GULP.....WAPA bill....

All my friends are telling me the same thing. Did you read the letter to the editor in Friday's Daily News about WAPA and their monopoly? I had a solar hot water heater put in and thought I wasn't saving as much as they said I would until I heard everyone else's bill increased by $100-$150.

Haven't read it yet, guess I need to make it a point now. Geez.

Yes, Becky, there is something rotten going on, My bill (sure, I have a business and thus a lot of my electric bill goes towards coolers, refrigerators and freezers) but my last bill went up by ONE THIRD. I finally got through to WAPA after two days (who admitted they had only ONE customer service representative working - hello?!) and requested a re-read of my meter. The representative pointed out that last month was a 29 day reading, this month was a 32 day reading (yes, I acknowledged that) and that there had been a 20% rate increase (ditto, I knew that too) but what I was reading was the average daily KW use which was much higher than usual.

This while I continuously try to economize and reduce my dependency on electricity, turning on and turning off lights as late or as early as possible and replacing common light bulbs with energy-saving low wattage alternatives.

All these increases negatively affect everyone on the food chain from the high-end users down to the household consumers. Prices rise accordingly all along the line.

WAPA has been shuffling its decrepit feet for at least a couple of decades, only seriously looking into alternative energy sources at the last minute and then with less than educated bases. Their recent foray into alternative wind energy sources fell flat on its duff. I researched the internet on windmills when they first entered into a contract to install them and even though I'm not an engineer, it quickly became apparent to me that they were planning a purchase of windmill technology that was already outdated. Cheapie deals on redundant windmill technology abound! The deal fell through for many reasons (DUH!)

Affordable solar technology (what better place to utilize it and WAPA should have gone that route donkey's years ago) and how about simply temporarily crippling the VI Government in order to FORCE them to pay up the millions owed to WAPA?

WAPA continuously shuffles its feet where the huge government debt is concerned, occasionally making demands and even occasionally cutting off power to (non-essential) government entities when the s*** hits the fan and the people get fed up. In the meantime, households are shut off regularly, small businesses likewise, and government spending on nonsense sweet deals continues unabated.

Ouch, you got BAD STT Resident on a roll. Cheers.

This one was almost a mess.... The landlord was going to be gone for a couple of months and we/she prepaid the bill for that period of time (June and July) and a little over just to be sure - she just got the WAPA bill yesterday - they even suspended the bill while she was gone - and we were due to be shut off. I think the WAPA readers just guess-timated it and went on their way - I was prepared to go talk with them and see what was what, and she seemed to think it was best to leave well enough alone and see if they come read the meter. You could tell - she's kinda scared of those folks!

My rates per KWH.

March: .176346
May: .182278
July: .218920

That's an increase of 25% since March. I couldn't find any other bills or I would have posted more data.

$120 one year ago
$297 last month

No air conditioning, timer on water heater, energy saving bulbs, fans only on in rooms we are in and everything turned off while we are gone. Still the bill goes way up. Soon only the rich can afford their electric bills. I found it crazy when the hospital in STX goes on generator power a couple of times a week to save on it's electric bill. There are some resorts on STT that completely run on generator power all the time. Anyway, it is crazy and WAPA will be forced to do something, I just hope it isn't to shut down.

Teresa

Just as a follow-up. Yesterday afternoon there was a vehicle in my parking lot with two guys outside the vehicle looking and pointing at the overhead transformer while a third guy sat inside the vehicle. Went out to ask them what was going on. They were from Point Pleasant, with the one guy the Property Director and the other guy the onsite electrical contractor. Point Pleasant was apparently having electrical problems in many units and when they pointed me towards the transformer on the pole, i quickly saw that one of the attached gizmos was hanging loose. They had called WAPA close to an hour beforehand and then, I guess knowing which transformer their power came from, came out to check out.

To cut a long story short, I came back into my place and called WAPA on the "Line Department" number and was told that a truck was on the way. Over an hour and three calls later from me, and taking out cold bottled water to them (the guys from Point Pleasant on their cellphones kept being cut off), a WAPA truck finally arrived.

I went out and asked the WAPA guys if they could check the voltage from the transformer because in the meantime I'd spoken to my neighbour who had experienced fluctuations similar to mine - refrigerators suddenly working overtime and freezing certain things, etc., last bill up like crazy, and this one WAPA guy got all testy with me for no real reason. I guess, unfortunately, he assumed that because I was white I wouldn't understand his local talk. But I did. He first said he couldn't check the voltage from the transformer out and then his partner butted in and said yes that could be done. They didn't check it.

Went over to talk again to my good neighbour and the WAPA duo fiddled around with the dangling thing, replaced it and then huge "BANG!" My neighbour wasn't really laughing but he said basically that of course they should have first checked WHY the doofangle popped before just going ahead to replace it.

