No, you can charge your EV on your current electric rate. However, TOU rates can provide customer savings for charging during lower rate periods. Customers wishing to participate on a TOU rate should visit our Time-of-Use enrollment page for additional information on how to sign up.

This technology is currently not yet commercially available. Automakers and utilities are investigating plug-in vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid technologies. In the future, EV owners may be able to use their vehicles as a source of electricity during a power outage or emergency or send electricity to the grid during periods of high electricity demand.

With TOU rates, you pay less per kilowatt-hour during times which best serve the grid and more when electricity demand is higher. This is to incentivize customers to shift their EV charging to times when electric demand is low, when there is excess electricity generation available, which helps us operate more efficiently, which may enable the integration of more renewables, and keep your costs down. Please see the Rates and Enrollment page for more information.

Under the currently available TOU rates (schedule TOU-RI), residential customers may be able to save money if they shift their energy use away from high-demand on-peak hours (5PM – 10PM) to mid-day hours (9AM – 5PM) when renewable energy is abundant.

Residential customers may either elect to have their whole household billed under TOU-RI (Option 1) or sign up for TOU-RI just for electric vehicle charging and keep the rest of their household use under their existing residential rate (Option 2).

Option 1: Whole-House TOU-RI: After signing up for TOU-RI, your existing meter will be replaced with a TOU electric meter to measure your home electricity use and EV charging at different times of day.

Option 2: Separately Metered TOU-RI: Before signing up for TOU-RI, you will need to consult a licensed electrician to work with the utility to install new service for electric vehicle charging only. This work will require a city building permit. After the permit is approved and the work is done (new electric meter is installed), you can then sign up for TOU-RI and get a new TOU-RI meter installed.

Residential customers who feel they may benefit from TOU rates should visit our Time-of-Use page for additional information on how to sign up.

Customers considering TOU-RI for the entire household can enroll at any time, even without an EV.

Customers considering installing a separately metered service for EV charging only can enroll at any time or can have a licensed electrician submit a request for a new service.

Customers on TOU EV may download the EV meter reading handout if you wish to understand how to read your TOU EV meter.

You need to contact your utility and request to be returned to regular residential rates. Customers on a special EV rate, such as TOU EV or a separately metered rate, must maintain proof of EV ownership to remain on the rate. Customers on such a rate must notify their utility if they no longer own an EV.

Customers who stop participation in a TOU rate are no longer eligible to enroll in a TOU at a later date.

Rate TOU EV is now closed to new enrollment. If you discontinue TOU EV, even because you move, you can no longer enroll onto TOU EV.

Since 2010, Hawaiian Electric has offered discount EV charging rates to encourage customers to use EVs, especially in ways that best support our grids. EV owners paid a lower rate for charging vehicles at home during off-peak hours (9 p.m. to 7 a.m.) when enrolled on these rates. They are currently closed to new enrollment.

On October 2016, Hawaiian Electric, with guidance from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, began to provide a new rate, TOU-RI. This rate provides a lower rate for electricity used during daytime when solar and other renewable energy are abundant from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The rate is available to all residential customers and to residential customers wishing to install a second, separate service for EV charging only.

Hawaiian Electric is installing DC fast charging stations for public use on Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii Island to help make sure electric vehicle drivers are never caught without a place to charge. DC fast charging can “fill” an EV battery up to 80 percent of its capacity in about 30 minutes. These charging stations also provide alternatives for drivers’ whose charging needs cannot be met at home. Hawaiian Electric is also providing an industry-leading commercial pilot rate which supports public EV charging.

In addition, Hawaiian Electric is taking part in a nationwide commitment, and has set a goal to make every passenger car in its fleet plug-in electric by 2035. across five islands. Approximately 20% of its passenger vehicles are already EVs, leading the state in electric fleets.

Hawaiian Electric continues to research new technologies and services which may benefit EV drivers and stakeholders, as well as all our customers. For more information on Hawaiian Electric’s commitment to cleaner transportation, you may read the Electrification of Transportation Strategic Roadmap. This Roadmap outlines 10 key initiatives in which Hawaiian Electric is supporting electric transportation.