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The state Public Utilities Commission voted 3-0 to give
Hawaii Electric Light Co. a reduced rate increase so that the utility can meet its revenue requirement of $290.7 million.
The figure is the same approved for interim relief in April and is significantly less than the $314.8 million that the Big
Island utility originally requested in 2016.
The difference reflects rate reductions due to the federal Tax Cut and Jobs Act.
In a release issued Friday, the PUC said the decision “adequately addresses HELCO’s need for rate relief while protecting ratepayers’ interests.”
Last week the PUC ruled that the tax savings realized by Hawaiian Electric Co. due to the new corporate income tax break should be passed on to its 304,000 Oahu customers via a decrease in HECO’s base rate.
HECO was previously granted an interim rate reduction in March that took effect in April and resulted in a 95-cent net monthly savings for a typical residential customer using
500 kilowatt-hours compared with rates before a prior increase went into effect.
Prior to that the PUC had granted HECO an interim 2.3 percent increase in February, the first time in six years that HECO’s base rate went up. That increase added $2.60 a month to the bill for a typical residential customer.
