Data Dive: Hawaiʻi Electricity Shut-Offs Are Nearly Triple Pre-Pandemic Levels
Expiring post-Covid payment plans, state’s cost of living blamed for spike in residential disconnections.
The number of electricity service disconnections in Hawaiʻi — a marker of economic strain — is climbing, as payment plans put in place after the Covid-19 pandemic expire in a state where it costs a lot to live.
On Oʻahu, there were almost three times as many residential disconnections in 2024 as in 2019, the year before the pandemic, according to data from Hawaiian Electric Company, or HECO, which serves 95% of the state’s electricity customers.
Last year on Oʻahu, more than 10,000 residential customers were disconnected, compared to just over 3,650 in 2019. The latest total was the highest in a decade on Oʻahu. Those totals may include some customers who had their service cut off more than once, said Darren Pai, manager of external communications at HECO.
Disconnections on the Big Island last year also were nearly triple the number in 2019 — up to more than 3,300 from just over 1,200 in the year before the pandemic began.
During the worst of the pandemic, the Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission ordered a statewide moratorium on disconnections from March 2020 to June 2021. After that ended, HECO instituted payment plans for customers.
“Unfortunately, we did see an increase in disconnections after the moratorium ended as there were customers that did not keep up with their payment plans,” Pai said.
Since the 2023 wildfires, there also has been a moratorium on disconnections on Maui.
More Calls For Help
Between August 2023 and August 2024, a third of state residents cut back on basic necessities so they could pay their electricity bill, according to a Lending Tree report. Over the course of that year, 1 in 4 Hawaiʻi residents found themselves unable to pay part or all of their energy bill, according to the report, based on U.S. Census Bureau surveys.
The state’s high cost of living was spotlighted by the ALICE in Hawaiʻi report from Aloha United Way, released in January, which surveyed Hawaiʻi’s working poor. The report found 40% of households in Hawai‘i are working but unable to afford the basic cost of living. ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed.
Aloha United Way’s statewide 211 helpline has seen increased requests for help paying utility bills, said Michelle Bartell, the agency’s president and CEO.
“When essential costs like housing, food, and utilities continue to rise, something has to give, and too often, it’s the utility bill,” she said in an email. “People are having to make impossible choices between paying rent, putting food on the table, or keeping the lights on.”
About 24,000 HECO customers — on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi island and Maui — are now in arrears at least 30 days on their bills. That’s about 6% of the utility’s 417,000 residential customers.
Kauaʻi is served by a different utility, Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, which has more than 24,000 residential customers. Disconnections on the Garden Isle are up above pre-pandemic levels, but barely. There were 90 residential disconnections in 2019 on Kauaʻi. Last year, there were 98.
On Kauaʻi, 5% of residential customers are at least 30 days late on their electric bill.
Among other possible reasons for the climb in disconnections, several state and federal programs that helped people pay their bills during the pandemic ended in the past two years. Among them was Honolulu’s Rental and Utility Relief Program, which wound down last August after having distributed about $252 million, including for rent payments, to more than 22,500 households since 2021.
A bill that would have created a program to assist eligible residents with their energy bills died in the state Legislature this year.
Hawaiʻi’s Changing Economy” is supported by a grant from the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation as part of its work to build equity for all through the CHANGE Framework.
