The City of Honolulu has been using GEM to look at energy burden trends across the city. While analyzing our GEM data, they learned that their data from Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO) was slightly different.
After studying multiple years of HECO data, we came to the conclusion that the discrepancies were coming from the difference in using bill data (HECO) and survey data (GEM and our Census data). Multi-family homes with master meters would be aggregated bill data, whereas individual survey results would lead to different calculated values for energy burden.
Having access to GEM energy data has encouraged energy stakeholders including the City to break down silos and share data to best understand what the community needs are.
Looking at both sets of data has allowed them to start thinking about energy burden differently across the island. They’ve been strategizing on how to move forward with more solar panels on homes, especially for low-income areas, and how to distribute the benefits and burdens of the energy transition more equitably.
For more information on the status of this project, you can contact Anna Mines at anna.mines@honolulu.gov
Image from the Greenlink Equity Map.