Hawaiian Electric rates highest in nation

[macuu222]

Tell me something that I don't already know!! "I wish" my electric bill for 600 KH was $182.00!! It's more like $282.00 here

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/articl...10354/1001

[dcl]

Is Oahu really that much less than the Big Island? " The electric bill for a typical O'ahu household that uses 600 kilowatt-hours each month was $182.01 this month, down $14.51 from October" - my rates are like 45% more here.

[kimo wires]

The rates are outrageous. Just think of how much your bill would be if you had to use heat and air conditioning all the time. The rates are even higher if you are still on a Temp pole. And lots of people are still on temp power long after their houses are done. It pays to get a reliable electrician so you can actually get past your final.

One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.

[gtill]

Welcome to the great experiment towards "self sufficiency". With each new tech for clean production comes a very high electric bill to sustain such production.
Plus those high rollers who can afford a real HELCO approved solar set up for say 40K, with a certain payoff date, to lower rates would extend that date way out, which wouldn't be fair to the buyers.
To further tighten their control, DIY solar is now banned in your house. Pretty soon restrictions will arise where any power production is totally banned, without HELCO getting their cut.

[Kelena]

Why do you say that DIY solar is "banned"? I can't put up my own solar array?

[bystander]

You can DIY but you won't be getting any subsidy or tax breaks unless installed by an approved contractor.

[Kelena]

Anybody know what the cost of labor for going solar is as a percentage of the project?

[gtill]

I'm pretty sure it has been banned for water heating, I should have made it clearer. Also, isn't a contractor necessary for any work on your wiring or pipes, certainly would be if adding a bathroom, what's the difference between an addition and a splice into your system, pipe or wire.
Also does anyone know if a seperate 12V wiring system would be legal in your house, stand alone type, with battery backup?

[kani-lehua]

i can't even get in touch with HELCO from o'ahu this morning to switch over services to our new property. their number continues to be busy.

"chaos reigns within.
reflect, repent and reboot.
order shall return."

microsoft error message with haiku poetry

[Hotzcatz]

quote:

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Originally posted by gtill

<SNIP>
Also does anyone know if a separate 12V wiring system would be legal in your house, stand alone type, with battery backup?

---

Check into the new solar tech, GTill, most of the solar powered houses are wired with regular house wiring just like any other house and the inverter changes the 12V power to household 110V AC. The new inverters don't lose anywhere near the amount of power the old ones did so this has become the new method. The lower the voltage the bigger the wire to keep line losses low and with the price of copper wire these days, wiring a house for 12V would be extremely expensive.

To prepare a house to be off the grid, install a non-electric stove & water heater. Add in a lot of windows for lighting and ventilation. Some of those "Sola-tube" skylights add a lot of light to the interior of a house. Change out all the light bulbs to curly bulbs or LED bulbs. Put "off" wall switches on the power outlets for electronics so you can shut all the power off to the TV/printer/computer since those like to be on "hibernate" and continue to use power unless you can completely disconnect them. You can do all these things to save power even if you are connected to the grid, but they should be done if you are going to disconnect from the grid so you can run your house on a small enough system that will be affordable.