The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has found a "qualitative assessment" of the external costs associated with supply options sufficient to approve an initial integrated resource plan (IRP) for Hawaii Electric Light Co., Inc. While it found "substantial uncertainty and disagreement" among experts as to the proper quantification and valuation of externalities as well as the appropriateness of cost adders in ranking resource options, the PUC said it expected the utility to quantify externalities in subsequent IRP cycles.
In the same decision, the PUC approved demand-side management (DSM) lost-margin and shareholder-recovery mechanisms for the utility. It rejected a proposal by a natural gas distribution company to require the electric utility to consider fuel-substitution programs as DSM options. The PUC concluded that electric and gas utilities can implement effective DSM programs "without the complication of involving each other's shareholders and ratepayers in the process." Re Hawaii Electric Light Co., Inc., Docket No. 7259, May 29, 1996 (Haw.P.U.C.).
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