The utility, in an ad signed by Mike May, president and chief executive officer, said it had a special apology to the people of the Wai'anae coast, where downed power poles caused extended electrical outrages and tied up traffic while crews worked to clean up the problem.

"We know the wait was very, very long for many people," the ad says. "And the traffic tie-ups along Farrington Highway — the Waianae Coast's sole major access road — added insult to injury for thousands of people, more in fact than were left without power."

The utility said that replacement poles erected in Nanakuli and Ma'ili are thicker and stronger than the original poles and that "with the community's blessing, even stronger ones are coming."