Without that charge of $8.8 million after taxes, or 27 cents a share, HEI's overall per-share profit would still have been down slightly, due to Public Utilities Commission-ordered lower rates at its Oahu utility, Hawaiian Electric Co.

HEI today reported a net income of $17.4 million, or 57 cents a share, on revenues of $284.4 million for the three months ended Sept. 30. For the 1995 quarter, HEI reported a profit of $25.2 million, or 86 cents a share, on revenues of $261.9 million.

The charge for American Savings was required under a new federal law that required all savings and loan institutions to put additional money into the national Savings Association Insurance Fund.

Without that charge, HEI's earnings for the quarter would have been $25.7 million, or 84 cents a share. Per-share earnings were also affected by the fact that company had more than a million additional shares outstanding at the end of the quarter than it had a year earlier, 30.5 million this year compared to 29.3 million in the 1995 period.

The company said there was a positive side to the insurance funding requirement in that it will allow American Savings to reduce its deposit insurance premiums to 6.4 cents per $100 of deposits from 23 cents, starting Jan. 1.

Due to a 3.3 percent increase in kilowatt-hour sales for the quarter, however, HEI's operating income from the utility business was down only slightly at $50.1 million for the latest quarter, from $50.7 million in the 1995 third quarter.

Operating income at American Savings, not counting the federally required assessment, was $9.8 million for the quarter, up from $9.7 million in the year-earlier period.