Oahu electric rates flat this month

Residential electricity rates will hold fairly steady on Oahu this month, while falling on Maui and the Big Island, and rising on Kauai.

Hawaiian Electric Co. said the typical customer on Oahu using 600 kilowatt-hours will pay $160.74 in September, compared with $160.41 in August.

The effective rate for electricity in Honolulu will inch up to 25.27 cents per kilowatt-hour from the 25.21 cents charged last month.

Elsewhere:

» Maui customers will see their rates drop to 21.88 cents from 22.01 cents in August.
» Big Island residential rates will fall to 32.83 cents per kilowatt-hour from 33.99 cents.
» Kauai Island Utility Cooperative’s September rate is 34.43 cents, up from 33.96 cents last month.

The rates are adjusted each month to account for movements in fuel prices and do not represent changes to the base rate.

Hawaiian Air first in service again

Hawaiian Airlines was the nation’s top-ranked carrier in July for on-time performance, fewest flight cancellations and best baggage handling, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Hawaiian had an industry-best 94.7 percent of its flights on time in July, beating the industry average by 18 percentage points. The airline had just two cancellations out of 6,392 flights, and 1.69 mishandled bag reports for every 1,000 passengers served.

The DOT report covers 18 airlines, including eight carriers providing service to Hawaii.

Hawaii credit card debt falls 8%

A national customer survey of a free credit-management service said its Hawaii credit card holders reduced their balances by 8 percent on average between January and August.

Despite the decline, the average balance in Hawaii was second highest among states, at $9,027, after Alaska’s $9,125.

The company, Credit Karma, said card balances nationally decreased 3 percent to $7,694 based on its survey of 134,700 customers.

OSHA opens office in Honolulu

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an office in Honolulu, its first in the state.

"With the new area office in Honolulu, we will improve service to workers and employers in Hawaii and enhance our coordination and oversight with the state plan," said Ken Nishiyama Atha, OSHA’s regional administrator in San Francisco.

Galen Lemke, a 15-year OSHA veteran, is the area director of the new office, located at 300 Ala Moana Blvd.

Lemke, an industrial hygienist, has served on several national work groups for OSHA and as assistant area director for the Madison, Wis., office. The phone number for the new office is 541-2680.

On the Move

Roy Yamaguchi, founder of Roy’s Restaurants, is among 11 travel and tourism industry leaders appointed to the board of directors of the Corporation for Travel Promotion by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

TD Food Group has announced the following promotions: Jay Togo to restaurant general manager of the Waipio Pizza Hut from assistant restaurant general manager, and John Ishii to restaurant general manager of the Kalaheo Pizza Hut from assistant manager in charge.

Johnson Controls Hawaii Branch has named Derick Wurst as systems associate sales engineer. He has more than 25 years of electronic security experience, including working for Sensormatic Hawaii and Alert Alarm of Hawaii.

Distributed Energy Partners has hired Chris Carbonella as commercial construction manager. He has 10 years of engineering and project management experience, including operations manager and system designer at Whidbey Sun & Wind in Coupeville, Wash.