The article states the Big Island rates are even higher at $261.73 a month. And their rates had gone down! I can see why Hattie's Web in Hilo would love her solar panels. We sure do on Oahu.
The Star Advertiser goes on to say: "The average per kilowatt hour nationwide was 11.02 cents in February, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Hawaii's average was 31.04 cents in February. The next highest was Connecticut at 17.63 cents."
We had central air in Illinois which we definitely had to use in summer. When we left Chicago in 2008, our average monthly bill was about $56.00 for electricity. Gas was about an average of $80.00 a month. We had gas heating and cooking. You know how cold it gets in the Midwest.
We moved to Hawaii and everything at this house is powered by electricity. Our bill averaged about $150 a month and this is with us almost never using the air conditioner and mostly CFLs for light bulbs. We don't have central air here. Mom only uses the air conditioner when she gets on the treadmill we got her. The ceiling fans are sufficient at other times.
With rising HECO rates, I'm even happier that we decided to get the solar panels because our cost now is about $20.00 a month. Now then.... I really do think we'll have to make a trip to Toys R Us to get a high powered water gun to keep those pigeons off our roof solar panels.
I guess this is the high cost of living in "Paradise."
Even the wall socket face in your picture seems to be "in shock." Hawaii is so much more expensive.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are saving so much with your solar panels.
That sounds like fun, shpritzing the roof pigeons.
Our apartment is all electric, too. In the winter when we need heat, it gets pretty expensive, but still it's under $200 (all thousand feet of our apartment). In the summer it runs around $50. Gas is cheaper but we don't get a choice in a rented place, although we looked for a gas stove we didn't find one.
ReplyDeleteI use a Super Soaker to chase the squirrels away. Gives me exercise, even if they think I'm playing with them!
I was surprised homes in HI. were basically equipped w/all electric... the older homes have gas stoves at least... If you cook a lot and want to save on that bill use your gas barbeque as a stove... it does work well ... w/baking and as a stove top... Since I switched over to those energy saving bulbs my bill has gone down... Last year during the summer my bill use to run in the high $100's... this year it is in the low .. considering its only for a few months its no biggie. Be glad u aren't in Illinois- I am sure your electric there for the a/c would be a pain.
ReplyDeletesheesh that is costly,, I would still love to live in your paridise for sure.Our electric is 6 cents a kilowatt with it raising to 9 cents at peak times.This was so interesting,, I still love where you live,, I would just conserve!!
ReplyDeleteKay that is amazing how much you are saving with your solar panels, very inspiring!
ReplyDelete@K: forgot to mention our bill is charged by tiers- meaning 'we' can control how much we use.. right now I am at tier 3 which is 23cents a kwh.. not bad since we are at the height of summer, thank God, our summer isn't a killer like past years.
ReplyDeleteOur HECO bill was $385 last month. If we did not use A/C and if we unplugged our HDTV, we would save some money, but we are unwilling to do that. It is too humid here, and we would have to re-boot our TV every day.
ReplyDeleteA solar guy told me the other day that we do not have enough roof space to fit enough panels to cover $385 worth of electricity.
@gigi: re: your last comment... I find that hard to believe... or is what he says true? Maybe your electric co. is overcharging u folks... time to get it investigated... I hear 'class action suit' don't u?
ReplyDeleteI don't have electric heat. I have natural gas. In the cold months my heating bills cost about $200 for a 1 bedroom apartment which seems like an awful lot to me and my budget. In the hot months I manage with ceiling fans. I've long thought that there has to be a better way but it's not my building and landlords don't give a damn.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Honlulu, we never had air conditioning, but we lived on Pearl Harbor in military housing, so the setup was probably different. The climate was so perfect, the temperatures never mattered to me, especially after living in FL without air conditioning!!
ReplyDeleteOue electric bills are around 170-80 per month. We are on a plan that averages the bill over the 12 months. We use more energy in the winter than summer months in our all electric home. We have solar panals on the roof and get enough electricity to run the attic fans in summer. The huge tree next door prohibts any expansion of the solar panels, sigh. Dianne
seems like the cost of energy is raising everywhere in the world :(
ReplyDeletemaybe you should use the water guns on yourself to cool off or better yet move to Iceland. It´s always cool here...
ReplyDeleteWow, those Chicago rates are really low. Wonder how they do it? In California we have fairly low rates, but nothing like that. Electricity and natural gas for those of us in the cities. Propane out in the country. We are pretty conservative but bills in Fresno average about $100 year round. San Francisco was very cheap, but only 520 sq ft should be. PG&E bills there were about $20 a month.
ReplyDelete"I guess this is the high cost of living in "Paradise."
ReplyDeleteI'm not absolutely sure that's 100 percent true with electricity bills. Hawaii has among the few oil refineries in the nation, and at least on Oahu, the main island, we refine all our own oil for fuel here.
Before we got a new electric furnace two years ago, we could pay as much as $400 a month in the cold months for heat. We're all electric too, and thankfully our new furnace is more efficient, but we still pay $250 a month in the winter. We have a heat pump, so we have air conditioning, but we've had no need for it so far this summer.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you have solar panels installed.We too have high electrical charges but not as this.We pay so many bills every month one is home and the other two are of our dental offices and all or equipments and Xray units are electrically operated.
ReplyDeleteOur electric bill is about $150 per month, no a/c. Ceiling fans in every room has been enough. I guess I don't mind sweating (feels pretty good). We only need 16 panels. Hopefully our usage will not increase by very much since appliances are becoming more energy efficient. I'm hoping to use less than the contract allotment, however if needed, we can always add more panels later.
ReplyDeleteL.
Our electric bill was $228.00 which was considerably higher than normal. We had to run central AC day and night. It was record-breaking hot in July and many people got big, one hundred dollar or higher bumps in their electric bills. I can't breathe without it when it gets so hot and humid.
ReplyDeleteHigh energy bills are using up a lot of people's income. It is not cheap to run a household these days. In the absence of any coherent energy policy, or any control by citizens of energy costs, we have no choice but to conserve in order at least to protect our own pocketbooks.
ReplyDeleteI bet you are glad for those panels. Kay, you are so funny, high powered water gun, be careful, you will put out your eye, ha, ha. Don't you just hate it when power company's raise our rates. It must be catchy because it is happening here also.
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