Price of oil

[jerry]

Among other things Helco claims that the reason the electric rate here is so high has to do with the price of oil. But what do they pay? What is the cost on Oahu? How about for mainland utilities?

I have been trying to find this information and so far not come up with anything. Anyone know where to find this?

Thanks

Jerry
Art and Orchids B&B
http://www.artandorchids.com

[Carey]

Jerry,
Kohala center did an extensive research on this almost 5 years ago:
http://www.kohalacenter.org/pdf/analysis...ations.pdf

(The presentations of this report were years ago, but I seem to remember some of the discrepancy was in the different grade oils used at different production areas & different long term contract pricing that each of the companies have...but this is in the waayy dusty memory bins..)

For research geeks, Kohala Center has a nice inventory of on-line research work:
http://www.kohalacenter.org/research.html

I am not sure there are many mainland production facilities that are totally generating on fuel oils...Coal would seem to be the more economical Fossil Fuel... I would think fuel oils are mainly used in peaker production arenas that lack NG connectivity... and I would not think many electrical production companies utilize the same generators like the one at the Shipman site!

You may want to see if they have more updated info

Also, if you have not gotten the answers from HI, you may need to contact the PUC
http://puc.hawaii.gov/
This is an older PUC report:
http://puc.hawaii.gov/industries/Energy/...Prices.pdf

[DanielP]

I seem to recall that part of the cost relates to the cost of building new oil-fired power plants several years back.
For the life of me, I cannot understand why there are not more geothermal projects in the works.

Dan

[whalesong]

I have been trying to find this information and so far not come up with anything. Anyone know where to find this?


We are the highest in the nation!
Here's the information you are looking for state by state!

http://www.electricchoice.com/electricit...-state.php

[/quote]

[opihikao]

Hope this helps (article dated: 9/7/11 - lots more info at link): (*Snipped)

14. Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and Maui Electric Company (MECO) consumed a total of 14,871 barrels of biodiesel oil in June 2011. [b]The average cost per barrel of biodiesel oil consumed was $159.77. HECO reported the cost of biodiesel oil per kWh generated in June 2011 was $0.630. The year-to-date (January to June) of biodiesel oil consumed was 54,921 barrels. The year-to-date average cost of a barrel of biodiesel oil was $163.96.

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/hawaiis-mo...t-2011/123

Also, (mind bending for me), but perhaps helpful to some: HECO's Final Fuel Price Forecast: 2008-2030:

http://www.heco.com/vcmcontent/Integrate...102008.pdf


Last, interesting article re:HELCO Pricing: (*snipped)

"Exhibit N to the Application used HELCO's February 2010 Fuel Price Forecast to apply a year 2015 petroleum diesel reference forecast of [dollar amont blotted out in letter] per barrel ([dollar amount blotted out in letter] per gallon) for purposes of the Application's incremental cost calculation. The July 2011 actual summary fuel price of HELCO's petroleum diesel is [dollar amont blotted out in letter] per barrel [dollar amont blotted out from public] per gallon). Thus, HELCO's actual July 2011 petroleum diesel price has already exceeded the 2015 petroleum diesel forecast price.

http://www.ecoeffectradio.org/radio-gues...price.html

[tada]

I speculate that heco paying the higher priced Brent "benchmark" price rather than the Wall Street & US-centric WTI benchmark-

http://www.jeffrubinssmallerworld.com/20...il-prices/


Heco could switch to nat gas which is extremely cheap due to the fracking technology though i understand to ship it to Hawaii entail liquifying to -60 degrees and compressing it into thick-walled tanks and building out more infrastucture on the docks. Think of all the protests about how it's going to blow up the harbor plus where they going to get the other kind gas refined from oil to run the cars?

[macuu222]

Now rates are going up again because too many people are using solar!!

http://www.staradvertiser.com/s?action=login&f=y&id=138763524

[Bullwinkle]

Betting on the utilities (mostly)a good play if one is an investor, usually not the case if one is a consumer.

Oil must expected to be going up - airfares rising too......

[Obie]

I spend part of the year in Ohio.We have an electric coop there and of course our rates are very low.

http://www.cecpower.coop/about-carroll-e...-power.php

http://www.cecpower.coop/cec-member-serv...-costs.php