Customer Installation Frequently Asked Questions

These requests may include the following:

• Installation of a new overhead service to a new weatherhead/meter socket combination or to a temporary overhead service pole.
• Installation of a new underground service to a new splice can/meter socket combination or to a temporary underground service stand.
• Swingover of an existing overhead service to a temporary overhead service pole.
• Tie-in of an existing underground service to a temporary underground service stand.
• Upgrade of an electrical service requiring a single overhead service conductor or a single underground service cable.

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

The process can take 3 to 4 months to complete. Survey work must be completed, the easement map created, the easement documents prepared, executed (signed and notarized), and finally recorded. Once the easement document is recorded, your project can be scheduled. Please note: After the signed and notarized documents are received, it may take another 2 to 3 weeks for the documents to be recorded (with the State of Hawaii’s Bureau of Conveyances).

In most cases, there is no cost for the preparation and recording of the easement document. The only cost you may incur would be survey costs if you decide to hire your own surveyor to expedite the survey process. That would be a separate, non-Hawaiian Electric cost you would incur.

If your electrician or contractor has already called Hawaiian Electric’s Customer Installation Division to request electrical service to your temporary pole, then please contact your assigned Hawaiian Electric planner or one of our customer clerks (808) 543-7070 to obtain or check status of the schedule.

If not, please have your electrician or contractor call Hawaiian Electric’s Customer Installation Division at (808) 543-7070 to request electrical service to your temporary pole. You may refer to the following link for timelines.

• Residential Customer brochure (PDF)