January will be the fourth consecutive month Oahu customers will see a reduced electric bill, as the typical customer will pay $10 less due to tumbling fuel prices.
The bill for a typical household using 600 kilowatt-hours on Oahu will be $187.22 in January, down $10.10 from December, according to Hawaiian Electric Co., the state’s largest utility provider with service to Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island.
This month marks the lowest bill Oahu has seen in four years, since residents paid an average $181.44 in April 2011.
"Generally speaking, the drop has been due to the drop of oil prices," said Darren Pai, HECO spokesman. As the cost of oil has gone down, the fuel portion of the bill has shrunk, he said.
Makiki resident Breanna Becker, 25, said she was excited prices were going down but was unsure how long the lower bills will last.
"You never know with gas prices," Becker said. "They are always up and down, up and down."
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FALLING COSTS
This month marks the lowest typical household bill since April 2011:
This month: $187.22
Recent high: $219.03 (December 2011)
Previous low: $181.44 (April 2011)
Source: Hawaiian Electric Co.
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Hawaii’s electricity price is still nearly three times the national average in part because most of Hawaii’s power comes from burning high-priced fuel. Other states use natural gas, hydropower or nuclear power to keep their costs low.
Hawaii residents paid an average of 36.41 cents a kilowatt-hour in October compared with the national average of 12.58 cents, according to the latest figures available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The state’s utilities — HECO, Hawaii Electric Light Co., Maui Electric Co. and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative — adjust rates monthly to reflect changes in their fuel costs and the prices they pay for electricity purchased from independent power producers.
HECO gets most of its electrical power from oil imported mainly from Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The price of oil has fallen by more than half the past six months. On Friday, West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $48.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Reflecting the decrease in oil prices, the January electricity rate on Oahu fell to 29.5 cents per kilowatt-hour from 31.2 cents a kilowatt-hour in December.
Residents on Oahu’s neighboring islands will also see a drop in their electricity bills in January. Maui Electric Co. customers using 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity will pay $220.24, down from $226.39 in December.
Hawaii Electric Light Co.’s residential rate on Hawaii island decreased to 35.9 cents a kilowatt-hour from 37.7 cents in December. The bill for a household using 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity is $227.20, down from $236.55.
Despite recent price reductions, breaking Hawaii’s dependence on oil remains a primary goal for the utility due to the industry’s history of fickle prices, Pai said.
"It’s good news for customers, because the cost of the fuel is such a big component of customers’ electrical bill, but when the cost of oil goes up, the customer bill goes up," Pai said. "We continue to do whatever we can to break our dependence on oil."
HECO has more than 450,000 residential and commercial customers — 300,000 on Oahu, 70,000 on Maui and 80,000 on Hawaii island.
KIUC is a member-owned cooperative that serves 33,000 customers. On Kauai the rate this month is 34.10 cents a kilowatt-hour compared with 36.31 cents in December. The bill for a household using 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity is $204.63, down from $217.86.
The average HECO bill includes taxes and service fees, while the Kauai number is calculated only on the base electricity rate.
Average monthly usage varies by island, but the 600-kilowatt-hour number is used to make comparisons.
