Hawaiian Electric is one of the companies raking in profits during the pandemic.

With a near monopolistic-hold on the state’s energy supplies, Hawaiian Electric brought in a net income of $177.6 million in 2021, which is an $8.3 million improvement from 2020, according to the company’s year-end earnings report.

HECO also reduced staffing by 100 positions during the year, mostly through retirement and not filling open positions, Shannon Tangonan, a HECO spokeswoman, said.

The company stated one of the reasons for the increase in company profit was $4 million saved on new “lower enterprise resource planning” costs, Tangonan said, which is related to the type of software the company uses for day-to-day business operations, such as accounting, project management and coordinating its supply chain.

Because of this new software, Tangonan said, HECO was able to achieve about $8 million in savings in efficiency and productivity measures.

HECO allocated $2 million to fund a one-time credit in the month of February for customers who were 30 days behind on a bill.

Each of these customers could receive a $90 credit. A typical electric bill for residents on Oahu is $180.80, Tangonan said, meaning the bill credit usually covers about half of a month’s bill. That credit was awarded to 22,000 customers in February.