Electric rates for Big Island residents, who pay about four time the national average for electricity, could be going up. 

HELCO has requested a 4.2 percent increase in rates from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, which would bring in an additional $20 million in revenue for the company. 

If approved, the request would add $8.32 a month to a typical residential electric bill.

From a company press release:  

HELCO’s rate request includes funding for acquisition of more renewable energy projects and clean energy integration programs, including:

– advanced wind forecasting systems

-computerized models and tools to analyze integration of more distributed,

-customer-sited solar power on the grid, and

-enhanced sensors and tools to help system operators manage more variable clean energy on the grid.

“Nearly 60 percent of our customers’ electric bills go to pay the cost of fuel and purchased power. So it makes sense for HELCO to aggressively pursue renewable energy technologies that are not dependent upon oil and that will reduce the cost of electric service in the long run,” said Jay Ignacio, HELCO president.

“As existing renewable contracts expire, or perhaps sooner if developers will agree, we will renegotiate these contracts to remove the link to oil as well, providing more stable and lower prices than customers face today.”

HELCO already leads Hawaii’s transition to clean energy, with more than 40% of the electricity Big Island customers use coming from renewable resources today. With continued rapid growth of roof-top solar, additional biomass energy from Hu Honua and recent expanded operations at Puna Geothermal Venture, more than 50% of the island’s energy will soon be renewable.

HELCO’s rate request also includes funding for grid maintenance and system upgrades that are needed to provide safe and reliable service.

“We need to increase tree trimming, pole and line maintenance and rebuild parts of our transmission system to better serve our customers. Our electric grid remains just as important for our customers as we increase the use of resources like photovoltaics, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass and biofuels,” he said.