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After a vexing week in which chronic power failures disrupted last-minute holiday shopping, Ala Moana Center vendors returned to work today to find the mall’s balky power system back at full strength — just in time for the post-Christmas rush of returns, exchanges and post-holiday deal hunting.
Hawaiian Electric Co. confirmed that there were no reported outages at the shopping center.
A series of short circuits over four consecutive days last week left portions of the center in darkness, forcing dozens of stores to temporarily close.
While HECO crews worked almost nonstop over the weekend to replace a transformer at the Makaloa Street substation that was damaged by last Sunday’s heavy rains, rewiring normal backup power to keep lights and air conditioning working at the mall, and transitioning from back-up power back to normal service once the new transformer was installed.