And he said that he just doesn't mess with these guys any more. Local problems he won't get involved with either and he's a bahn-here. This is a 51 year old National Guardsman who just came back from an 18 month Afghanistan trip who has much to say but only on the QT.

After the big bang, everybody left. An hour later another WAPA truck was here to repair whatever.

And thus the beat goes on.

Cheers!

May - $159, June $275, July $349
All without increasing use and no A/C in the house. It's definitely nuts.

OMG - no cooling??????? WOW.
Note to STT RES....Last yr La Grand P'cess on StX...big bang - lost power - waited and waited - WAPA came - replaced unit - switched on - big bang - go back to replaced unit and REPEAT!!!!! I kid you not - they blew TWO replacement units before the penny dropped! Incompetant crooks and thieves. Many very good employees - I think problem is from "foreman" on up.

Just wondering what the price per kWh is on STT? That's the best way to see how expensive it really is (as long as they are being honest with the meter readings of course)

thanks

Add me to the ripped off -- we went from $260 to $352 during the last cycle. We shut everyting off when weleave the room except ceiling fans in our bedroom, office and kitchen that are running FT. We started using one floor fan PT to supplement cooling on some of the hotter daytime hours, but it's off most nights and only runs on low when it's on. That could not account for close to a $100/to fightening to write percentage increase in 30 days. Did anyone get a line item listing of an $83.20 customer usage charge (which is not kw used, etc.). That seems to be almost the whole of our massive jump. (Haven't read the LTE yet, so forgive me if any of this is covered there.)

--HC

Have never looked at the KW but am starting to quickly pay attention to it.
My last three months went like this.
May 869KW Used $256.01
June 1027 KW Used $322.37
July 1937 KW Used $662.58
Had guest in July so was expecting a jump but not quite as much as I got. This month I am back on throttle back mode

David,

What was your actual KWpH on those months?

On your bill it appears as the 6th item down:

RES LEAC @

As far as I can tell it's the only one that fluctuates.

Rich,
I dont actually get to see the WAPA bill. I am at the mercy of my Condo Association that presents me with the electric and water bill on my monthly statement.
I am going to find out what day they read the meters so I can chart it myself...not that I dont trust them.

I was at the PO today but there was no WAPA bill and now I'm afraid to go back!

I know that our electricity is cheaper here in NW, but this is staggering. our bill for 1400kW this month including all the wind energy surcharges, taxes et al, was 100 dollars and 3cents. By David's tariff it would be over 470 dollars.
Nearly 5x the cost. Hmmmmm.

jane, you said a mouthful. I pay more inflation adjusted $$ here for the 4.5 running ceiling fans/no ac, fridge, freezer, washer (we line dry), dishwasher free, two computer two TV, plus 20 gal water heater and water pump pump home than for an only slightly less sqf snow belt home that had both dryer and dishwasher in addition to everything we have here,*and* relied on electric heatt.

Not to mention that this snow belt power company offered a budgeting plan that allowed you to pay the same amount every month based on the last-year's monthly average use. It was wonderful -- prevented sticker shock in the winter months and the monthly payment was only adjusted once each year. How I miss it now that we're playing WAPA bill roulette!

--HC

Would u have any hope of something like a class action suit?
I mean, ordinary people spending 5 - 6,000 after tax dollars a year on electricity is criminal (or should be)

We have not been "on island" since April, and our WAPA bill has been about $25 going up to $28 per month. All we have on in the condo is the fridge and the hot water heater ( can't get to the plug to turn it off without pulling it out).
Will let you know if this changes.

Our WAPA bill for a 1400sq ft house was 315.00 last month. We unplug everything we arent using, turn off any fan in any room we aren't in and run air in one room for 4 hours at night and we have all new energy efficient light bulbs.
My husband went into WAPA since we couldn't get anyone on the phone. They said they would send someone out to read the meter. The person who lived in the house before us averaged 75.00 per month and he ran the air all night. I heard they went around the island and locked the meters a few months ago and when this happened, rates seemed to continue to go up..(besides the 20% price hike). Just an assumption, but do you think it was possible for WAPA to speed the meters up when they were "locking" the boxes? I don't know how those things work, but I was just wondering.

Here in Los Angeles I pay on the average for a two month period, both water and power anywhere from $250.00 to $310.00 when the A/C comes on.

So question??? Are you all saying that these charges are for ONE MONTH

promoguy,

Yes, that is exactly what we are saying.

--HC

My condo is empty and my bill doubled this month from last??? Yes there is definately something up!

Doesn't WAPA get thier oil from Hovensa? If so, what would rising oil prices have to do with anything? I know Hovensa is currently selling gas to the local stations at 2.26 per gallon.
I think this island is a place where you either completely love it or hate it. The scenery is wonderful, but right now, the gov't and WAPA have me so mad that I can't see much else clearly.