Sky-high power rates Sky-high power rates ADVERTISING I heard it today once again — someone bemoaning the fact that HELCO’s rate went up yet again. I concur that it did increase, but the question, however, is how much? To get
Sky-high power rates
I heard it today once again — someone bemoaning the fact that HELCO’s rate went up yet again. I concur that it did increase, but the question, however, is how much?
To get a feel for exactly how much it has increased, I went back a decade. (Since electric utility rate structures are my specialty, I archive all data.) In March 2002, our residential electric kilowatt-hour rate here on this island was 18.6116 cents per kilowatt hour. This month (March 2012) we are billed at 40.4293 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 300 kilowatt hours. Wow! That’s 2.17 times as much. Or, in another perspective: What we got for $100 back in 2002 now costs us $217.
While I was at it, I looked at what occurred with the cost of gasoline during this same 10-year interval. During that same month in 2002, we paid $1.699 per gallon of regular. Now, 10 years later, that same gallon is posted at $4.479. This is 2.64 times greater. $100 of fuel back then will today require a payment of $264. The fuel to power our vehicle is 21.5 percent more than that which powers our home! And unlike electricity, which comes to us, we have to go out and fill up the cars and trucks ourselves.
So, what exactly is the difference, aside from the cost? While our electric energy provider is a monopoly (they are the only game in town), we have the ability to shop for the lowest price and purchase our automotive fuel from any number of sellers. What a deal, thanks to competition.
Michael L. Last
Na‘alehu
This isn’t right
(Recently), I carried my morning paper on my flight to Honolulu, where I was scheduled to undergo tests, including a colonoscopy, to find the source of recent bleeding in my intestinal tract.
I arrived at the hospital early enough to read the letter from Dr. Edwin Montell (Tribune-Herald, Your Views). Suddenly, all my fear and anxiety over the potentially life-threatening results turned to anger and outrage.
As a retired Department of Education teacher, it is impossible for me to understand why months ago the State of Hawaii would require all insurers to cover a new and proven colon cancer screening, a test shown to reduce the risk of colon cancer by at least 50 percent for everyone in Hawaii — except retired state and county employees. What a slap in the face.
Had my own results not been so positive, I would probably be on my way to an attorney’s office this morning.
Dale Crabtree
Volcano
Too many pigs
The hunters I know are decent, responsible, reliable and hardworking. That being said, the ratio between hunters and pigs is so askew. There are herds of 50 or more pigs ravening throughout the subdivisions. There are packs of vicious, ex-hunting dogs stalking around the island.
Over 70 people were killed by dogs in the U.S. in the last three years, and 30 by pigs. Most of these deaths occurred in the victim’s own yard. It is only a matter of time before these packs instigate a tragedy here. Let us restrict pigs, and hunting, to a limited area. It will be easier for the hunters, the tourist, the scientist, the ‘aina — and easier to control the dogs.
G.O’Connor
Ola‘a
