HIGH WAPA BILL

Hi jewelrygirl,

House or apt/condo? What size, how many people, A/C, etc.?

We have a 3 bedroom house, about 1600 sq. ft, but only 2 people, so we don't do much in 2 of the bedrooms, other than an occasional light for 5 minutes. No A/C usage, but we do lots of laundry, run the dishwasher everyday, sometimes twice, fans going all the time, usual amount of lights, TV, computer, etc. We don't regulate the hot water heater or anything else. Hubby takes quickie showers, but I let it run, and run! Our bill was $195.

Our highest ever was $225, and we had company using the A/C in the guest room and the second hot water heater.

"Occupy WAPA" movement. I believe the hope is to get some federal regulations to decrease the amount they can charge. See the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/ProtestWAPA?sk=wall

Juanita - it's a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo. It's on the Antilles Resort rental program, so I don't know how many people but I'm going to be taking it off. I can't afford it.

I posted on this. Thanks.

1200 sq ft condo.....no a/c, only fans. Only turn hot water on 2 hours before we use the dishwasher, which is 2-3 times/week. Don't use the clothes dryer, hang everything outside Take military showers...yuk!

Turn every light off when I can.

Last bill total electric and water....less than $400

Oh, it's a rental? Vacation rental? Of course your WAPA bills are going to be insane. No one cares/don't know to conserve energy when on vacation. Heck, they could have left your AC on when they left. You might consider researching new technology that allows you to control/monitor your AC usage over the internet.

Tourists don't have a clue. They figure they are paying for the unit and deserve ice cold air. They don't want to turn the a/c off when they leave for the day because they want to walk into a cold room. I don't know what the answer is. Most of the hotel management groups are hesitant to say anything, but I don't know how the owners do it. Maybe air conditioner units where you have to put your credit card in to run? 😉

Before you pull it off the short term rental, do a little math. Check with ARM and see what the winter reservations look like for your unit, and CC in general. I'm hearing that alot of places on stx have really good winter bookings for the first year in a long time. That's when you make your money, and the wapa 'should' be less consumption-wise once winter sets in (though there's no telling with tourists from whereever). You might want to hang on through easter if it looks like your occupancy will be high enough, and if they are holding close to winter rates as opposed to big discounts, so you can pull in some of that money. Off season is when the owners really lose...low rack rate, high discounts, low occupancy and high a/c use, as well as the free nights you have to give the management company etc. You might also consider whether your unit is energy efficient...CFL lightbulbs, low flow showerheads, settings on your water heater etc....

On stx you will absolutely make more money with a long term rental. We just do not have the short term rentals like stt and stj. It will mean you can't stay in your unit when you visit. In my opinion getting my mortgage paid is worth having to stay in a hotel. But people who put units on the short term rental market usually see it as a second home/and a way to make extra money. A honest realtor will tell you will generally never Make money. You will hopefully get your mortgage paid and gain equity. But any extra you make will generally go towards repairs/maintenance. At least on stx.

Juanita, that's interesting. I have a condo, about 1600 sq. ft., don't run the A/C, rarely run the dishwasher, no more than three laundry loads per week (usually dry at least one outside), normal computer/TV/cable usage. My WAPA bill was nearly $250 this month! I'd be interested to know why there's such a discrepancy. What's your consumption amount, consumption rate and the LEAC rate on your bill?

Current bill, dated 10/14 -

434 kwh
customer charge $5.54
Consumption charge $36.13
LN LOSS (?) .95
Pilot sur .30
LEAC $152.86

Total: $195.78

Also, none of our apartments are out of line. A little higher than usual, but nothing to make you scream!

just looked at the bill for one of our houses...2 bed, with all the usual appliances, and a 20x40 pool. Two people, one stay-at-home, one employed, the customary occasional stateside family visitors. Electric clothes dryer, gas stove, elec HW heater. Average usage has been 533 kwh, and bill has never hit $250 in past 3 years. Believe they rarely used either the a/cs or the dishwasher, but 2 TVs, etc...Had 2 refrigerators running for a while as well.

Average usage has been 533 kwh, and bill has never hit $250 in past 3 years.

If if that is your average beachy, be careful and conserve; you can soon reach over $250 with our current electric rates.

There are motion sensors of some sort have seen for a/c split units in a short term rental unit. Even if you are sleeping, it knows you are there. I think it shuts off 15 minutes or so after you leave the room. Probably heat activated. I need to find the brand so I can get some, as my bill is hardly ever under $2000.per month with six a/c units, 5 water heaters, and a washer/dryer and occasional water pump. I have installed on demand water heaters in two rooms, and am about to put timers or switches on the others, while I figure out if the on demand heaters are better or to just move to solar.
Trouble is, of course, how do you want someone on vacation to return to a hot room? I have seen a sign in one place that asked you to be energy conscious and turn off units when you leave, as they do cool the room rapidly. Sometimes that works.

The rates are the rates, we can only control consumption. Considering we are running a pool as well as a house, this is a pretty low amount. The same consumption 2 years ago was billed at about $135.

We have seen window A/C units controlled somehow by a motion sensor and I believe a thermostat..I could not actually figure out how it was working, and it was not great at night while one was asleep, as it would get pretty warm before the unit would go on...but I'm sure it reduced consumption. Additionally, another place had a switch at the door that was controlled by your roomdoor key card...turning the a/c on and off as you entered and left. Easy to defeat though if you had two key cards.

I just returned from Jamaica, where power rates are even higher than the VI. In the hotel, in order to power up the room, you had to put your hotel key into a reader. When you leave the room, everything shuts down automatically as you have to take your card with you. Guess that works if there's only one card.... Not sure how much the reader system costs. Name of hotel was Spanish Court in Kingston if you're interested.

We have 3 rooms that we rent so we put separate meters on our A/C units. We decided on this instead of a 10 to 20 percent energy surcharge which most hotels and Inns are charging now. I don't want the guests that do conserve to have to pay an energy surcharge.
We let them know ahead of time that A/C is extra. We can give them a print out of exactly how much they used.
Here is the link. http://ekmmetering.com/Products.html
It's funny how little they use the A/C when they know they have to pay for it. Most guests just use it at night while they sleep.

Right on, margaritagirl! Very cool (pun intended) policy. I hope you also explain to them why this type of conservation here is so important for business owners. Maybe we can spread the word about WAPA!!

We all need to be a part of this...

Protest WAPA on Facebook