Hawaiian Electric customers will soon see their bills made up of three components. A small fixed charge covers utility billing and payment-collection expenses, which everyone incurs. In addition, there’s a “grid-access charge” that’s proportional to the capacity a customer pulls from the grid in a given month — so for example, a small apartment will pay less than a mansion with three Teslas and a jacuzzi.
But the bulk of the monthly payment will be determined by a time-of-use rate that splits the day into three sections: electricity in the evening peak hours costs three times more than it does in the sunny hours of booming solar production. The middle of the night is cheaper than the peak but more expensive than the sunny hours.
People can maximize savings with water heaters that can be programmed to dodge pricey hours or electric vehicles that can automatically charge outside peak times. But even without fancy “smart” appliances, households can save money through simple measures like forgoing doing laundry between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.