The December Energy Trend Data are just released.
”Following are highlights:”
* Crude oil price at the New York Mercantile Exchange averaged $74.60 per barrel in December 2009 which was 77.4% higher compared to the same month last year. Crude oil price decreased 4.5% from the previous month. For the year of 2009 average price of crude oil was down 38.0% from 2008.
* Hawaii’s year-to-date (January to October) 2009 total import of foreign crude oil was up 4.2% compared to the same period a year ago. Year-to-date through October total foreign import of fuel ethanol was up 16.7% compared to the same period last year.
* In December 2009, the national average price for regular gasoline was $2.611 per gallon, which represents a 55.5% increase from the same month a year ago. Hawaii’s December 2009 price for regular gasoline averaged $3.333, which was about $0.722 or 27.6% higher than the national average for the same month. Hawaii’s December price for regular gasoline remained the same from the previous month. Among the prices of regular gasoline for Honolulu, Wailuku, and Hilo, as reported by the American Automobile Association, Wailuku had the highest price for regular gasoline at $3.701. Wailuku’s price for regular gasoline decreased $0.003 or 0.07% from the previous month. The price of regular gasoline for Honolulu was $3.229 and Hilo was $3.362.
* Hawaii’s demand for gasoline, as measured by gasoline tax base, decreased 2.6% in October 2009 from the same month a year ago. Year-to-date through October the State’s total demand for gasoline was up 0.3%. During the first 10 months of 2009, Maui County (+ 1.4%) and Hawaii County (+ 2.6%) experienced increases in the total demand for gasoline. City and County of Honolulu and Kauai County showed decreases in the year-to-date consumption of gasoline at 0.2% and 1.9%, respectively. In December 2009, the national average price for diesel was $2.801 which was a decrease of $0.024 or a 0.8% from the previous month. In Hawaii, the average price for diesel in December 2009 was $3.911 which was 39.6% or $1.11 higher than the national average. Hawaii’s diesel price in December decreased $0.004 or 0.1% from the previous month. In December, Wailuku’s market had the highest average price of diesel, at $4.125, among Hawaii’s market. Hawaii’s year-to-date demand for diesel, highway use, as measured by the diesel oil tax base, decreased 11.6% compared to the same period a year ago.
* Year-to-date through October, Hawaii’s demand for aviation fuel, as reported by the Department of Taxation, was down by 0.4% compared to the same period a year ago. Hawaii County (2.4%), and Kauai County (6.8%) experienced year-to-date increase in aviation fuel demand. Maui County experienced a decrease of 4.8% in aviation fuel demand during the same period.
* As of December 2009, there were 912,096 registered taxable gasoline passenger vehicles in the state, 2.6% decrease from the same period last year. There were 21,604 registered taxable diesel freight vehicles, 0.6% decrease from the same period last year. However, average registration of taxable electric passenger vehicles during the 12 months of 2009 was 178 and showed an 8.6% increase from 2008.
* In November 2009, electricity generated by the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) dropped 1.8% compared to the same calendar month in the prior year. Year-to-date comparison showed electricity generated by KIUC was down 5.0% from the same period in 2008. By source of generation, electricity generated by steam was down 9.5% and by diesel was down 4.8%. Electricity generated by hydro decreased 1.8% during the first 11 months. KIUC purchased 28.4 GWh from independent power producers in November 2009 which represented a 8.4% increase from the same period a year ago.
* In November 2009, KIUC consumed 59,886 barrels of diesel oil at a total cost of $4.95 million. In comparison to November 2008, the consumption of diesel oil decreased 3.5%. In comparing the year-to-date this year with the same period last year, diesel oil consumption decreased 7.0%. The average cost per barrel of diesel oil consumed in November 2009 was $82.64, which was also a decrease of 25.4% from the same month last year. Overall, the year-to-date 2009 average cost per barrel of diesel oil consumed was 46.6% lower than the same period last year.
* For the month of November 2009, electricity sales for KIUC totaled 36.8 GWh, a decrease of 1.4% from November 2008. Overall, the year-to-date 2009 sales were down 5.0% compared to the same period in 2008. Comparing the year-to-date 2009 electricity sales to the same period in 2008, commercial showed the largest decrease at 7.8%.
* Total net revenues of KIUC, in November 2009, were $12.0 million which represents a 16.7% decrease from November 2008. Year-to-date 2009 revenues totaled $117.78 million, reflecting a decrease of 35.0% from the same period in 2008. Comparing year-to-date 2009 net revenue with that of 2008, residential decreased 31.3%, commercial decreased 37.2%, and street lights decreased 23.2%.
* The energy cost adjustment factor for electricity effective December 1, 2009 for each of the islands was as follows: Kauai (0.17082); Oahu (0.02724); Maui (0.11401); Lanai (0.14156); Molokai (0.12747); Hawaii (0.09970).
To see or download the data, you can go to:
https://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/economic/data_reports/info/economic/data_reports/energy-trends