Hawaiian Electric Co. customers spent a little more in August to keep on the lights, as bills continue to follow higher fuel prices.
The bill Opens in a new tab for a typical household using 500 kilowatt-hours on Oahu is $134.73 this month, $1.30 higher than what customers paid in July, when it was $133.43. The price per kilowatt-hour on Oahu was 24.9 cents, up from 24.7 cents in July.
HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg said bills were bumped up by the higher fuel costs.
The price of benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil has gone from below $30 a barrel in January to about $50 a barrel in June.
August’s bill continues a trend of increased electrical bills for the island due to the rising fuel prices. Over the past three months, the typical bill on Oahu is up $9.88.
The bill for a typical household on Oahu in July was $4.09 higher than what customers paid in June. Oahu’s June bill was $4.49 higher than what customers paid in May, when the typical household bill was $124.85.
Hawaii has the highest electricity rates in the nation, due in part to the state’s use of imported oil for most of its power. Hawaii’s price of electricity is more than double the national average, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Hawaii’s residents paid an average of 26.87 cents a kilowatt-hour in May, while the national average was 12.80 cents in the same month, the most recent price available.
In 2015 oil made up roughly 71.1 percent of the energy mix of HECO on Oahu. Oil made up roughly 62.5 percent of the energy mix at Hawaiian Electric Light Co. on the Big Island and 73 percent of the energy mix at Maui Electric Co. HECO imports oil mainly from Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Other states use energy resources such as natural gas, hydroelectric power, coal or nuclear power.
Most of Oahu’s neighbor islands also saw an uptick in their electricity bills this month.
The residential rate for HELCO customers on Hawaii island was 30 cents a kilowatt-hour, up from
28.4 cents in July. The average bill this month for a household using 500 kilowatt-hours on the Big Island is $161.67, up from $153.85.
Maui customers paid 28.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, up from
27.7 cents in July. The average bill for a household using 500 kilowatt-hours is $149.89, up from $148.08, last month.
The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative increased its rate to 32.7 cents a kilowatt-hour in August, up from 32.1 cents a kilowatt-hour in July. The average bill for a household using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity, including a $10.58 customer base charge, is $174.08, up from $171.13.
Maui Electric Co. customers on Molokai using
400 kilowatt-hours of electricity are paying an average of $133.11, with an effective rate of 30.9 cents a kilowatt-hour, up from July, when the typical bill was $122.03.
On Lanai bills were down.
Those using 400 kilowatt-hours of electricity on Lanai are paying 32.1 cents a kilowatt-hour. Lanai residents are paying $138.17 in August, compared with $139.64 in July.
The typical customer bill on Lanai and Molokai is measured with electrical use at 400 kilowatt-hours due to lower energy use, HECO said.
Monthly bills include the cost for kilowatt-hours used plus other charges.
