Business Climate

Utilities

ELECTRICITY & GAS

The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission regulates all public service companies that provide utilities.

The Maui Electric Company (MECO) is the county’s electricity provider, which is working to meet the future demands of businesses and residents and increase its renewable energy production through the following initiatives:

Kaheawa Wind, a 30 megawatt wind farm located in the West Maui Mountains that already provides up to 10 percent of Maui’s electricity supply during peak hours and 30 percent off-peak.
MECO has paired up with Shell WindEnergy to create a wind farm in Ulupalakua; the first phase aims to provide 22 megawatts of power.
Through a partnership with Oceanlinx Limited, MECO will employ the state’s first wave energy system, which aims to provide 2.7 megawatts of electricity by its targeted completion in 2011.
In a joint development with Alexander & Baldwin and HR BioPetroleum, it will create a microalgae facility to produce biodiesel; the company also continues to test use biofuels in its generating units.
It has partnered with Castle & Cooke/Lanai Sustainability Research to purchase power from their 1.2 megawatt solar energy farm, which has a first-phase targeted completion date of the end of 2008

Maui Electric Company

Rate Schedule 2007	Maui Average cents per kilowatt hour	Molokai Average cents per kilowatt hour	Lanai Average cents per kilowatt hour
Residential	28.06	34.20	32.78
Large power use businesses	24.60	29.61	31.17
Medium power use businesses	27.34	34.16	34.96
Smaller power use businesses	30.36	41.64	36.25
Off-Peak and Interruptible Service	N/A	22.82	N/A
Commercial cooking, heating, air conditioning & refrigeration	27.39	31.72	31.93
Street and Park Lighting	25.80	32.32	31.50

Maui County’s primary gas utility is the Gas Company, whose average rates are as follows:

AVERAGE RATE OF GAS ($ per therm), 2006
Residential:
Maui Island 3.34211
Molokai, total/residential 3.71429
Other:
Maui Island 2.05510
(Maui County Data Book 2006)

WATER

Much of Maui’s drinking water comes from underground aquifers, where it is naturally filtered by lava rocks and made into clean water. Surface sources produce the remaining water, which is filtered by treatment plants across the islands.

The County of Maui’s Department of Water Supply is the drinking water utility for over 34,000 services on the islands of Maui and Molokai; Lanai Island is served by a private company. The county’s Department of Environmental Management provides municipal wastewater treatment service.

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