Disappeared News

“ ‘Do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?” “Yes, with reservations.’ ”

If you read nothing else, don’t miss the short bonus video at the end of this article.

by Larry Geller

The Legislature’s passage of SB2785 will have a profound impact on Hawaii’s economy. And on the hope some of us had of staying on Oahu to retire in our old age.

Also, I can’t think of anything more discouraging to the prospects of small business in the state than boosting energy costs higher than we already have.

The Senate debate on May 3, 2012, took just 52 minutes and largely sidestepped the issue of the cost that will be passed to ratepayers. Lawmakers disregarded the negative effect of this provision for automatic rate increases contained in the bill that passes the cost and risk of this project on to those on Oahu who are already paying three times the national average in electricity costs:

§269-D Cable surcharge. (a) The commission shall establish a cable surcharge to allow recovery of the high‑voltage electric transmission cable system costs designated for recovery according to the ratemaking principles pursuant to section 269‑B.

. . . 

§269-E Recovery of electric utility company costs. (a) An electric utility company may recover, through an automatic rate adjustment clause, its revenue requirement resulting from the capital costs that it prudently incurs for on-island transmission infrastructure; provided that the commission has approved the utility's commitment of capital expenditure costs for the project. (b) To provide for timely recovery of the revenue requirement, the commission shall establish a separate automatic rate adjustment clause for that purpose, or modify an existing automatic rate adjustment clause. The use of the automatic rate adjustment clause to recover the revenue requirement shall be allowed to continue until the revenue requirement is incorporated in rates in an electric utility company's rate case.

Cost to already suffering ratepayers is one of the impacts of this bill, sure to be signed into law by Governor Abercrombie. I put this first because most readers live on Oahu, but we should also note and respect that residents of Lanai and Molokai have the ongoing burden of fighting the project to prevent the environmental and quality-of-life degradation that building the wind farms on their islands will bring.

After the bill is signed, most of us on Oahu will return to complacency, but not residents of Maui County, for whom the stakes are high.

For the record, below is a video of the discussion on the Senate floor, and so that Google will find it, a transcript prepared by Sally Kaye and used with her permission.  I want to thank Sally for the incredible investment of time that it took to do this, and for allowing Disappeared News to post it.

As to heroes on the Senate side, there are only three:  Senators Chun Oakland, Hee and Slom were the only ones to vote against this bill.When the rate increase hits the fan, all but these threee will be responsible for the damage.

Neighbor Island senators voted for the bill, which I’m sure will lead to some discussion back in their home districts.

Click on the thingy in the lower right for full screen.

Download 20120503 SB2785 Senate Comments from Disappeared News

Special bonus video

While waiting for the Senate session video to be processed by YouTube, this short but powerful statement was posted on line by IAlohaMolokai.com. Since they permit embedding, I’ve included it here.

Aloha – with reservations?

“Do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?” “Yes, with reservations.”

I think this video expresses the way many advocates may have felt at the conclusion of this legislative session after the passage of this and other damaging bills. It also expresses a commitment not to forget.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 5/06/2012 07:42:00 PM