Clarity is required in gasoline pricing information

Considering this is a first-time undertaking, problems are likely to arise as the state receives reports from oil companies on the numerous factors that affect gasoline pricing and turns the data around to present to consumers.

No doubt it is a complicated process, but the information must be conveyed in a way that the public can easily interpret. Otherwise, the effort will become another exercise in frustration for both consumers and the oil industry.

Oil companies this week were set to start filing with the Public Utilities Commission reports on prices, imports, exports and other details about their operations, as required by a law passed last year. The law followed the repeal of the state's price cap on wholesale gasoline that had consumers confused and prices fluctuating because of the cap's ties to markets made volatile by Hurricane Katrina and other world events.

Implementation of the law was delayed when the state Legislature failed to adequately fund what is called the Petroleum Industry Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting program. With that corrected, the program is supposed to provide "transparency" with oil and industry-related companies reporting a host of data on their costs for as many as 18 different products, such as diesel, jet fuel and propane, through the supply chains, and their weekly gross margins.

The Star-Bulletin's B.J. Reyes reported that the form companies must fill out runs 15 pages with 26 pages of accompanying instructions. Companies also have to provide documents to support data.

The PUC will review the forms and analyze the information, but it has yet to determine what it can put out publicly while still protecting the oil companies' confidentiality. Proprietary data should be shielded. However, the purpose of the law is to give consumers enough information to gauge whether prices and profits are proportionate and reasonable. If the information is unclear or too skimpy, consumers will have reason to suspect they are being gouged and that oil companies are obscuring margins.

The law comes into play just as the average price for gasoline in Hawaii on Monday reached a nationwide high with island drivers paying 47 cents over the mainland average. It is this chronic situation that has bedeviled Hawaii consumers and led to the program.