Downtown business sluggish return after power blackout

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Several Downtown Honolulu businesses said Thursday’s power outage resulted in big losses, they said food items had to be tossed, large catering orders were canceled and business was not looking any better by the following day.

It was a sluggish return for business owners after Downtown went dark Thursday. 

The owner of Jojo’s Kitchen, Jo Anne Washburn said, food, time and money went down the drain. 

Washburn said, “This is an order that I started getting ready for today’s order, it was a really large order that got canceled because everyone got sent home yesterday from the outage.”

Hawaiian Electric said the power outage lasted about nine hours. Offices and businesses closed early for the day. 

The owner of Honolulu Rose Cake Shop, Selena Pak said business remained slow on Friday. 

“It’s actually pretty slow for a Friday I would say,” said Pak. “A lot of small businesses are doing their best to come back after a whole day of chaos yesterday.”

Pak and several other shop owners plan on filing a damage claim with HECO. 

According to HECO, customers have the right to file a claim for compensation for any loss caused by the outage and customers have 30 days from the date of an outage to file. 

A HECO spokesperson said the most current information on filed claims is from 2022, with 943 claims filed for Oahu, Maui and the Big Island. The company paid out $249,579.86.

The state’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs said after trying to resolve an issue directly with a utility like HECO, consumers can also file an information complaint with the PUC allowing consumers to describe the complaint and any desired outcome. 

HECO said Wednesday night’s underground cable power outage that prompted Thursday’s event remains under investigation, adding Downtown’s network is now stable.