Kaneohe, Hawaii Power Outage Today

How reliable is Hawaiian Electric service in Kaneohe?

Hawaiian Electric is an investor-owned utility with 309,348 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 1.89 interruptions and 234 minutes (about 3.9 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted about 2.1 hours.

Major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately, made up about 27% of that time. Without them the average is 172 minutes, so weather matters here but ordinary equipment faults and tree contact account for most of the total.

The typical outage was repaired in about 2.1 hours.

For comparison, Hawaii as a whole averaged 321 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts Hawaiian Electric below the state average, which is better.

Among the 4 utilities in Hawaii with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, Hawaiian Electric ranks 1st for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 43% of the 926 utilities of that size reported more outage minutes in 2024.

This utility reports with its own method rather than the IEEE standard, so compare its numbers with other utilities loosely.

These are the figures the utility itself reported to the US Energy Information Administration (Form EIA-861, 2024) and describe the whole service territory, not one street. Your own address can be better or worse.

Storm season and outages in Kaneohe

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 358 storm reports for Honolulu County from 2015 through 2026, most often heavy rain (255), flash flood (69), flood (15), and debris flow (7). The busiest full year was 2018 with 58 reports and the quietest was 2025 with 6, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in March (57 since 2015), followed by October and September. October is one of the three busiest storm months here, so it is a good time to charge backup batteries and check the flashlights.

NOAA’s own narratives name power outages in 12 storm episodes in Honolulu County since 2015, most often in August. That count is a floor, since the database records outages only when a spotter or agency mentions them.

What the most common storm types in Kaneohe do to the grid:

• Heavy rain. Saturated ground topples shallow-rooted trees onto lines, and standing water slows crews trying to reach the damage.
• Flash flood. Floodwater reaches ground-level transformers, meters and low-lying substations. Utilities may shut power off ahead of the water on purpose, and wading near flooded equipment can electrocute.
• Debris flow. Debris flows take out poles and buried lines in steep terrain.

Storm reports that name Kaneohe

Within Honolulu County, 18 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Kaneohe as their location or in their description: heavy rain (10), flash flood (5), debris flow (1), and thunderstorm wind (1). That is about 5% of the county’s reports, so most of the county’s weather history happened elsewhere. Reports naming Kaneohe are most common in March. The busiest full year was 2018 with 5.

Who a power outage hits hardest in Kaneohe

Home heating in Kaneohe is mixed: 44.5% of occupied homes use electricity (US 41.3%) and 3% use piped natural gas. Either way, furnaces and heat pumps need grid power to run, so a winter outage means a cold house for most households.

Residents aged 65 or older are 25.7% of the population in Kaneohe, above the US share of 17.2% and 13.9% report a disability (US 13.3%). These are the households most likely to depend on powered medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines and refrigerated medicine. If someone in your home does, ask Hawaiian Electric whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 45.3% of the housing in Kaneohe was built before 1970 (US 35.5%), and older neighborhoods often have overhead service lines and mature trees close to the wires, which makes them more exposed to storm outages.

Median household income in Kaneohe is $125,613, above the Hawaii figure of $100,389, and home generators and batteries are correspondingly more common. If a neighbor runs one, keep the exhaust away from every window and door, including yours.

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 (housing, heating fuel, age and disability tables).

Backup power and electricity use in Kaneohe

The average Hawaiian Electric home used about 454 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 0.6 kW around the clock, and paid about 42.9 cents per kWh (42.9 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $195 a month.

Keeping only the essentials on (a refrigerator, router, a few lights and phone chargers, about 400 watts) through an outage that lasts the average about 2.1 hours takes less than 1 kWh. A portable power station or a power bank covers that; a generator is more than most households here need for a typical outage.

A generator must never run indoors, in a garage or near a window; generator and food-safety rules are in the power outage guide linked below.

If the power is out in Kaneohe

About 35,871 people live in Kaneohe, the 4th largest of the 4 Hawaii cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check Hawaiian Electric’s outage map for an estimate. If neighbors have power and you do not, report it again: the fault may be on the line to your house alone, which is a separate repair.

Kaneohe power outage map

Hawaiian Electric’s outage map has the official restoration estimate for your address; the count above comes from residents. Food and generator safety: power outage guide.

Kaneohe power outage questions