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Posted: Tuesday, July 10th, 2012 9:05 AM HST

Electric Rates decline in July

By Ken Hupp - 67AM KPUA News

The state’s two power utilities report residential electricity bills fell on all islands in July from June. Hawai`i island residential rates fell to 41.4 cents a kilowatt-hour from last month's 42 cents. The typical bill fell by $3.73 to $258.68. Even with the declines, electric rates across the state remained high by historical standards largely because of the utilities’ dependence on expensive fuel oil for power generation. The latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration found the statewide average residential rate in April was 37.5 cents a kilowatt hour, up 14.1 percent from the same month a year earlier. The national average was 12 cents a kilowatt hour, up 1.7 percent from a year earlier.