2 utilities compared · 5 plans · 86 ZIP codes
Electricity rates in Hawaii
Not a state average. The same household, priced hour by hour for a year on the default plan at each utility we cover here — so the differences below are differences in the tariffs, not in how much anyone used.
What a year of electricity costs in Hawaii
| Household | Uses | Median, per year | Cheapest utility | Dearest utility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment One or two people, no central air, no electric heat | 4,866 kWh | $1,868 | $1,800 | $1,936 |
| Family home Three or four people with central air conditioning | 9,453 kWh | $3,505 | $3,368 | $3,642 |
| Home with an EV Same house, plus an electric car charging overnight | 13,103 kWh | $4,812 | $4,615 | $5,009 |
Median and range across the 2 utilities, each on the plan a household lands on by default. Estimates for comparing utilities against each other, not a prediction of any one bill; they exclude taxes, local surcharges and demand charges.
How much does where you live inside Hawaii matter?
Run the same three-bedroom house with central air through the default residential plan at each of the 2 utilities we cover in Hawaii, and the yearly bill lands between $3,368 at Kauai Island Utility and $3,642 at Hawaiian Electric Co; the median is $3,505. That is a narrow band — the dearest utility charges 8% more than the cheapest for identical use. In Hawaii, who bills you matters less than how much you use and which of their plans you are on.
The utility is fixed by your address; the plan is not. At Hawaiian Electric Co, the cheapest and dearest of its 4 comparable plans are $294 a year apart for the same house — about the same as the gap between Hawaii's cheapest and dearest utilities, and unlike that one, it is a choice you get to make.
1 of the 2 utilities files at least one plan priced by the hour (2 plans in all). If yours is one of them, shifting when you use power is worth real money; if not, only the total matters and the plan list is short.
Utility by utility
Cheapest first, for the family home. The last two columns are where the money is: how far the default plan sits from the cheapest one the same utility files.
| Utility | Plans | Default plan, a year | Cheapest plan | By the hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kauai Island Utility D Residential Service | 1 | $3,368 | only plan | — |
| Hawaiian Electric Co SCHEDULE R RESIDENTIAL SERVICE - Single Phase | 4 | $3,642 | $3,478 | 2 plans |
Before you compare anything
- Should you switch to a time-of-use electricity plan?
A wide peak-to-off-peak gap is a lever, not a saving. Levers need something to move.
- How to compare electricity plans without getting it wrong
Six things that break a comparison, and the order to check them in.
- Electricity rates by state: what the filed tariffs actually say
Median rates from the tariffs themselves, not a state-level average.