Frequently Asked Questions

Please see the following link regarding New Service or Upgrade Request.

• Residential Customer brochure (PDF)

Yes. In general, underground service requests take longer because Hawaiian Electric and the Customer are dealing with electric cables that are not visible and the exact location of which are unknown until a scan or tone-out of the ground is performed. In addition, trenching and excavation are usually involved with the installation of underground services. Planning the underground work also requires more coordination (e.g. inspection of trench and underground duct, survey for easement (if needed, etc.).

Your assigned Hawaiian Electric planner should be providing you the best customer service by providing you the necessary company requirements that will meet local City & State Codes in addition to current standards in our manual while maintaining safety for our customers and Hawaiian Electric employees. Any deviation from the manual or our standards should be discussed with your planner ahead of construction and will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Your assigned Hawaiian Electric planner can inspect your meter socket 5-7 business days after your contractor notifies the planner that the installation of your meter socket has been completed and is ready for inspection, or 5-7 business days after the planner receives the inspection release (aka approval) from the City & County of Honolulu’s Electrical Inspection Department.

Hawaiian Electric has standard policies and procedures to follow in order to provide electrical service to our customers. Multiple jobs are continuously being issued to our Transmission & Distribution Operations Department (T&D Ops). T&D Ops handles all construction and maintenance work in addition to service installations and emergency work. T&D Ops will schedule service installations on a first come, first served basis depending on when the jobs are issued.

Please contact your assigned Hawaiian Electric planner or one of our customer clerks (808) 543-7070.

Yes. The electric meter needs to be located near or at the front of the house, as required per Hawaiian Electric’s current Electric Service Installation Manual. Please note that this requirement is not only to benefit Hawaiian Electric. This requirement takes safety into account, allowing the Honolulu Fire Department, other safety personnel, or individuals to easily find the meter socket in the event it would need to be shut off at the main breaker.

Obtaining easements allows us to ensure that we have land rights needed to provide service to you and your neighbors. Hawaiian Electric updated its criteria for easements based on issues we’ve encountered that have delayed our ability to repair, maintain or reinstall facilities. Without easements, repairs to service interruptions may be delayed if Hawaiian Electric must acquire permission from one or more landowners to access our facilities.

Factors that may determine if Hawaiian Electric will require an easement include but are not limited to:

• Customers have multiple meters served by one (1) electrical service drop/cable
• Customers have a long or extended electrical service drop/cable that may include or require the installation of Hawaiian Electric infrastructure such as a service pole or handhole (pullbox)
• Customer is able to sub-divide or “condominiumize” his/her/their property anytime in the future, regardless of whether the property will remain in the family
• Proposed new electrical service requires Hawaiian Electric infrastructure such as a distribution pole, handhole (pullbox), or polemount/padmount transformer to be installed on the customer’s property