Hawaii’s August 2010 Energy Trend Data Just Released

BY DOUGLAS OSHIRO – Hawaii’s August 2010 Energy Trend Data has just been released. Following are highlights:

• 1. Crude oil price at the New York Mercantile Exchange averaged $76.67 per barrel in August 2010 which was 7.8% higher compared to the same month last year. Crude oil price increased $0.28 or 0.37% from July 2010. Year-to-date through August the future price of crude oil was 40.5% higher than the same period a year ago.
• 2. Hawaii’s year-to-date (January to June) 2010 total import of foreign crude oil was up 5.5% compared to the same period a year ago. In June 2010, there were 626,000 barrels of foreign imports of jet fuel kerosene. Year-to-date through June, foreign imports of jet fuel kerosene totaled 2,157,000 barrels or a 422.3% increase from the same period a year ago. During June 2010, there were 45,000 barrels of foreign imported propane. Year-to-date through June, foreign imports of propane totaled 203,000 barrels or 407.5% higher than the same period a year ago.
• 3. In August 2010, the national average price for regular gasoline was $2.732 per gallon, which represented a 4.3% increase from the same month a year ago. Hawaii’s August 2010 price for regular gasoline averaged $3.486, which was about $0.754 or 27.6% higher than the national average for the same month. Hawaii’s August 2010 price for regular gasoline increased $0.025 or 0.73% from July 2010. Among the prices of regular gasoline for Honolulu, Wailuku, and Hilo, as reported by the American Automobile Association, Wailuku had the highest price at $3.829 and Wailuku’s price increased $0.52 or 1.37% from the previous month (July 2010). The price of regular gasoline for Honolulu was $3.371 and Hilo was $3.487 in August.
• 4. In August 2010, the national average price for diesel was $2.974 per gallon, which was an increase of 11.5% from the same month a year ago. In Hawaii, the average price for diesel in August 2010 was $3.989 which was $1.015 or 34.12% higher than the national average. In August 2010, Wailuku’s market had the highest average price of diesel, at $4.235, among Hawaii’s market. Wailuku’s August 2010 diesel price increased $0.034 or 0.82% from the previous month.
• 5. Hawaii’s statewide demand for gasoline, as measured by gasoline tax base, increased 72.6% in June 2010 from the same month a year ago. All the islands experienced increases in gasoline demand in June from a year ago as follows: City and County of Honolulu (50.41%), Kauai County (189.02%), Maui County (113.77%), and Hawaii County (123.65%). The unusual increase in gasoline purchase in June may be due to the actions of gasoline retailers in responding to the environmental (barrel) tax hike effective July 1, 2010. Overall, Hawaii’s year-to-date (January to June 2010) demand for gasoline showed a 8.3% decrease from the same period last year.
• 6. Hawaii’s current year-to-date (through June) demand for diesel, highway use, as measured by the diesel oil tax base, increased 16.1% compared to the same period a year ago.
• 7. As of August 2010, there were 913,012 registered taxable gasoline passenger vehicles in the state, 1.4% decrease from the same period last year (August 2009). There were 21,489 registered taxable diesel freight vehicles, 0.6% decrease from the same period last year. There were 162 registered taxable electric passenger vehicles or a 6.9% decrease from August 2009. 8. Year-to-date (January to July 2010), Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) total electricity generated was 248.6 MWh. This was an increase of 0.2% compared to the same period a year ago. Electricity generated by diesel increased 1.6% compared to the period January to July 2009. Electricity generated by KIUC’s hydro plant was down 8.7% when compared to the same period last year. During the period of January to July 2010, KIUC purchased 17.6 MWh from independent power producers. Compared to the same period in 2009, the electricity purchased from independent power producers was down by 1.4%.
• 9. Year-to-date, the consumption of diesel oil by KIUC was up 0.4% and the average cost of a barrel consumed was $95.09 or up 53.3% from the 2009 levels.
• 10. Year-to-date, KIUC’s total electricity sales totaled 250.0 MWh or a 1.5% increase compared to the same period last year. Electricity sales to the residential sector was down 0.9%, while sales to commercial sector was up 2.9% compared to the same period (January to July) a year ago.
• 11. KIUC’s year-to-date (January through July) total net revenue was $88.5 million, an increase of 29.6% in comparison to the same period a year ago. During the month of July 2010, net revenues from all the three consumption sectors had double digit growth from July last year. Though increased for all the past months in 2010, total net revenue year-to-date through July was still below the level experienced in 2008.
• 12. The energy cost adjustment factor for electricity effective August 1, 2010 for each of the island was as follows: Kauai (-0.00755 $/kWh); Oahu (0.05101 $/kWh); Maui (0.13425 $/kWh); Lanai (0.16141 $/kWh); Molokai (0.15119 $/kWh); Hawaii (0.12312 $/kWh).

To see or download the data, you can go to the following link: https://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/economic/data_reports/info/economic/data_reports/energy-trends

Submitted by Douglas S. Oshiro of DBEDT. Reach him at doshiro@dbedt.hawaii.gov

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