Residential electricity rates in Hawaii average 37.34¢/kWh, which ranks the state 1st in the nation.
The Nation average is 11.88¢/kWh.
It is 7.34¢/kWh in PA.

The average residential electricity rate of 37.34¢/kWh in HI is 214.31% greater than the national average residential rate of 11.88¢/kWh.



PRICES DOES NOT INCLUDE TAXES AND OTHER SURCHARGES !!!!!!

We have a warehouse in an Industrial area and is paying

The average industrial electricity rate in .................. is 1.35¢/kWh.
This average (industrial) electricity rate in ................is 81.33% less than the Pennsylvania average rate of 7.23¢/kWh.
The average (industrial) electricity rate in ................is 79.76% less than the national average rate of 6.67¢/kWh.   
Industrial rates in the U.S. range from 4.13¢/kWh to 30.82¢/kWh.

That industrial rate is here on Oahu?

I always wondered why the industrial rate would be cheaper, I figured it would be more expensive since they use more. Maybe they get it in bulk price...

I bet the neighbor islands pay more than Oahu though.

Price is from West Penn Power.

Highest in the nation is HILO at 42.3 ¢/kWh

Commercial and Industrial power comes in normally at 380v or 240v, all of which is 3 phase.
I have seen them come in at 600v.
It may cheaper for the power company not to step it down to 220v single phase for residential.

It's not just the energy usage that commercial clients pay.  The big energy users also have a demand meter. measured in kW  They pay for the energy used as well as the "energy generation capacity" they demanded that month.

When a business has big AC chillers, shop machines, electric motors running who knows what, warehouse lighting and vast amounts of refrigeration, HECO has to plan on generating enough power to run everything there.  The investment to have that generating capacity in place is borne by the customers whose demand requires the extra production capacity.

So, even if they don't use it (kWh), they still pay into  the kitty for being able to use it when they do need it (kW).

HECO has "tariff schedules" to classify customers into categories for billing.  Schedule J is the majority of big businesses/buildings here.  The cost for demand per month is $11.69/kW  They pay based on the greatest level of metered demand, whether or not they actually use that much all month long.

They also pay a monthly service fee of $60 for single phase service, and $82.00 for three-phase.  The kWh (energy usage) charge is 16.9734 cents per kWh.

There's also a Supply Voltage Delivery discount if HECO doesn't have to go through a transformer.  If the customer takes the voltage at the transmission level, the discount is 2.9%.  If they can use it at distribution voltage, the discount is 2.1%.  They do this because there is a loss associated with transmission which varies by island.  The transformers require more energy generated to deliver it, to compensate for the loss factor.  If they don't go through transformers, less energy must be generated for delivery, hence a discount.

There are other adjustments.  All the schedules are on HECO's site:

http://www.hawaiianelectric.com/heco/Residential/Electric-Rates/Hawaiian-Electric-Rates

If you are curious about  residential charges, that would usually fall under schedule R.  Small business are usually schedule G (General).

Let me know if you have any questions.  I work for Hawaii Energy, the state's conservation and efficiency contractor.  We aren't HECO, although I have access to energy usage/demand databases. 

We are also the people who process and pay rebates on energy efficient appliances, CFL and LED light bulbs, etc.  If you walk through Costco or Home Depot, you'll see signs with Hawaii Energy on them offering rebates for energy saving appliances and bulbs -- paid down using our program's funds.   

We also have some web tools to show you how your energy usage compares to people near you.

https://hawaiienergy.com

thank you dog,
that is some great info!

Not only is HECO expensive, they also suck for reliability because the power always goes out in Hawaii for the smallest things, or no reason at all. That never happened to me in any other state.

Not only is HECO expensive, they also suck for reliability because the power always goes out in Hawaii for the smallest things, or no reason at all. That never happened to me in any other state.

The whole North America is under one giant grid.
All transmissions lines  are all interconnected somehow.

