Frequently Asked Questions

Under the rules established by the PUC, individual customers cannot sign up for shared solar directly with their utility. Instead, customers will participate in a shared solar project by purchasing or leasing an interest from subscriber organizations approved and allocated shared solar capacity by the utility. Interested customers will initially contact the electric company in which they have an account to verify their eligibility to participate in shared solar and the maximum level of their participation. With this information, a customer may then "shop" for the shared solar project that best suits their needs.

When a subscriber organization with a shared solar facility is approved, customers on the island where the project will be built may become subscribers to that facility by applying directly to the subscriber organization. To the extent not already approved by the electric company, the subscriber organization will submit the name of potential subscribers to the electric utility on that island to confirm eligibility and maximum level of participation, however, final approval and enrollment is up to the subscriber organization.

A residential or commercial customer with a current electricity account at the same location for at least 6 months who has not received a disconnection notification within the last 12 months may be a subscriber. The potential subscriber may not be enrolled in another utility solar program like Net Energy Metering, Schedule Q, Customer Grid Supply, Customer Grid Supply Plus, Smart Export, Feed-in Tariff, Standard Interconnection Agreement, or similar programs.

An Independent Observer, paid by Hawaiian Electric but reporting to the Public Utilities Commission, will monitor the program to make sure it is fair and conforms to the requirements of the CBRE Tariff.

A subscriber:

• May purchase or lease a minimum of 1 kW AC (0.5 kW AC for low and middle-income subscribers) up to 100 percent of their average energy use for the previous 12 months.
• May participate in only one shared solar facility at a time and must maintain an electricity account and service address on the same island as the facility to which they subscribe. May change service address with no transfer fee if the new address is on the same island and meets eligibility requirements.
• May transfer participation or sell all or some of their participation back to the subscriber organization under certain terms.

The electric bill will show the amount of electricity and the cost at the regular residential or commercial rate that the subscriber used from the utility, less the credit from shared solar participation. The bill cannot be reduced below the total of the customer charge, Green Infrastructure Fee and other per-customer surcharges in the underlying tariff and minimum demand charge, if applicable. If the subscriber's monthly credit exceeds eligible charges, the excess is automatically carried over to the next billing period within a 12-month period. An unused credit at the end of 12 months is lost.

• Oahu – 5.0 MW
• Hawaii Island – 1.0 MW
• Maui – 1.0 MW
• Molokai – 0.5 MW
• Lanai – 0.5 MW

• Oahu – 15 cents per kWh
• Hawaii Island – 15 cents per kWh
• Maui – 16.50 cents per kWh
• Molokai – 22.50 cents per kWh
• Lanai – 26 cents per kWh

Not in the first phase, per guidance from the Public Utilities Commission.

Please see the following chart for comparison(s):