Turnabout

Turnabout was Originally Posted on December 30, 2012 by lavarock

I have been known to mention on occasion that I live in Paradise. You know, the balmy weater, the snow only on the mountain, etc.

Turnabout is fair play.

Tonight it is 11:30pm and the outside temperature is already 59 degrees and dropping. It does appear to be winter.

Before you laugh too much, remember that I have louvered windows which allow the cool air to seep in, no insulation in the walls, nothing under the floorboards but an open area to the cold and very few heavy clothes.

I have an electric blanket (a novelty in Hawaii and I had to buy it on the mainland) but can’t use it with the dogs in the room.

I have an electric space heater and will turn that on for a while. Had I signed up for solar, I would not have had to watch my electric rates. Hawaii does have the highest electric rates in the country, and are explained in the short snippet from West Hawaii Today.

An average Hawaii Electric Light Co. customer doles out around $225 every month for 500 to 600 kilowatt hours of electricity, a far cry from the nation’s average of $63 for the same usage.

Depending on the household, some customers use 200 kilowatts while others, such as resort homes, can use upward of 2,000 kilowatt hours, said Curtis Beck, HELCO Energy Services manager. According to HELCO’s current tiered rates, that 2,000 kilowatt hours equates to $847, plus charges and fees.

HELCO’s per kilowatt hour electric rate that starts at 40.1 cents {cut}

The average retail per kilowatt hour charge for electricity in the U.S. was 11.43 cents in January, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

So there you have it, a drawback to living in Hawaii.