HEI cautioned that one reason the profit jump was so big was a charge in the 1995 fourth quarter to cover Public Utilities Commission-ordered refunds to Oahu electricity customers. That trimmed $4.1 million, or 14 cents a share, off HEI's corporate net for that quarter.

For the most recent quarter, ending Dec. 31, HEI had a net profit of $21.1 million, or 69 cents a share, compared with the 1995 fourth-quarter net of $15.6 million, or 53 cents a share.

Total corporate revenues in the last quarter were $369 million, up 10.9 percent from revenues of $332.9 million in the year-earlier quarter.

HEI is the parent of Hawaiian Electric Co. on Oahu and related electric companies on the neighbor islands, American Savings Bank, Hawaiian Tug & Barge Corp., and Young Brothers Ltd.

HEI's profit for all of last year showed an increase of 1.5 percent over the 1995 result, much less spectacular than the quarter-to-quarter comparison, although the company said its core businesses did well. A one-time charge of $14 million at American Savings Bank in the third quarter, to cover new federal deposit insurance requirements, cut into the 1996 results.

The result was a 1996 net of $78.7 million, or $2.60 a share, compared with $77.5 million, or $2.66 a share, in 1995. Full-year revenues of $1.08 billion were up 9.1 percent from $989 million.

"Our 1996 results reflect steady improvement by our utility subsidiaries and Hawaii's gradual economic recovery," said Robert F. Clarke, HEI president and chief executive.

HEI's operating profits in the latest quarter included $41.4 million from electric utilities, up 19.3 percent from $34.7 million a year earlier, and $10.3 million from American Savings, down 2 percent from $10.3 million.

The 1996 quarter included a loss of $6.1 million from its other businesses, worse than a $4.3 million loss a year earlier. The company said it makes money in its ocean freight business but has losses in residential real estate.