Honolulu energy use up after vow to conserve more
Since city officials announced the plan in 2007, Honolulu's electricity use has climbed nearly 15 percent. It used 194.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity during the fiscal year ending in June — up from 169.3 million kilowatt hours in the 2007 fiscal year.
The city blames the jump on recent upgrades to its Sand Island Waste Water Treatment Plant that were mandated by federal and state agencies. But officials insist that overall energy consumption patterns are going in the right direction.
Meanwhile, Hawaiian Electric Co. says overall electricity use in Oahu, Maui and Hawaii counties during the first half of this year is down 5 percent.
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Saskatchewan to credit solar panel owners, but not as much as old program did
REGINA - Saskatchewan has unveiled a new program that credits electricity customers for generating their own solar power, but it won’t pay as much as an older program did or reimburse them with rebates for their costs to buy and install equipment.
The new net metering program takes effect Nov. 1, and customers will be able to use solar to offset their own power use at the retail rate.
But they will only get 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour credit on their bills for excess energy they put back into the grid, rather than the 14 cents in the previous program.
Dustin Duncan,…
