Dad taught lessons in saving energy, serving customers

It’s amazing how much I learned from my father over the 50-plus years he was in my life. My dad, Richard Tangonan, passed away in early January and now that he's gone, I'm struck by how much he taught me — everything from his energy-saving habits to customer service skills.

Without ever consulting me (his daughter who works at Hawaiian Electric), mom and dad were among the early adopters of our company's time-of-use (TOU) rates. TOU rates allowed them to save money by using more electricity during the day when rates are lower and solar energy is abundant.

After my dad suffered a stroke Jan. 3, we summoned home our eldest sister, Riki, who lives in Los Angeles. She stayed at our parents' home in Ewa Beach where we grew up, making treks to and from the hospital until he was brought home for hospice.

Dad always turned off the water heater to help save energy. So when Riki wanted to take a shower her first night home, I told her to make sure the water heater was turned on. The next day I asked her if she turned off the water heater. I asked because daddy often had a handwritten note, “TURN OFF WATER HEATER,” stuck under the glass top of their koa coffee table or handwritten reminders on scratch pieces of paper.

Turning off the water heater was one of the many ways he saved energy. To limit his energy use during the evening peak, he never washed or dried clothes after 5 p.m. That's exactly what I told my middle sister, Sheree, when she mentioned she wanted to wash some bedding. “Don't do laundry after 5,” I told her. I'm the youngest — and the bossiest.

Thousands of customers are still on TOU rates, many of whom participated in the company's 1-year Shift and Save pilot program, which tested time-varying rates. Although the rates are now closed to new enrollments, TOU customers can continue to stay on the rate. For current TOU rates or to opt out of the rate and revert to your previous rate schedule, go to hawaiianelectric.com/shiftandsave.

Daddy never really shared how much money he saved on TOU rates, but I know he was a true believer and did his best to shift his electricity use to daytime, even cooking dinner in the early afternoon.

He was 84 when he passed. He worked nearly 30 years with my mother, Ellen, running Sassy Kassy lunch wagon in Campbell Industrial Park. Countless weekends and every summer in my youth were spent taking orders, cashiering, scooping rice and mac salad, and making sandwiches. Dad would wake up long before dawn to prep and stayed in the kitchen until after dark.

Mom and dad were no strangers to hard work and treated customers the way they wanted to be treated. I remember getting a scolding from dad when I was visibly frustrated after a customer asked me to recalculate his order, which was done using a pencil and paper. The look of disappointment on my father's face said it all. And I've tried my best to live up to his customer service standards ever since.

It's why when an older customer, Mr. S., stopped by our Ward Avenue baseyard looking for someone to speak to last summer, I tried my best to help him. Mr. S. was looking for our payment office at Ward, which closed years ago, to switch his account into his son's name.

I asked him if I could use his phone and we called customer service together with both of us on speaker. Mr. S., who was about my father's age, said he had gotten frustrated pressing all the different buttons. When we got hold of a customer care representative, I told her his situation and she explained exactly what needed to be done. When we hung up, he thanked me and told me I had made his day.

I don't know why after all these months I'm remembering my interaction with Mr. S. Maybe it's because I'm trying to hang on to everything my father taught me and carry on his legacy.

Was my father perfect? Surely not. But now that he's gone I find myself holding on to all the things that made him so special: He was a ham, he cracked us up without even trying, he enjoyed laughing, he was a master pidgin English speaker, he was helpful to a fault, he was incredibly impatient and also so hard to please when it came to food because he was such a great cook.

Many longtime Hawaiian Electric employees bought lunches at Sassy Kassy's. I want to thank them for supporting my mother and father's business all those years ago.

And just as much as you appreciated his teriyaki beef and fried noodles — or any of his other specialties — he appreciated the electricity that allowed him to cook those ono dishes.