ACT 258

On May 2, 2025, the Hawaii Legislature passed Act 258 which:

  1. Authorizes electric utilities to securitize up to $500 million for infrastructure resilience costs, allows electric cooperatives to recover wildfire mitigation, repair, and restoration costs through an automatic rate adjustment or other mechanism;
  2. Requires the PUC to initiate a proceeding for the adoption of rules, subject to the Governor’s approval, to determine an aggregate limit for liability for economic damages from a covered catastrophic wildfire; and
  3. Requires the PUC to conduct studies on whether the framework established in [SB 897] adequately balances electric utility interests and compensation owed to catastrophic wildfire victims and on the establishment and implementation of a wildfire recovery fund and report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature.

Pursuant to Act 258, the PUC submitted the Wildfire Recovery Fund Study to the Legislature on December 31, 2025 ahead of the 2026 Legislative session. For more information, please visit the Wildfire Recovery Fund Study page.

Separately, the PUC is developing draft rules limiting electric utility liability for economic damages from future covered catastrophic wildfires. For more information, please visit the Liability Cap Rulemaking page.

Regarding the securitization portion of Act 258, Hawaiian Electric has stated that a securitization application filing with the PUC pursuant to this statutory authorization is forthcoming. For more information on wildfire mitigation cost recovery, please visit the Wildfire Mitigation Plans page.

MORE INFORMATION

See related Commission pages:

Updated 4/2026