Lower oil prices continued to drive down costs for Hawai'i shippers, with Matson Navigation Co. announcing yesterday it will lower its fuel surcharge for the second month in a row.

And residential electric bills are also declining slightly because of lower fuel costs.

Matson, the state's No. 1 ocean cargo carrier, said it will lower its fuel surcharge by 1 percentage point to 18.75 percent effective Nov. 5.

The lower fuel surcharge means a decrease in shipping costs ranging from $20 to $67 per container, said Dave Hoppes, senior vice president of ocean services.

The fuel surcharge decrease will be the second reduction by Matson in two months. The company lowered its surcharge by 1.5 percentage points on Oct. 1 following a dozen consecutive surcharge increases over the last four or so years.

"Following a year of rapidly escalating fuel costs, we're pleased to finally experience this downward trend," Hoppes said. "We will continue to monitor fuel costs and adjust the fuel surcharge accordingly. While fuel prices remain volatile, we are hopeful this current trend will continue."

While the decreases are a hopeful sign for Hawai'i businesses and consumers, fuel surcharge costs are still more than double what they were two years ago. The surcharge was 9.2 percent in October 2004, and 13 percent last October.

Horizon Lines, the state's No. 2 shipper, could not be reached for comment yesterday. But the company typically matches Matson's fuel surcharge and also followed its competitor in reducing its surcharge this month.

Meanwhile, the typical O'ahu household using 600 kilowatt hours this month is paying $119.63, a decrease of $6.31 compared with September, according to Lynne Unemori, Hawaiian Electric Co. vice president for corporate relations. The typical bill for October last year was $120.02.

"We're hoping that we'll continue to be able to see this savings and automatically pass them to our customers," Unemori said.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.