A party is everyone formally included in a docketed proceeding as defined in Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 91-1. Parties have specific rights in a PUC proceeding and must adhere to certain requirements, such as formally responding to questions from other parties. Parties usually have a broader range of privileges in a PUC proceeding, compared to participants or the general public. Parties or participants in PUC docketed proceedings consist of the applicant and the Consumer Advocate, and may also include stakeholders or other interested members of the public who have moved to intervene or participate.
An intervenor is an organization or individual which has for and been granted approval from the PUC to formally intervene in a docketed proceeding and receives party status pursuant to Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR) Section 16-601-55.
A participant is an organization or individual with a limited interest in a proceeding which has moved for and been granted participant status from the PUC pursuant to HAR Section 16-601-56. Participants as established by order of the Commission. This is also known as participation without intervention.
For more information on intervention and participation without intervention, see HAR Section 16-601-55 and 56.