Hawaiian Electric Co. has signed up its first customer for a program that gives businesses a break on their power bill if they give HECO permission to turn off power to nonessential facilities on short notice during critical energy situations.

The owners of Pacific Park Plaza, an office building on Kapiolani Boulevard, said participating HECO’s Fast DR program is one of several initiatives they are pursuing as part of a plan to improve the efficiency of the building.

Fast DR participants receive $5 a kilowatt per month with a minimum of 50 kilowatts whether or not a DR event is triggered. For example, a business that is willing to turn off equipment that normally requires 50 kilowatts of power would receive a credit of $250 a month, or $3,000 for an entire year. An additional incentive of 50 cents a kilowatt hour is paid when a DR event occurs, based on energy not consumed compared to energy the customer would have normally used.

The program is designed to help HECO maintain the reliability of its electrical distribution system as it adds more renewable energy to the grid, the company said in a news release.