Gas cap breeds
isle confusion

Lawmakers think the PUC
should help educate the public

Between going to work, attending classes at Chaminade University and visiting her boyfriend on the North Shore, Vanessa Pieper estimates she drives about 80 miles a day.

While she hears others quibbling over escalating retail fuel costs and talk of the state's new cap on wholesale gasoline prices, Pieper sees only one solution to satisfying her vehicle's need for gas: "Look for the cheapest place."

Many other Hawaii motorists seem equally dismissive or just confused by the new law placing a pretax limit on the amount wholesalers can charge for a gallon of unleaded gas.

Unlike Hawaii's bottle deposit law that went into effect at the start of the year, the gas cap law took effect on Sept. 1 with no advertising campaign to tell the public how it works or what it's intended to do.

While the bottle law requires public participation for it to work, the functioning of the gas cap law is left to the wholesalers, with oversight by the state government.

But some local motorists have voiced frustration that lawmakers and the state didn't make a bigger effort to share the details of a plan that could impact their wallets.

"Even at work we're saying, 'What's so good about the gas cap?'" said MaryJean Bassett, who works in the payroll division of her company in Honolulu.

Bassett said she'd like to see the state issue a guide to the law explaining how the cap is intended to function, followed by regular reviews informing the public about whether it is working.

The new law breaks the state into eight regional zones, with each getting their own weekly price cap based on a five-day average of wholesale prices in three mainland markets -- Los Angeles, New York and the Gulf Coast.

For example, until Monday the wholesale cap in Hilo is $2.53. But that's before taxes and the dealer markup. So as of Friday the retail price of a gallon of unleaded in Hilo was $3.25, according to AAA.

The law was aimed at addressing an apparent lack of competition in the wholesale market in Hawaii, where there are only two refineries and local consumers have long paid among the highest prices in the nation.

But the preamble to the bill that became law also stated that it was not meant "to guarantee lower gasoline prices."

And low prices remain elusive in the islands.

After spending a brief, initial period under the cap in the middle of the pack as fuel costs soared on the mainland following Hurricane Katrina, Hawaii has regained its position as the state with the most expensive gas in the nation.

Advocates of the gas cap have cautioned that mainland markets are still too chaotic and the cap still too young to issue a verdict on what value the new law will have for Hawaii motorists.

Legislators have been depending on the media and the state Public Utilities Commission, which sets the weekly caps, to help educate the public, said Sen. Ron Menor, a chief architect of the law.

Few residents attended public meetings held by the commission this summer throughout the islands, said Menor (D, Mililani).

Menor said he'd like the Legislature to work with the commission on producing brochures and flyers explaining the gas pricing law to the public.

"Now that the law has been implemented and ... the public is more aware about the gas price regulation, perhaps it would be more helpful to have the commission go out to the communities again and do another round of statewide hearings," he said.

But the confusion over the new law isn't necessarily because of its complexities, said Ira Rohter, a professor of political science at University of Hawaii.

American young people exist in a bubble of cell phones and Apple iPods, and people in the nation in general tend not to pay attention to the news until something happens, he said.

In the absence of a solid public awareness campaign by the Democrats who supported the gas cap, Republicans, including Gov. Linda Lingle, and other opponents of the law have come out strong, he said.

The result for a public is, thus, befuddlement.

"So the Republicans are playing this one well," he said.

But for Alice Thomas of Kailua, it's not about Republicans or Democrats. She said she has simply surrendered to the beliefs that Hawaii gas prices will go up under the cap and politicians will do whatever they want to do.

Yet Thomas, who is a state worker, said she's not frustrated.

"I'm resigned to the way that life is. And I'm not going to have any emotions about it," she said.

GAS CAP HELP How to contact the state about Hawaii's gas cap law: Public Utilities Commission www.hawaii.gov/budget/puc/gaspricecaps Commerce and Consumer Affairs www.gascap.hawaii.gov Hotlines for consumers: 586-2769, on Oahu; (800) 830-4295, toll-free, from neighbor islands. Business, Economic Development & Tourism www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/ert/gasoline/gasoline.html Hotline for owners and operators of gas stations: 586-2752 E-mail: gasoline@dbedt.hawaii.gov AAA Fuel Gauge Report: www.fuelgaugereport.com