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Hi - We purchased a home in St Thomas and the current owners have net metering agreement in place with WAPA from 2013. I'm reading a little about this and cannot find anywhere that says if this can be transferred to the new home owners, does any one have experience purchasing a home that had this agreement in place and is it transferable.
Also, I see some articles from the fall about a new net metering program, is that in place yet and is it comparable to the old one?
Thanks for your help!
Posted : May 30, 2020 8:43 am
Your realtor should be able to answer this question. However, I know people who have purchased homes with original net metering contracts and they continue to use the system installed by the previous owner without issues. Your 2013 installed net metering would be the original contract.
With original net metering contracts, WAPA pays for your power generation at retail rate dollar for dollar and your credit covers fees. Most original net metering customers pay no WAPA bill but you still need to plan for an alternative power source during outages - and you contractually can't integrate batteries into your grid linked system.
With next generation net metering contracts, WAPA purchases your solar at a discounted rate and you have to pay monthly fees with cash. You can integrate battery storage into a next generation system though you can't sell your stored power to WAPA.
https://stcroixsource.com/2019/09/10/new-net-metering-plan-in-the-works/
Posted : May 30, 2020 11:39 am
When we bought our home 4 years ago on STX it transferred with the sale. I had someone on island set up my WAPA account, so i'm not sure if there were any forms to fill out to complete this.
Posted : May 31, 2020 3:32 pm
We closed on our house on St Croix in December.
The seller gave me a copy of their WAPA bill and I took it with me when I had the power changed to my name. They were on the 'original' net metering program from 2012 (like the house you're looking at).
I was 'grandfathered' into original program and signed a new net metering agreement in my name showing that.
The entire process took about 30-45 minutes once I sat down with the customer service representative.
They did charge me a $55 deposit, but the process was pretty smooth. Having the previous owner's bill where they could get the meter number and verify that it fell under the original program was helpful.
Best of luck!
Posted : May 31, 2020 7:40 pm
Alana33 reacted
The old net metering program is vastly superior to the new one. Its probably the most generous net metering program in N. America. Its a huge selling feature for homeowners lucky enough to have it. It is transferable.
Posted : June 1, 2020 8:25 am
Topic starter
Thank you everyone, I think we got all the information we need and I appreciate those that have experience with this. We are headed to WAPA in a few weeks to get this all figured out!
Posted : June 1, 2020 9:52 am
