| 43 | + | WHEREAS, many households in Hawaii have difficulty paying energy bills and suffer energy insecurity, in which they are faced with difficult choices, such as whether to sacrifice food or medicine to be able to pay for energy; and WHEREAS, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism found that "household electricity burden the percentage of household income spent on electricity bills is one of the key elements contributing to a household's energy insecurity, especially for low-income households"; and WHEREAS, consequently, households with lower incomes are faced with higher levels of energy insecurity; and WHEREAS, forty-two percent of households in the State live below the ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed) threshold, meaning that almost half of all families in Hawaii are struggling to make ends meet, even though they are employed; and WHEREAS, additionally, nine percent of these ALICE families are living in poverty, and this trend has progressively worsened in recent years due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic; and WHEREAS, rising temperatures and humidity due to climate change has caused increased need for air conditioning, resulting in the need for more electricity and further exacerbating the situation of energy insecurity for residents; and WHEREAS, Hawaii's electricity rates are the highest in the nation, at close to three times the national average; and WHEREAS, although the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is available for bill assistance, an average of only twenty percent of qualifying households actually receive benefits, leaving an obvious unmet need for bill assistance or rate relief to those in privation; and WHEREAS, the State's electric utilities do not offer utility specific low- to moderate-income discount rates and have limited, if any, bill assistance options; and WHEREAS, in recognition of these and other disparities contributing to high electricity burdens, some state utilities in Arizona, California, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont are authorized to offer lower rates to low- and limited-income customers to reduce residential electricity burden and ensure continued access to electrical power; and WHEREAS, when comparing electricity burden maps in the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism's electricity burden report to the Hawaii Statewide Energy Project Directory provided by the Hawaii State Energy Office, a substantial amount of the current and planned energy project locations are in or near areas that have higher electricity burdens; and WHEREAS, the communities that serve as geographic hosts for major energy projects receive the same project benefit of secure provision of service as all other ratepayers, yet must live with the burdens associated with hosting those projects and are neither offered compensation for doing so nor are generally meaningfully engaged in the planning process; and WHEREAS, the burdens host communities have shouldered include high concentrations of particulate air emissions, loss of open space, loss of other land uses, environmental concerns, and projects that are maligned with the host community's localized needs and priorities for provision of electrical service; and WHEREAS, without intentional and informed planning, progression toward the State's clean energy goals may therefore come at the expense of already burdened communities; and WHEREAS, current circumstances necessitate an explicit focus on energy and climate justice to ensure that the benefits and burdens of energy infrastructure development in the face of climate change are equitably distributed; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to consider efforts to mitigate high energy burdens for low- and moderate-income customers and investigate how to integrate considerations of energy equity and justice across its work; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to examine: (1) Low- and moderate-income rate discounts, bill credits, and direct payments and whether these would be appropriate in the State; (2) Expanded availability of utility bill assistance programs and whether adequate payment plan arrangements are available to low- and moderate-income customers who are facing economic challenges, such as loss of employment; (3) Measures to protect low- and moderate-income households, senior citizens, and households with infants from service disconnections, including reporting requirements for all utilities on the number of customers annually disconnected due to non-payment; (4) The advantages and disadvantages of rate design, program offerings, and the requirements of community benefits agreements to address energy burden, energy insecurity, and environmental and energy justice concerns related to energy projects and programs; and (5) Other customer-centric solutions to lessen the energy burden on low- and moderate-income customers and determine appropriate benefits above and beyond those accrued to the overall electric grid for communities that serve as geographic hosts to utility scale energy projects; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to establish the necessary proceeding or proceedings to conduct this examination; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to submit a report to the Legislature of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2023; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Public Utilities Commission. OFFERED BY: _____________________________ Report Title: Public Utilities Commission; Low- and Moderate-Income Customers; Energy Burden; Energy Equity and Justice |
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