Oahu customers’ February electric bills will be the lowest they’ve been in four years, as plummeting oil prices continue to cut the cost of power.

The bill for a typical household using 600 kilowatt-hours on Oahu will be $177.45 in February, down $9.77 from January, according to Hawaiian Electric Co., the state’s largest utility provider with service to Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island. The price per kilowatt-hour dropped to 27.9 cents this month, down from 29.5 cents in January.

The decrease follows a $10.10 drop in bills in January from December. February marks the lowest electricity rate Oahu customers have paid since March 2011 when the rate was also 27.9 cents per kilowatt-hour for a typical bill of $175.46.

Temple Valley resident Rhonda Sato, 63, said she expected her electric bill to follow the decreasing oil prices.

"It’s not a big surprise. You would expect anything related to oil to go down," Sato said. "I’m sure it will go back up again."

February’s typical rate is a 20 percent decrease from the highest electricity rate customers paid in the last four years. Oahu residents paid 35.1 cents per kilowatt-hour in December 2011.

The 20 percent decline is the same amount HECO said in August it plans to cut electric bills over the next 15 years.

The lower fuel prices will not replace the utility’s plans for customer bills for 2030, said Peter Rosegg, HECO spokesman.

"When we set that goal of 20 percent reduction in customer bills in the energy plans we filed last August, it was not based on anticipated declining oil prices," Rosegg said. "Our plan is to lower electric bills by 2030 in a comprehensive way."

Despite the current benefits customers are seeing from the falling oil prices, HECO is still set on cutting its use of oil.

"We’ve seen oil prices drop before, only to rise again," said Jim Alberts, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president of customer service. "Today’s lower oil prices must not distract us from reducing our dependency on imported oil."

Hawaii has the highest electricity rates in the nation, in large part because it depends on imported oil for most of its power. Other states use natural gas, hydro­electric power or nuclear power to keep costs low.

The latest data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that Hawaii’s electricity price is still nearly three times the national average.

Hawaii residents paid an average of 35.06 cents a kilowatt-hour in November compared with the national average of 12.46 cents.

HECO gets most of its power from oil imported mainly from Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The price of oil has fallen by more than half in the past six months. On Wednesday, the benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $49.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Neighbor island customers will also see a benefit from current fuel prices as February electricity bills experience a double-digit drop. Maui Electric Co. customers using 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity will see a $21.46 lower bill from last month. Maui customers will pay an average of $198.78, down from $220.24 in January.

Hawaii Electric Light Co.’s residential rate on Hawaii island decreased to 33.8 cents a kilowatt-hour from 35.9 cents in January. The bill for a household using 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity is $214.71, down from $227.20.

The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative cut its price to 30.8 cents a kilowatt-hour compared with 34.10 cents in January. The bill for a household using 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity is $195.38, down from $204.63.

Average monthly usage varies by island, but the 600-kilowatt-hour number is used to make comparisons. Monthly bills include the cost for kilowatt-hours used plus various other charges.