HILO — The Hawaii County Water Board on Tuesday unanimously passed an increase to the Department of Water Supply’s power cost charge.
The board opened up a public hearing on the increase roughly 15 minutes before the official start of its 10 a.m. monthly meeting, but no members of the public offered testimony.
The power cost charge will increase from $1.62 to $1.88 per thousand gallons, reflecting higher power costs for DWS itself, imposed by the Hawaii Electric Light Co. It takes effect Sunday.
The average family in Hawaii using a 5/8-inch meter consumed around 9,500 gallons monthly in 2015, meaning the cost hike computes to an extra $2.47 per month on average, or just shy of an extra $30 annually.
Warren Ching, DWS energy management analyst, said the increase is not correlated to greater power consumption.
“Just because our power cost goes up doesn’t necessarily mean we’re using more power,” he explained to the board. “It probably largely means HELCO’s fuel cost went up, which they passed on to us.”
The power cost charge has changed several times before and is likely to remain fluid based on the varying price of fuel, Ching explained. Increases or decreases to the charge can be reliably mapped based on fuel cost trends.
DWS was formerly able to adjust the power cost only on an annual basis, but new DWS rules make that more flexible.
“The last board action … provided the provision to do it once every two months,” said Keith Okamoto, DWS manager-chief engineer.
Thus, every time HELCO’s fuel cost fluctuates, DWS’s power cost charge is likely to reflect the pertinent increase or decrease within 60 days.
Ching said in an interview last month the power cost hit its peak in 2008 following the start of the Great Recession. The current rates are much more affordable, he added.