The Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported this week that due to a growing number of homes and businesses switching to solar panels, customers’ electricity rates would rise significantly throughout the islands. That is, customers who hadn’t switched to solar and were still having to cover Hawaiian Electric’s operating costs.

For the the Big Island, the papers reported that bills would go up by $10 a month for a typical residential customer. 

It appears that the numbers were way off, and much lower than reported. 

According to a note in the StarAdvertiser today: 

Hawaiian Electric Co. estimates it would need to collect a relatively small amount from ratepayers to cover part of the revenue it loses when customers switch to solar power.

HECO said the amount needed to cover what it calls the “lost contribution to fixed costs” is 0.05 cents a kilowatt-hour on Oahu, 0.17 cents a kilowatt-hour on Hawaii island and 0.16 cents per kilowatt-hour in Maui County. For a typical customer using 600 kilowatt-hours a month, that translates into a 30-cent monthly increase on Oahu, $1.02 a month on Hawaii island and 96 cents a month in Maui County.

The amounts are significantly lower than were reported in a Star-Advertiser story on Page B5 Monday. That story, based in part on conflicting information from HECO, incorrectly reported the increase for a typical customer using 600 kilowatt-hours per month would be $3 on Oahu, $10 on Hawaii island and $9.60 in Maui County.

Good news for customers, as well as the solar companies who were likely bracing for blowback from angry residents.