Hawaiian Electric urges customers to prepare for stormy weather

Hawaiian Electric urges customers
to prepare for stormy weather
HONOLULU, Jan. 28, 2025 – With heavy rains and strong winds expected this week, Hawaiian
Electric is closely monitoring weather forecasts and urges customers to check their emergency
preparations and prepare for the possibility of power outages.
The company urges customers to review family and business emergency plans, ensure they
have supplies they need on hand, and keep close watch on the development of the storm.
Preparation and safety tips are available at hawaiianelectric.com/stormcenter. Detailed tips also
may be found in our free Handbook for Emergency Preparedness, which can be downloaded
from our website at hawaiianelectric.com/prepare. It is available in English, Cantonese, Ilocano,
Korean, and Vietnamese languages, as well as a version for children.
Because stormy weather and hazardous conditions can arise with little notice, Hawaiian Electric
strengthens and maintains its infrastructure throughout the year by:
• Doing ongoing vegetation management
• Inspecting and upgrading poles, power lines, transformers, and other equipment
• Conducting ongoing maintenance of generating units
How you can prepare
Safety is always Hawaiian Electric’s top priority. We urge customers to make it their top priority,
too:
• Check emergency equipment such as flashlights, emergency generators, batteryoperated (hand-crank or solar) radios, light sticks, and lanterns to be sure they are
operational, and buy extra batteries.
• Make sure you have a battery-powered radio on hand to listen for updates on the
weather conditions.
• If someone in your home is dependent on electrically powered, life-sustaining medical
equipment, check backup facilities. Plan where to go if an evacuation is ordered. If you
need to go to the hospital or other emergency shelter, remember to take your medical
equipment and medications with you to the facility.
• If you plan to use a portable generator, make sure it is placed in a well-ventilated area
outside the home, and be sure to carefully follow all instructions in the manufacturer’s
manual.
• Turn your refrigerator and freezer to their coldest settings. If power goes out, this will
keep food fresher longer.
• Turn off and unplug any unnecessary electrical equipment, especially sensitive
electronics. If an outage occurs, this will prevent damage to the equipment from surges
when power is restored.
• Don’t venture out in the dark, because you might not see a downed power line that could
be energized and dangerous; avoid standing water and debris.
• If you see a downed power line, assume it is energized and dangerous. Stay at least 30
feet or more away from all power lines. Warn others to stay away. For emergency
assistance call 911. For Hawaiian Electric, call our Trouble Line:
• Oʻahu: 1-855-304-1212
• Hawaiʻi: (808) 969-6666
• Maui: (808) 871-7777
• Molokaʻi: 1-877-871-8461
How we restore power after a storm
After addressing public safety, critical emergency facilities such as hospitals, the Board of Water
Supply pumping sites, wastewater plants, military facilities, and the airports have first priority for
restoration. However, we will do our best to restore service to all our customers as soon as
possible. The following summarizes how our company will restore power as quickly as possible
following an outage, with safety as a top priority. Some steps will be done in parallel when it is
safe to do so:
• We start by addressing any immediate potential hazards and safety issues. For
example, actions include ensuring no energized wires or equipment could come into
contact with the public.
• Damage assessment personnel will assess the extent of damage and any
materials/equipment requirements such as poles, transformers and power lines that may
need to be repaired or replaced. They also will address accessibility issues including
tree trimming, making trails and/or helicopter landing/staging pads, debris removal,
draining flooded underground systems, etc.
• We repair major infrastructure such as substations, transmission lines, and power plants
so electricity can be generated and delivered as quickly as possible. These must be
repaired before other parts of the system can work as they serve as the backbone of the
electric system.
• From here, we will repair poles, equipment, distribution lines and/or underground cables
in affected neighborhoods with groups of customers incrementally restored by
transferring them to alternate circuits (a process called “switching”), and then we repair
individual service lines so remaining customers in affected areas can be restored. The
system will be restored back to its normal condition by switching customers back to their
normal circuits.
How to stay informed
Hawaiian Electric will provide updates frequently through the news media and the following
mobile-friendly resources:
• Hawaiian Electric website: hawaiianelectric.com
• Twitter/X: @HwnElectric; @mauielectric; @hielectriclight
• Facebook: facebook.com/HawaiianElectric
• Mobile app: free download available on Apple App and Google Play stores