Senate committee moves to study wildfire recovery fund, delays liability cap decision

The Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection on March 20 amended HB 982 HD3 — originally proposing a wildfire recovery fund and liability cap for utilities — to remove the bill’s substantive funding and cap language and direct a study and working group to examine how a fund and any liability limits should be structured.

Hawaiian Electric (HECO) testified in support of measures that would address “unbounded wildfire liability” and urged lawmakers to consider a wildfire recovery fund coupled with a liability limit as a way to restore the utility’s credit standing and reduce financing costs. HECO told the committee it has committed to pay its roughly $2 billion share of a global settlement and that unlimited future wildfire liability raises the utility’s cost of capital, increasing costs for customers. “We continue to believe that the existence of a wildfire recovery fund coupled with a limitation on liability provides significant benefits and represents…