Updated at 4:00 p.m., Friday, April 6, 2007
HELCO gets OK for 7.58% interim Big Island rate hike
Advertiser Staff
Hawaii Electric Light Company has received approval from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission for an interim rate increase of 7.58 percent, or $24.6 million annually in revenues. The increase went into effect Thursday.The PUC will continue to review the details of the request and later issue a final decision. If, at that time, a lower final increase is approved, the difference will be refunded to customers with interest.
As a result of the PUC interim decision, a Big Island residential household using 500 kilowatt-hours a month will see its monthly electric bill increase by $11.41, from $152.01 to $163.42. HELCO's last base rate increase was received in early 2001, when it received a 4.86 percent increase.
The interim increase is part of HELCO's 2006 rate increase request filed last May, which originally asked for an increase of $29.9 million or 9.2 percent. In that filing, HELCO also requested permission to implement a tiered rate structure, designed to reward customers for energy conservation with lower electric rates for lower kilowatt-hour usage tiers. That rate design is still under review by the PUC and is not implemented as part of the interim increase.
The majority of the interim increase will help pay for transmission and distribution line improvements made over the last six years since HELCO's last rate increase, as well as two new combustion turbine generating units placed in service at the Keahole power plant in 2004.
