LIHUE — An islandwide power outage left many homes and businesses in the dark Monday night and Kauai Island Utility Cooperative asking customers to conserve energy to help weather the situation. KIUC spokesman Jim Kelly said their largest generator is
LIHUE — An islandwide power outage left many homes and businesses in the dark Monday night and Kauai Island Utility Cooperative asking customers to conserve energy to help weather the situation.
KIUC spokesman Jim Kelly said their largest generator is down for maintenance through this week, and when the second generator went offline due to a mechanical problem about 5:45 p.m., different areas ost electricity.
KIUC brought all other generators online to keep up with demand, which was high because it was a peak time when people are getting home from work, making dinner, doing laundry and turning on the TV and lights.
Kelly said it was “real close” for KIUC to provide enough power, and for a couple periods when it tripped back off.
The cooperative issued a request on its Facebook site: “You can help by shutting off any unnecessary appliances, lights and equipment.”
“We’re asking people to conserve,” Kelly said.
He said if residents reduced power use through 9 p.m., KIUC should get through the emergency without further problems.
The power outage affected different areas of Lihue, Kapaa, Koloa and other parts of Kauai.
The generator being repaired is expected to be back on line next week. The generator that suffered mechanical problems will be repaired as soon as possible.
“Hopefully, we will not have this issue tomorrow,” Kelly said.
