Waikoloa residents unhappy about recurring power outages seem to have gotten electric officials’ attention.
Kathy Awai and several of her neighbors began contacting Hawaii Electric Light Co. officials a couple of weeks ago, after several outages, including one about a week ago that damaged appliances in Awai’s home. Awai, who lives on Pau Nani Street, said she’s had six outages at her house since January, including three in less than a week last month.
“We just want to get things fixed,” Awai said. “It’s not right to have power outages constantly.”
Awai and her neighbors called and emailed HELCO and state officials, including Consumer Advocate Jeff Ono and the Public Utilities Commission. On Monday, she said she wasn’t making any progress in getting a commitment from HELCO to fix the problem.
By Friday, the company had agreed to set up a meeting with affected residents. Awai said she thought the problem may extend to parts of Ehako Street, Ehako Place and several others.
The problem on Awai’s street stems back decades, to when the subdivision was first built in the early 1970s. At the time, builders dug a trench and just laid the electrical line down, without any insulation, she said. Years later, the wires are simply degrading and causing power outages. The solution, she said, would be to dig up the lines and lay new line.
Despite making several complaints earlier this year, Awai said HELCO really only responded this week, after the messages were sent to the PUC and a neighbor contacted HELCO’s distribution manager, Roger Keller.
“He told me, ‘Your section is the worst and we need to start with your section,’” Awai said.
Some of her neighbors are skeptical, she added.
A date for the meeting has not yet been set.
West Hawaii Today attempts to reach HELCO President Jay Ignacio in regard to the Waikoloa Village complaints began Monday. He returned one call on Thursday, leaving a voice message, but could not be reached on Friday.
