3,700 lose power in Hilo

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An undetermined problem at a Puueo substation resulted in much of Hilo losing power at 2:28 a.m. Wednesday.

An undetermined problem at a Puueo substation resulted in much of Hilo losing power at 2:28 a.m. Wednesday.

Nearly 3,700 Hawaii Electric Light Co. customers lost power, many for more than two hours. Repair crews responded immediately.

“We had to reroute power to get customers back on, and we’re working to complete repairs,” said HELCO spokeswoman Rhea Lee-Moku on Wednesday.

At about 3:52 a.m., power was restored to 1,000 customers. Then, at 4:05 a.m., 1,500 more customers got their power back. The remaining nearly 1,200 customers had power restored by 4:49 a.m.

“It’s a process of switching them to another circuit,” Lee-Moku said.

Repairs were expected to be completed Wednesday, she said.

No additional power outages were expected.

Lee-Moku said customers would be switched back to their original circuits once repairs were complete.

Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.