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Thousands lose power during Super Bowl broadcast

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

HPD directed traffic at the intersection of Kamehameha Highway and Pali Highway due to power outages today.

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HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC CO.

Hawaiian Electric has an online outage map with updated information on outages. Click here for the map.

Thousands of Hawaii football fans may have experienced power interruptions during today’s Super Bowl because of the wind.

A Hawaiian Electric Co. spokeswoman said the utility has been responding to a number of wind-related outages in Windward Oahu today, including in Kaneohe, Kailua, Kahuku, and Hawaii Kai.

“The situation has been fluid as some customers may have experienced several momentary flickers or a prolonged outage,” said Sharon Higa, HECO spokeswoman.

She said additional crews were working today and were responding as quickly as possible to reports of outages.

Higa said HECO appreciated customers’ patience as strong winds blew across Oahu. Parts of the island were under a wind advisory from noon today to 6 p.m. Monday.

At about 4:20 p.m., HECO’s Twitter page reported thousands of customers without power: 1,300 in Maunawili, 4,845 in Kaneohe, and 1,080 in Hawaii Kai.

Earlier, at 2:30 p.m. HECO’s outage map reported multiple outages in Kaneohe, Kailua, Hawaii Kai, and Aina Haina.

More than 3,000 customers were affected by an outage in Heeia and Kaneohe. Some 1,700 customers experienced an hour-long outage in Hahaione, Hawaii Kai, and Kuliouou, according to the map where HECO customers can also report outages.

HECO responded via Twitter to several irate customers commenting about the power interruptions during the game.

April Otte Duggan said on Twitter that the power went out for the 6th time at about 2:15 p.m.

“I have only seen 3 minutes of game.. grrrr,” she wrote.

Super Bowl LI started at 1:30 p.m. and was in the fourth quarter just before 5 p.m.

“Thank you for your patience,” HECO responded to Duggan on Twitter. “Crews are currently addressing.”

33 responses to “Thousands lose power during Super Bowl broadcast”

  1. MrsCD says:

    Hawaiian electric SUX! We need competition to bring down cost and increase quality!

  2. wrightj says:

    Lady Gaga was awesome.

  3. littleyoboboy says:

    Atlanta Falcons had power outage too!

  4. paniolo says:

    Didn’t this happen years ago during another Super Bowl?

  5. CriticalReader says:

    Y’all need to lay off HECO. I saw the game. IT WAS GREAT!!! BEST SUPER BOWL EVER!! Amazing comeback by the Pats. Every moment of the second half was “edge of your seat”. Each possession ater the half was do or die. Was definitely a “watching history” experience. Couldn’t leave the TV for a second ’cause you never knew what you might miss. Amazing. Every single play mattered. Can’t imagine not being able to watch. But then again, wouldn’t have known what I was missing if there hadn’t been electrical power. THANK YOU HECO for providing sufficient power so I could see the game.

    • wave1 says:

      Yea, I had power, and had my 2kw Honda tensest just in case…Boy Scout always prepared…

    • dtpro1 says:

      What??? How about HECO why is it that power goes out on semi-gusty but routine winter storms? First a strong trade wind event the other week and now strong South Westerlies ahead of a cold front that happens multiple times every winter. PUC and Consumer advocate, where are you? Grid reliability is a big deal! If routine inclement weather causes this much mayhem then what happens when we have a real storm?

  6. 2liveque says:

    what can go wrong will go wrong. Power delivery during highly popular event….and second half for the falcons.

  7. lokela says:

    Mother nature was relentless. Winds was mean.

  8. WalkoffBalk says:

    Obama’s fault. He controls the winds.

  9. mctruck says:

    What this situation shows is you don’t want this utility holding ALL the marbles; as recent articles show, HECO wants to eventually control anything related to SOLAR. Folks, don’t let that happen, make your voices count and let your political representatives know how you feel. SOLAR FOR EVERYONE, along with batteries as back-up for times like this.

    • cholo says:

      doesn’t matter who controls the grid, the simple fact is there is a limited supply of intermittent power that the grid can handle. energy storage solutions will improve that in the future when it becomes financially feasible and before anyone asks why solar farms are allowed when the nem and grid-supply programs have been discontinued the puc intentionally ended them earlier so there would still be room on the grid for solar farms. remember the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. a customer’s rooftop pv benefits only that customer (unless they let their credits expire) while solar farms benefit everybody with lower rates.

  10. juscasting says:

    A 10K tri-fuel back up gen set with a transfer switch installed into your homes grid will get you through all outages/emergencies if you don’t have PV with “Battry” back up or both like me! LOL!

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