Wednesday’s Pukalani outage still under investigation; archery arrow found in line during inspection

Hawaiian Electric continues to investigate the cause of an outage early Wednesday morning that knocked out power to an estimated 2,500 customers. The outage was reported at 2:15 a.m. on May 8.

Shayna Decker, Director of Government and Community Affairs for Hawaiian Electric on Maui tells Maui Now, “While the exact cause is still being determined, inspections identified an archery arrow caught in a line and trees making contact with a section of powerlines in the area.”

Restoration of power to impacted customers started at around 9:30 a.m., with all customers except for three brought back online by 11:15 a.m. The remaining three customers without power are expected to have power restored later today, after tree trimming and inspection checks are completed. 

“As part of Hawaiian Electric’s enhanced wildfire safety procedures, restoration does take longer on this Pukalani circuit because it is set to ‘trip’ quickly if a situation is detected and will remain de-energized until Hawaiian Electric crews complete visual inspections of the affected area, and deems it safe to energize,” said Decker. “Visually inspecting the affected area provides an added safety measure and leads to longer outages, especially if the outage occurs at night or early morning when there is less visibility.”

To minimize impact to customers in the future, work is underway to harden the electrical system against extreme weather events and reduce potential hazards.