Hawaiian Electric bills drop across Hawaii, Maui, Lanai and Molokai alongside oil prices

As oil prices see their first significant drop since the spring, Hawaiian Electric announced last week that its customers on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai would all get lowered rates in September.

Oahu may have similarly benefitted, save for the closure of the AES coal-fired power plant. That closure brought less of a bill impact than expected but will still lead to a rise of approximately $9 per month, or about 4 percent, for residential customers. Commercial customers will see rates rise about 2 cents per kilowatt hour.

The AES facility was the last coal-fired power plant in Hawaii for electricity and one of the state’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases. It first entered service in 1992, operating through a 30-year power purchase contract between Hawaiian Electric and AES Corp. That contract ended early, on Sept. 1, 2022, in response to the Hawaiian government’s outlawing continued coal use in 2020. With the end of its run, some 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses should go with it.

Everywhere else will experience price drops. On Hawaii island, prices should fall by $16 per month (6 percent). Similarly, Maui bills should fall by $11 (5 percent), Molokai $34 (14 percent), and Lanai $22 (9 percent). Even on Oahu, though, the lowered oil prices and the addition of the Clearway Mililani I 39 MW solar project will help prices, with the latter offering power at less than a third the cost of oil.

That said, Hawaiian Electric noted that typical bills on all islands remain higher than in March, before oil prices surged.