Hawaiian Electric will not hike rates on Oahu customers due to COVID-19 pandemic
With the blessing of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Hawaiian Electric announced last week that it will not raise its rates on Oahu customers to offset the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic struck, Hawaiian Electric had filed for a 4.1 percent increase in revenues — $77.5 million — in August 2019. Those plans were scrapped as the economic hits caused by the disease began to mount among residents and businesses, resulting in the company cutting its request to zero in the spring.
However, this has not changed Hawaiian Electric’s plans for upgrades to the grid and the incorporation of additional renewable energy. Originally, the rate hike was supposed to pay for this, but investments in both updates and maintenance continue unabated.
As the base rate has not changed, but oil prices have fallen, a monthly bill for a typical residential customer on Oahu using 500 kW hours actually tumbled year-over-year to $139.36 this month as opposed to the $153.64 it had been at the same time last year.
