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Follow-up to earlier topic on HELLco.
The years we have lived here, HECO has never been serious about lowering rates, we need to break this monopoly.
Excellent article by Malia Zimmerman for Hawaii Reporter 7/18/14
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/hawaiis-hi...nopoly/123
If this info. is accurate, largest company by revenue in Hawaii is HEI at $3.23 Billion.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govb...ery-state/
WP updated article includes the corrections from Broadview Networks.
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We do not have the political will in Honolulu to tackle HEI. They are too well connected and are experts at bribery.
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I realize that facts and numbers don't carry a lot of weight on some of these topics, but if anyone ranting about HELCO would care to look at the rates - see schedule R below.
SCHEDULE 'R' -- RESIDENTIAL
Customer charge, per customer per month
Single phase service $9.00
Three phase service $18.00
Energy charge (added to customer charge) - per kWh
First 350 kWhr per month· $0.342254
Next 850 kWhr per month - per kWhr $0.353789
All kWhr over 1,200 kWhr per month - per kWhr $0.372563
Minimum charge, per customer per month $17.00/$23.00
Various demand and other charges add about $0.10 per kwh to these rates.
Now compare that to the rates charged by the Kauai Cooperative:
SCHEDULE "D" - RESIDENTIAL
-Customer charge (per Customer, per month) $10.58
-All kWh per month (add to customer charge) $0.42038
-The minimum monthly charge shall be $13.50
So the terrible, monopolistic HELCO is charging a grand ~$0.02/kwh (to their lowest demand customers) more than a cooperative on an island with less than a quarter of the land area and commensurately lower maintenance costs.
Please, get over it - invest in a clothesline, learn to conserve, and your life will be much happier...
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However, they are paying less than 5% in dividends to shareholders. Shipping all that oil can't be cheap.
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These recent articles have just been opinion pieces, if you examine the author and they cite as references.
This is not that difficult to understand (although it continues to be impossible to understand for some people). For the islands as an average, 90% of the electricity still comes from fossil fuel oil fired electric plants. On Hawaii island, over 50% still comes from fossil fuel fired electric plants. Argue all you want that this is "sludge oil" left after distillation, the HECO website states very clearly the rate is tied to the price of a barrel of oil.
Knowing this, the part of your bill that comes from oil fired plants comes out to be about 80 cents to $1.00 per kilowatt-hour. The average that HELCO charges is 42 cents per kilowatt-hour. It is this much lower due to alternative energies being added in. Otherwise, your bill would be twice what it is now.
Yes, Kauai is not part of the "monopoly", they are a co-op and their electric rate is virtually the same as HELCO, even when Kauai is going to 50% solar PV. It's becoming extremely obvious that people that failed 8th grade science probably also failed 8th grad math, so they will never understand the arithmetic that can be used on a rate bill to determine the rate breakdown.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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The more people who go solar, the cheaper it will be and faster the technology will progress. I don't know why we even sweat these big corporations at all. There are always other options and at this moment in history ,there are tons of options that offer independence but people still get out there and fight for dependance. If you don't like HELCO go off grid, simple as that. They are not going to lower prices. That's not the "american way".
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Question here. I thought the energy charge was always pegged to the cost of oil regardless of source or is it truly a blended rate from all sources?
I thought this was to encourage green energy production by giving "green" energy producers a handout/subsidy (with your electric bill money) aligned with higher oil rates of course deliberately not saving the end consumer money.
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Helco stopped using bunker oil in 2012 or so because the friendly folks at the EPA told them they had too many emissions. They had to go to more expensive diesel fuel instead.
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As long as HELCO uses their expensive and antiquated grid transmission system, they have control no matter what the source.
The best way to change the status quo is to unhook from the grid and produce your own power. This, of course, makes it more expensive for people still tied to the grid; causing more and more folks to unhook.
The current system is a dinosaur headed for extinction. Power technology is developing exponentially. Look for fuel cell and other power technologies to become more available and affordable. Look for obsolete, expensive, and vulnerable grid transmission systems to disappear.
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Without close scrutiny of the PUC and their collusion with vested interests that generally exclude or run contrary to public interest,no meaningful change as regards the public in general will ever occur.
As well the power that Abercrombi holds with the ability to appoint members makes meaningful change impossible.
