Ridiculous Electric Bill

[GeckoGeek]

meter reader was not even checking the meter

The question is how long had the meter reader not been checking? If he only missed a month, it would have been corrected the next month when the meter was read. If it had been going on for a longer period of time, then I'd be more concerned that the meter reader had been simply making up numbers rather then doing his/her job.

[Kaonohi]

The rates HAVE been increasing. HECO's bills include usage info for the past year. I submit a few details within a certain range:

Date kwh cost Rate/kwh
7-14-10 1022 261.53 0.2559001956947162426614481409002
9-14-10 851 223.90 0.26310223266745005875440658049354
2-10-11 864 235.30 0.27233796296296296296296296296296
5-11-11 823 250.82 0.30476306196840826245443499392467
7-14-11 821 268.20 0.32667478684531059683313032886724

Think they need more garbage in Kapolei? I recommend Mufi. His bulk should be good for a 5-cent reduction per kwh.

[lensperson]

The meter reading was routinely skipped in rural areas for several months at a time for many households.No wonder that the bills go up.

[craigwatanabe]

The meter reading was routinely skipped in rural areas for several months at a time for many households.No wonder that the bills go up.

when you say Paradise Park do you mean HPP in Keaau? I believe there is one meter reader on that route and that reader get's sick from time to time. When that happens, HELCO does an estimation of your reading which is allowable by the PUC. But in your case the estimation was in error. Like Gecko Geek implied, the next month there should have been a correction or at least a technician would have come out to inspect what happened.

[lensperson]

sorry for delay in response.
The Big Island is ,indeed, a very large island.
The meter readers have a very challenging assignment and sometimes things go astray or a family crisis erupts.
Forgiveness is a passive asset.

[Walkoff Balk]

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/b...129421203.html

Proof that the rates are too high.

[escondido100]

Due to many years of lobbyiing by helco, heco, meco et al. We Will end up with higher bills for us with every solar and pv and wind hookup we as consumers install in an effort to reduce our individual bills. Helco will raise rates to make up the diffrence. this is a hidden meaning to net metering here in hawaii. The electric utilities will never make less money when we install alternative energy.
While in theory we should all be for these renewable energy sources as long as heco and our govt allow this i am against these alternatives. You invest in solar my bill goes up. Pity the poor who cannot invest. Heco gets rich on the backs of hawaiis poorest.

[Walkoff Balk]

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/1...-rate-increase

Those regulators are still using their rubber stamp.

[Walkoff Balk]

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/2...ease-in-hawaii

We pay 3 times the national average rate.

[Amati]

The article states:

The U.S. Energy Information Administration says Hawaii residents paid an average of 36.6 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity in July. The national average is 12.6 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The most recent rate chart I could find posted online at HECO are from 2012:
Residential 35.10 OAHU
Residential 42.47 HAWAII ISLAND
Residential 38.71 MAUI
Residential 46.13 MOLOKAI
Residential 46.61 LANAI

Nowhere else comes close in the US, New York was the next highest state in 2012 at $18.32.

[Walkoff Balk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK_7NAE-rKE

This could be the slogan for HECO.

[Walkoff Balk]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...lls/ar-BBiU7fs

What would HECO say?

[Shredded Mango]

Likely auwe.

Solar combined with these batteries could really change the equation in Hawaii. It’s my understanding that HECO is not too happy about people with solar panels sending “excess" electricity back onto the grid.

Is that correct? That’s what I recently read anyway.

If these storage batteries really do pan out it will indeed be a game changer.

[Shredded Mango]

For reference us guys in Eugene pay this:

Residential service example
assumes energy consumption of 1,600 kWh:
Basic charge $20.00
Delivery charge
1,600 kWh x 2.560 cents
$40.96
Energy charge
First 800 kWh x 5.803 cents
Over 800 kWh x. 7.254 cents
$46.42
$58.03
Total electric bill $165.41

You folks in Hawaii don’t have to pay for heat or cooling so you save some bucks there.

[Amati]

http://wallethub.com/edu/most-least-...e-states/4833/

Here is a website that has total average energy costs (which include electric, gas, and fuel).

Average Monthly:
Rated as cheapest overall: Colorado $301 total
Rated as most expensive overall: Hawaii $451 total

Keep in mind that lower prices don’t always equate with lower costs, as consumption is a key determinant in the total amount of an energy bill. In places with scorching summer weather but cheaper electricity like Southern Louisiana, households might end up with higher out-of-pocket costs than those in energy-expensive Northern California, where the temperate climate keeps heating and cooling units idle most of the year.

The site has many charts that break down the costs in different ways. All said, Hawaii is the most expensive when looking at overall costs.

[Lockon]

I've bought an electric meter (a P3) and plugged in several devices for a week to get average measurements of my electrical usage.

I found that the biggest hog was my refrigerators. I have one outside and one indoors. Since I live alone, I consolidated the contents into one fridge and unplugged the one outside.

Second, I had a bad habit of leaving my AC chargers for all my devices connected to a live outlet. To resolve that, I consolidated all my chargers onto a power strip and turn it off when all the devices are fully charged.

Next, night time lighting. My interior lights were mostly a combination of incandescents and CFL's. I mulled over going with LED lighting for a while then went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of 60 watt CREE bulbs and replaced everything with them. I chose the Daylight version which is brighter (opposite of the warm orange lighting) and noticed it's much better than the CFL's.

Finally my computers were all mostly permanently plugged into the wall and I also put them on power strips. I don't use desktops anymore so it all works out. I cycle the battery on each laptop so they don't remain 100% charged all the time (to get the most life out of the batteries).

Bottom line: Unplug anything that doesn't need power or put them on power strips so you can do so with a single flip of a switch.

[Walkoff Balk]

http://khon2.com/2015/11/13/hawaiian...-of-use-rates/

Good or Sneaky?

[GeckoGeek]

http://khon2.com/2015/11/13/hawaiian...-of-use-rates/

Good or Sneaky?

Reality. Since we're putting so many eggs into the solar basket, it makes sense to try and move usage to the daylight hours. I can already hear the screams about how it's favoring business over residential, but the facts are we work in the daylight hours and we're usually at home during the night. And that's just the way solar works.

If you do the math, (at least for Oahu) the new rate is a couple of cents cheaper for something that takes power around the clock. The PUC isn't going to allow HEI to make a killer profit. If you can throw a timer on things and shift your usage to the cheap hours, you'll probably come out ahead. And that's exactly what HEI wants you to do.

The ones who are going to hurt are the ones who take evening showers and have a tankless water heater.

[Walkoff Balk]

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2021/0...led-pay-bills/

People had to stay at home for a period of months.