The whole North America is under one giant grid.
All transmissions lines  are all interconnected somehow.

On the mainland, power companies can buy power from other states/companies if they have the need.  If a generator is down, distribution path is offline, or the local demand is just exceeding capacity, they can substitute or augment their power from other plants.

There is no cable to join Hawaii's power grid with anyone else.  So if something fails, we are SOL until it's fixed.

There were proposals to join Oahu and Maui to feed Oahu's grid in the event we had generator failure.  A new proposal is looking for a 2-way cable to basically operate both Oahu and Maui power plants together as one, eliminating redundancy and dismantling generators in favor of green/clean energy alternatives. 

http://energy.hawaii.gov/renewable-energy/oahu-maui-gridtie

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/undersea-cable-oahu-maui_n_4179529.html

Nuclear...... safe , cheap, green.
anyway we look at it , at the end of the days it still a giant steam engine.

I've heard the generator/grid excuse before, but I'm not sure I buy into that. No matter how infallible the generators, or redundant the grid system, if the local power lines to your house or neighborhood are damaged, you will lose power for a short while. Those are the kind of frequent outages I experience, not the longer ones which are due to generator failure (such as when we had those earthquakes that left some of us without power for days). Why is it that on average I experience one short power outage every couple months, while on the mainland I experienced no power outages, ever?

I've heard the generator/grid excuse before, but I'm not sure I buy into that. No matter how infallible the generators, or redundant the grid system, if the local power lines to your house or neighborhood are damaged, you will lose power for a short while. Those are the kind of frequent outages I experience, not the longer ones which are due to generator failure (such as when we had those earthquakes that left some of us without power for days). Why is it that on average I experience one short power outage every couple months, while on the mainland I experienced no power outages, ever?

Not sure where you live, but Mililani has buried nearly all their power lines.  Trees, wind and heavy rain don't damage the lines, so localized interruption here is very uncommon.  When we see problems, it's when a transformer or component at the substation fails, but that's rare.  The last time I remember an outage at my house not related to a generator problem was an idiot running into some electric device down the street.  The power company had to cut the power on the street to fix it.  It was a very short interruption of service.

The majority of issues here, as with most places, isn't black outs, but brown outs.  When voltage drops, it can screw with your electronic devices.  I've sat here and heard my UPS backups kick in for a couple of seconds.  The lights barely dimmed, but the voltage dropped enough to trigger the UPS on the computers.

I'd recommend an UPS on all sensitive electronic equipment to guard against voltage drops.  Will save you money and headaches in the long run.

dog,
how's the quality of the sine waves and frequncies from the outlets
I don't have my ocilascope anymore and curious

dog,
how's the quality of the sine waves and frequncies from the outlets
I don't have my ocilascope anymore and curious

I've never used any instruments other than the readings on my UPS.  The new ones have some nice basic readings, but nothing as accurate as quality test equipment could show.  I'm actually afraid to check ...   

The UPS says I get exactly 60 Hz Freq cycle.  Voltage usually shows above 110v AC, usually in the 120-124 range.  Now and then I see it drop down to the 116v area.

Typical sine wave from your home outlet.

Typical sine wave from your home outlet.

Typical sign wave in Mililani ....



 

Typical sine wave from your home outlet.

not exactly pure... clean...

Typical sign wave in Mililani ....



 

married to my neighbor..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_S._Chang



http://changholding.com/ceodavidchang/

Commercial and Industrial power comes in normally at 380v or 240v, all of which is 3 phase.
I have seen them come in at 600v.
It may cheaper for the power company not to step it down to 220v single phase for residential.

I have a very basic understanding of electricity but the phase thing confuses me. I guess you are saying though that it costs extra to convert the 3 phase down to another level that is used by a residential area? I have seen warnings about making sure not to use certain electrical motors on certain types of phase electricity sources which left me worried since I don't know which phase comes out of my home and which phase particular power tools work at.

hahahahaha