Hawaiian Electric Co.’s business customers can save thousands of dollars a year on their electrical bills by participating in a new program that allows the utility to turn off power to nonessential facilities on short notice during critical energy situations.

Businesses that sign up for the Fast Demand Response program will receive a monthly credit whether or not their power is turned off, HECO said Thursday. They will receive an additional per-kilowatt-hour credit if their power actually is interrupted.

HECO officials said the program is designed to help the utility maintain the reliability of its electrical distribution system as it adds more renewable energy to the grid.

"With Fast DR our commercial customers have another tool to help manage their electricity costs while helping reduce Hawaii’s dependence on expensive and volatile imported oil," said Scott Seu, HECO vice president for Energy Resources.

Fast DR participants will receive $5 per month for each kilowatt of power they are willing to have temporarily turned off. The program is open to commercial users willing to offer a minimum of 50 kilowatts of power to be available for interruption.

For example, a business willing to turn off equipment that normally requires 50 kilowatts of power would receive a minimum of $250 a month credit on its bill. An additional 50 cents per kilowatt-hour is paid when a Fast DR event occurs, based on energy not consumed compared with energy the customer would normally have used.

Equipment that could be part of the program includes air conditioning, certain lighting or signage, fountains, saunas, swimming pool pumps and excess elevators or escalators, according to HECO.

Fast DR allows HECO to quickly reduce demand until additional generating units are brought online, whenever output drops from renewable sources such as solar and wind.

Temporarily reducing electricity demand can also postpone the need to bring additional conventional generating units online, helping reduce overall energy costs and dependence on imported oil, HECO said.

Customers always have the option not to participate in a specific demand-response event, HECO added.