Power Restoration Continues for Some 1,500 Customers on Maui

Hawaiian Electric responding to Pukalani to East Maui outage

Update: 9:30 p.m. Dec. 7, 2021

As of 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 7, Hawaiian Electric crews are responding to a new outage affecting Pukalani to East Maui and parts of Makawao and Haʻikū in addition to the existing outages in parts of Kula, Wailuku, and Lahaina.

With restoration taking time due to the extensive work occurring in multiple areas, all affected customers are advised to plan for a possible extended overnight outage.

On Tuesday evening, crews restored power to Maui Meadows and most customers in Kula.

Power Restoration Continues for Some 1,500 Customers on Maui

UPDATE: 5:19 p.m. Dec. 7, 2021

Hawaiian Electric crews are continuing to respond to scattered outages to restore approximately 1,500 customers in parts of Kula, Pukalani, Ha‘ikū, Maui Meadows, Wailuku, and Lahaina. “While crews are working as quickly as possible and additional field crews from O‘ahu have joined restoration efforts to bring customers back online, restoration is taking time and all affected customers are being asked to prepare for a possible extended overnight outage,” company officials said.

Following the completion of repairs of the damaged transmission lines supplying power to Upcountry, South and West Maui, crews are working through hundreds of distribution and individual service line outages across the island. Such restorations can take time as each area has varying degrees of damage to electrical equipment, such as downed power lines and poles. In some cases, there is currently limited access due to fallen trees, remaining storm water and large debris. 

In parts of Kula, crews continue to make repairs in various neighborhoods to multiple damaged and downed poles and numerous spans of downed lines that provide power to individual homes. Parts of Kula Highway have been restored along with critical infrastructure such as Kula Hospital as crews continue to work in different pockets of the Kula area. 

In Pukalani, a pocket of customers remain without power because lines serving the area are in a gulch still containing rising storm runoff making it unsafe for crews to begin restoration to that circuit at this time.  

In Ha‘ikū, crews brought customers in parts of East Kuiaha, Lepo Street and the Ha‘ikū Community Center area back online and are addressing remaining pockets in the area.

In Maui Meadows, work is being done to restore electrical equipment used to protect the main electrical system from energy surges and overloading that can occur during and after disturbances to the system, such as the recent storm.

Crews are also addressing individual pocket outages in the Lahaina and Wailuku areas with reports of damaged power lines and other electrical equipment.

Since Sunday, an estimated 22,000 Maui customers experienced brief to extended power outages caused by gusty winds and fallen trees on the island’s transmission and distribution system. Crews worked through the night in areas that were safe to access and continued with restoration efforts today to bring customers in parts of Ha‘ikū to Nāhiku, Pukalani, Kīhei, Pā‘ia and Lahaina back online.

Hawaiian Electric also reminds the community to stay at least 30 feet away from downed power lines. Downed power lines are energized and dangerous.

Outage updates are posted on the company’s Twitter account @MauiElectric. To report an outage or downed power line, please call 808-871-7777.

Oʻahu Update: Power Expected to be Restored to 70% of Downtown Honolulu Customers by Tuesday Night

Hawaiian Electric expects to restore power to about 70% of its customers in downtown Honolulu tonight, according to the company.

Repairs to the second of three transformers at the Iwilei substation were completed sooner than anticipated and power to about a dozen office buildings is expected to be restored tonight. This is in addition to buildings, including the State Capitol, restored earlier Tuesday.

Crews are also continuing to work on replacing a 300-foot section of high-voltage underground cable that was damaged by flooding. Once testing on the replacement cable is complete, additional customers may be restored.

All affected customers are expected to have their service restored Wednesday.

“While this is great progress, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done in order for us to get all customers back,” said Jim Alberts, senior vice president of operations. “The fact that many were able to get restored faster than expected is a testament to our employees’ dedication to our customers, even under the most difficult conditions.”

Besides the wet and muddy conditions caused by the storm, crews are faced with an especially challenging environment due to the limited work space inside the manholes. Work will continue through the night until the repairs are completed.