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Kaua‘ Island Utility Cooperative said it will start recruiting in October for a pilot program that offers discounted electrical rates to residents. The Time-of-Use Solar Pilot Program will offer a 25 percent discount on standard electrical rates between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m to 300 residential customers. The discounts amounts to a reduction of about 8 cents from September’s kilowatt-hour rate of 31 cents, KIUC said.
Each participant will receive a digital display that monitors real-time use and a $200 payment toward installation of a water heater timer or any other device that facilitates load shifting.
The program was approved Monday by the state Public Utilities Commission. KIUC said it wants customers to take advantage of the 50 megawatts of electricity generated during the day by utility-scale and rooftop photovoltaic systems.
“A key measure of the program’s success is the ability of customers to move a significant amount of their energy use from night to day to take advantage of the lower rates, a practice known as ‘shifting load,’” KIUC said in a news release. The program will start in the first quarter of 2016 and end in early 2017.