Two years after powerful earthquakes rattled the Islands and cut power across O'ahu for about 15 hours, some 1,440 residents who filed claims for spoiled food or damaged electronics are still waiting for their checks.

"It is very frustrating," said John Biazo of Nu'uanu, who submitted a claim for more than $2,000 to Hawaiian Electric Co. for damaged electronics — including a television and sound system — and food that went bad with no refrigeration.

"If you don't pay your electric bill, they just turn it off. They haven't paid their bill in over two years," he said.

For now, though, Biazo and others with pending claims will have to keep waiting.

HECO has said it will not make a decision on the claims until the state Public Utilities Commission issues its final report on the massive outage. The PUC report, initiated shortly after the earthquakes on Oct. 15, 2006, is expected to be released by December.

The PUC is investigating whether HECO could have done more to avoid the outage or to restore service sooner. HECO spokesman Darren Pai declined to speculate on what the report would have to say for the utility to approve the claims.

Claims following other outages have been granted on a case-by-case basis, Pai said.

One of the considerations in evaluating those claims, he added, is if "the outage was within our control or not," and the 2006 outage, he said, was "caused by an earthquake."

"We understand that it's been very frustrating for our customers to wait so long for a decision on their claims," Pai said. "This is like filing an insurance claim. Until the Public Utilities Commission comes to a conclusion ... we're not finalizing them (the claims)."

A total dollar amount for the claims was not available.

State Consumer Advocate Catherine Awakuni said she has heard from people awaiting claims, and said she understands why they are so frustrated with the wait. But she said she also understands why HECO is waiting to decide on the claims until the final PUC report is released.

"In laymen's terms," Awakuni said yesterday, "if it's not HECO's fault, then it need not pay on those kinds of claims."

Awakuni said for HECO to honor the claims, the report would likely have to rule that "HECO's actions and performance prior to and during the power outage were inadequate."

DOMINO EFFECT

The blackout was blamed on false readings caused by the earthquakes. Those false readings triggered an automatic shutdown of two key HECO generators, which in turn caused other systems to shut down. HECO disabled the automatic shutdown after the incident, and has made other improvements to prevent a similar outage.

"Every major emergency provides an opportunity for improvement — and this earthquake was no exception," Pai said, adding engineering and communications upgrades were made after the quakes. "We've applied those lessons and made significant changes."

In filings with the PUC, Awakuni said a lack of preparation and training for key employees at HECO could have played a role in the length of the outage — not necessarily the outage itself. HECO disputed that claim, but Awakuni recently stood by her initial findings in follow-up documentation for the final PUC report on the outage.

"At the time of the earthquake, the HECO Companies' training programs for plant and system operators lacked formalized tests, practiced simulation, certification, re-qualification and record keeping," Awakuni said, in a Sept. 19 letter to the PUC.

More than 291,000 HECO customers were left without power following the earthquakes — 6.7 and 6.0 magnitude temblors off the Big Island. Awakuni said she does believe HECO has made significant improvements since the quakes, including replacing equipment, improving training and planning better for different contingencies.

"I think they have taken all of the recommendations from their consultant and our consultant to heart," Awakuni said, "and are trying to work to correct known deficiencies."