JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Shuttered businesses can be seen along Maunakea Street during a power outage in Chinatown on Tuesday.
1 /2 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Shuttered businesses are seen along Maunakea Street during a power outage in Chinatown on Tuesday.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Chun’s Meat Market used a gas generator, seen at center, during a power outage in Chinatown on Tuesday.
2 /2 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Chun’s Meat Market used a gas-powered generator, seen at center, during a power outage in Chinatown on Tuesday.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Shuttered businesses can be seen along Maunakea Street during a power outage in Chinatown on Tuesday.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Chun’s Meat Market used a gas-powered generator, seen at center, during a power outage in Chinatown on Tuesday.
Q: Regarding the extended power outage in Chinatown, will Hawaiian Electric seriously consider claims for lost business revenue, or just for damaged equipment or inventory (spoiled food, slate, etc.)?
Q: If HECO accepts responsibility for the outage, what exactly will they cover in the claims? This has been frustrating enough. I don’t want to submit a claim that has no chance of being approved.
Question: Does HECO have a set upper limit for claim payments, per claim? Is there a maximum amount that it will pay out in the event of a claim, regardless of the actual damage?
Answer: There is no preset maximum amount per claim, but beyond that we were unable to clarify exactly what types of damage and losses from Hawaiian Electric Co.’s power outages. will or will not cover during the power outage that lasted about 67 hours for some. Customers from Chinatown and Downtown Honolulu, Monday evening through Thursday afternoon; others lost power for a shorter period. A total of 3,000 customers, many of which were multi-unit buildings, were affected by some or all of the outages.
By order of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, under what is known as Rule 16, HECO must review any claim filed “and shall compensate Customer for any loss, cost, damage or expense as determined by the Company and within the control of the Company.”
HECO has filing instructions on its website, including on a claim form () listing damaged electrical appliances, food and ‘other items’, but is silent on lost income or wages, as documented for example by canceled reservations at restaurants that went dark or services by hours were not fulfilled at companies that could not open.
The website says claims must be made within 30 days of the outage, have supporting evidence, customers should not expect immediate responses and customers must have taken reasonable steps to protect their equipment.
Questions about the extent of covered losses from this outage were asked at HECO’s press conference on Thursday, but executives provided no details. We reached out to a company spokesperson on Friday, but he declined to clarify.
“In fairness to our customers and the claims process, we hesitate to speculate on the types of losses that will be covered. Each failure is unique and each claim is assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account its own facts and circumstances. We must complete the investigation into the root cause of this outage before we can make a decision on what will or will not qualify for the claims process,” spokesperson Darren Pai said in an email.
Regarding claim limits, he said: “We don’t have a cap. We review and consider the claim for loss in its entirety, and require that the loss be substantiated with documentation, whether that be invoices, previous tax documents, etc. Everything is based on what the loss was, and evidence or substantiation of that loss. ”
At Thursday’s press conference, Jim Kelly, HECO’s vice president for government and community relations and corporate communications, said he did not know if HECO has ever paid claims for lost business revenue during a power outage. “I have no information or background on that. “I don’t want to give a list of things that people can or can’t commit to,” he said.
He previously said: ‘I don’t want to stand here and tell people what they can and can’t make a claim for. I think they should fill out the form as best they can and submit it, and then someone will contact them.
Q: When is the primary and when will we receive our ballots?
A: The Hawaii primaries are on August 10. Registered voters will receive their ballots in the mail by July 23, according to the state elections office. Voted ballots must be received by the County Elections Division before the close of voting on August 10 (scheduled for 7:00 PM) and cannot simply be mailed that day with a postmark.
To answer another reader’s question: yes, voters can learn more about individuals running for office on the election office website, in candidate reports that list the contest, party, ballot name, legal name, the individual’s postal address, email address, telephone number and campaign. website, if they have one. Closer to the primaries, the agency will post a digital voter guide on the homepage.
“We expect the guide, which will also need to be translated into Chinese, Hawaiian, Ilocano and Tagalog, to be ready for voters by mid-July before ballots reach homes,” said Scott T. Nago, chief election officer. in an email.
Candidates submitted information for the guide when they filed their nomination papers. “For the most part, we had a good participation rate as the majority of candidates submitted a photo and statement,” he said.
Trail closure The Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline, a state park, and the Makapuu Lighthouse Trail are expected to be closed Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. while crews remove de-energized power lines. “The U.S. Coast Guard, which operates the Makapu ‘u Lighthouse, has requested that Hawaiian Electric Company remove unused power lines along the lighthouse path to mitigate the fire,” the Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a news release. Both the Makapuu Overlook upper parking lot and the main parking lot at the lighthouse trailhead are closed during this time, the spokesperson said.
Mahalo Thank you to the man who held up traffic so I could cross Kapiolani Boulevard to the Ala Moana Center. I had the cross signal, but the countdown is going too fast for some of us kupuna! He was walking too, but faster than me, and slowed my pace so I wasn’t alone. – A Reader ———— Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.—————
