Gasoline prices

[Cagary]

Rick said, "I drive like a local, slow and easy."

This is something you might notice when you arrive here. People do drive slower.

Let's say you are new to the area and you're not sure exactly which street to turn onto or which house you want to stop at, so you are driving a little slow. In southern California (and probably elsewhere on the mainland) there is no doubt that if you look in your rear view mirror, someone is going to be right on your tail and they are not going to be happy about your driving. Rarely is this the case around Puna and Hilo.

I remember being new and not knowing exactly where I was going and cringing when I looked in the rear view sure that some local would be right behind angry about the speed I was traveling at, but every time I looked, there wouldn't be anyone there. They had either gone around me or they stayed comfortably back and let me find where ever it was I was going without having to push me.

-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".

[sputnut]

Halfway between the towns of Ellisville and Fairview, IL. Corner of No and Where. (In the middle of the triangle between Macomb, Galesburg, and Canton. AKA Forgotonia.)
Thanks for all the great info!

comin' your way soon!

[sputnut]

Also, I have no problem with slow and easy, I have been on island time my whole life. People around here are always so uptight about everything, I look forward to the break.

comin' your way soon!

[birdmove]

There is a house on 6th and Makuu on the corner that was for sale for a while. It sold and the asking price was $69,900, and I think it probably sole for less. I think it was a 3 bed 2 bath. It needed all new windows, kitchen cabinets and kitchen appliances. I read the previous owners were renovating, removed the above items, and ran out of money. But a permitted house on an acre in Hawaii for under $70,000. I think someone got a nice deal.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[Wuzzerdad]

I grew up in Eville, if you know where that is you are from Southern Illinois []

I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
Mahalo
Rick

[ourdoc]

You can also check out http://www.heco.com/portal/site/heco/ for the prices. Last year average was 42.47 cents per kWh on the Big island.

[sputnut]

Our electric rates here in central Illinois are $4.66 summer, and $4.94 winter this year. check it out here... http://pluginillinois.org/fixedratebreakdownameren.aspx .. That might be why some on Punaweb complain about their electric rates. Your rates are about 9x our summer rate. (I use that because it's basically summer there year round) Our bill here is about $80-100 year round..electric dryer and fridge, lp everything else and no solar, this is Illinois.

comin' your way soon!

[Wuzzerdad]

Your rates are crazy cheap, ours is 11.5 summer and 4.9 winter in Iowa. I will gladly pay 10X more in Hawaii for less. Even the houses we have been looking at are less in Hawaii than here for compareable. And property taxes are 30% of here too. Even at 4.9 winter we had a couple of $400 plus bills. But we were heating around 90 to 100 degrees from ambient. We use all electric with propane for backup only if the power goes out. I am so sick of being sick and want the move to be over. We do have an 8Kw solar system, so the cost I am quoting is what we would pay if it were not offset with net metering. I will have solar in Hawaii too.

I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
Mahalo
Rick

[sputnut]

Oh, don't get me wrong, worth it to live in paradise. Also, I know what you mean about the housing costs, same here. Much of what we are finding in Hawaii is comparable to or even cheaper than what we have here, but here comes with stifling heat and humidity with tons of bugs 2-3 months a year, blistering cold and wind, many times with snow for 3 months a year, cold and damp and windy another 4 months of the year,weeks at a time not seeing the sun and of the 2-3 months left, still got bugs, all day rains and windy most of the time. In a good year, Illinois gets 20-30 really nice days a year, and even then you still have all the mosquito swarms and flies, gnats, chiggers, ticks, etc. On the bright side, you learn to appreciate it when you get them, even though they always seem to come on days you're working all day.
thus my signature says.....

comin' your way soon!

[unknownjulie]

I wanted to add something but dont want to hijack the thread, so I was thinking maybe somehow that the gas prices are related to airfares, and hence this was an applicable topic.
If you have medical problems here, you really need to be budgeting for flying back and forth to Oahu, or the mainland regularly. There are just a lot of things you really cant get here on the Big Island. Basic stuff, like broken bones are fine, or a thyroid disorder, or routine other problems- but for things like complex cancer or anything that might be rare- you will probably have to travel. Even the highrisk pregancy people have to go to Oahu. IT is just the way it is, and just expect it, and budget for it. There really isnt a trauma center here that I'm aware of either, so things that produce major injuries also might be handled differently here. There might be a delay as you are flown to another island. This could be lifethreatening unfortunately. It is just the reality. So, if you move here, just plan accordingly as well as you can. I am not even sure if something like a detached retina can be handled surgically "onisland".
The second point, is that the kids regularly have to fly back and forth to Oahu for competitions in sports, or acedemic stuff. Even the band kids get together with other kids from other islands. This is expensive!
So, I would say the gas prices for driving are not so high, but it's the gas prices for flying that can kill your budget here.