Hawaii leads the nation in electricity prices

Hawaii’s electric bills rose at nearly double the national rate from 2000 through 2010 even as local residents and businesses did more to conserve electricity than the country as a whole, according to a report released Tuesday.

Electricity costs in Hawaii topped the nation at 25.12 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2010, up 79 percent from 14.03 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2000, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

During the same period the average price of electricity nationally rose to 9.83 cents a kilowatt-hour from 6.81 cents a kilowatt-hour, an increase of 41.9 percent.

The gap between the average U.S. price and Hawaii rates has grown even larger in the past 11 months. The report covered 2010, but as of November Hawaii’s average electric rate had climbed to 33.43 cents a kilowatt-hour, while the national average declined to 9.67 cents a kilowatt-hour, according to the latest monthly data published by the energy agency.

The state’s two electric utilities, Hawaiian Electric Co. and Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, have attributed rising electric rates largely to increases in fuel costs.

Hawaii generated 74.6 percent of its electricity from petroleum in 2010, by far the highest percentage in the country. Nationally, petroleum accounted for 0.9 percent of the electricity generated in 2010, according to the report.

Hawaii’s high exposure to volatile oil prices was one of the main factors behind the passage of the 2008 Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, which called for the state to use energy efficiency and renewable resources to supply 70 percent of energy needs by 2030.

Hawaii’s electricity use fell in four out of the 10 years between 2000 and 2010, resulting in a net 3.3 percent increase consumption during the span. Nationally, electricity use increased by 9.7 percent during the same period.

Hawaii also fared better than the nation as a whole in terms of alternative energy production other than hydropower. Hawaii generated 6.9 percent of its power from renewable sources, including wind, solar and garbage-to-energy in 2010. That compared with 4.1 percent nationally.

Hawaii’s second-largest source of electricity generation after petroleum in 2010 was coal at 14.3 percent of the total. Nationally, coal was the largest single source of electricity generation at 44.8 percent of the total.