HONOLULU, Dec. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawaiian
Electric (NYSE:HE) today proposed the first increase of O'ahu
base rates in nearly six years to help pay for operating costs,
including system upgrades to increase reliability, improve customer
service and integrate more renewable energy.
The request is for a 6.9 percent increase in revenues, or
$106 million.
If approved, a typical O'ahu residential customer using 500
kilowatt hours a month would see an increase of $8.71 a month to $141.03, based on December
2016 bills. Thanks to lower fuel prices and cost containment
efforts, bills reflecting the new rates, if the full amount were
approved today, would still be lower than the average bill in
2015.
After review by the Public Utilities Commission, any change
would likely not take effect until the second half of 2017 at the
earliest. The rate filing is part of a required periodic regulatory
review.
As part of the filing, Hawaiian Electric is proposing new
benchmarks to measure its performance and link certain revenues to
goals in key areas, including customer service, reliability, and
communication for the rooftop-solar interconnection process.
Since 2011, Hawaiian Electric spent more than $900 million replacing and upgrading equipment to
improve the efficiency and resilience of the O'ahu power grid. That
work includes the replacement of 6,800 poles and 4,800
transformers, implementation of advanced cybersecurity measures,
and proactive clearing of trees and other vegetation from around
poles and power lines, resulting in fewer and briefer outages
during storms.
During the same period, the number of approved private rooftop
solar systems on O'ahu has risen from 5,000 to nearly 54,000.
Hawaiian Electric increased resources to expedite the review,
inspection, and approval of systems so they can be safely connected
to the grid and has been nationally recognized for research and
technical advances aimed at bringing more renewable energy
online.
Many of the grid improvements are aimed at accelerating Hawaiian
Electric's switch from fossil fuel generation to a portfolio of
renewable energy resources, with the goal of reaching 100 percent
renewable electricity by 2045.
Hawaiian Electric has also spent more than $25 million over the past six years improving
customer service by increasing staff and investing in new
technology, creating paperless billing, providing more online
options and significantly reducing call-waiting times.
The percentage of customer calls answered within 30 seconds went
from 24 percent in 2012 to a forecasted 80 percent in 2016. In
surveys of customers who called to stop, start or change electric
service in 2015, 93 percent said they were satisfied with the
experience.
The company has absorbed a significant amount of these increased
costs in the years between rate cases without passing them on to
customers.
Hawaiian Electric rates are "decoupled" – 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:
|
Jim Kelly,
808.341.8926
|
|
Jim.Kelly@HawaiianElectric.com
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SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.