HILO, Hawaii, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawai'i
Electric Light today proposed the first increase of base rates in
nearly six years to help pay for operating costs, including
expanded vegetation management focusing on albizia tree removal, as
well as system upgrades to increase reliability, improve customer
service and integrate more renewable energy.
The request is for a 6.5 percent increase in revenues, or
$19.3 million.
Rate reviews are required by the Public Utilities Commission
(PUC) every three years.
If approved, a typical residential bill for 500 kilowatt hours
on Hawaiʽi Island would increase by $9.31 a month to $171.16. The proposed rate change will be
reviewed by regulators and would likely not take effect until the
summer of 2017 at the earliest.
Thanks to lower fuel prices, bills reflecting the new rates, if
approved today, would still be lower than a year ago.
In 2013, with PUC approval, Hawai'i Electric Light withdrew its
request to increase base rates, leaving in place the same base
rates established in 2010.
As part of the current review, Hawai'i Electric Light is
proposing benchmarks to measure its performance in key areas, such
as customer service, reliability and communication for the rooftop
solar interconnection process and to link certain revenues to that
performance.
$14M spent clearing albizia
since 2014
Among the increased operating costs driving the rate change is
an extensive vegetation management and tree removal initiative.
The threat from invasive albizia trees toppling in high winds
became clear after Tropical Storm Iselle in 2014 and led the
company to triple its annual spending on vegetation management.
Since 2014, Hawai'i Electric Light has spent $14 million on tree trimming and removal,
concentrating on areas where falling albizias threaten utility
equipment and highways.
The tree removal program, which is continuing, reduced the
impacts of the recent tropical storms Darby and Madeline on roads
and power lines, resulting in fewer outages and faster power
restoration.
Investments in customer service pay off
Hawai'i Electric Light has also spent more than $14 million over the past six years improving
customer service systems, developing technical solutions to
integrate more private rooftop solar, replacing and upgrading
equipment to improve efficiency and reliability and developing
detailed plans to achieve the state's goal of 100 percent renewable
energy. The company has absorbed a large portion of these increased
costs in the years between rate cases without passing them on to
customers.
Investments in more customer service staffing and new technology
have resulted in significantly improved service, including reduced
call-waiting times. The percentage of customer calls answered
within 30 seconds went from 33 percent in 2010 to 93 percent in
2015. And in surveys of customers who called in to stop, start or
change electric service in 2015, 94 percent said they were
satisfied with the experience.
Renewable energy use grows to 49%, highest in state
Hawai'i Electric Light has increased its use of renewable energy
from 35 percent in 2010 to 49 percent today, using wind,
hydroelectricity, solar and geothermal to replace oil imported to
generate electricity. The company reduced its use of oil by 13
percent over the same period. Part of the proposed rate adjustment
will help pay for continued improvements to the power grid to help
integrate even more renewable resources while improving
reliability.
By the end of 2016, Hawai'i Electric Light will have made more
than $290 million in capital
investments over the past six years, including replacing and
upgrading transmission lines in West Hawaiʽi; modernizing
generation equipment to increase efficiency; increasing grid
capacity and system reliability; and adding or replacing lines and
transformers as well as more than 4,500 poles for new and expanded
service.
Hawaiʽi Electric Light has "decoupled" rates – a regulatory
model that periodically adjusts rates to remove the company's need
to increase sales to recover a level of PUC-approved costs for
providing service to all customers. The company is required to
submit full rate cases every three years for an updated review by
the PUC of the current costs of service.
CONTACT: 808.430.4691
Jay Ignacio 808.969.0124
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SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.