WAPA Bills

onika....i noticed a post a few days ago with someone speaking of the same problem. they were asking if they should contact WAPA to find out why......i'm not sure who posted it though.

Being new, we're not in a position to judge unusually high by USVI standards, but I do know that I was shocked by the cost of running as few appliances as we do on our last WAPA bill.

Oh, and I believe it was Island Paul who posted about the high bill. It was under the thread called somthing like "De-Humidifier - A bad idea?" and he said the August bill for the building he is in was about $400 and that only he and his lpandlord were even living there at the time. I'd check with him directly because it does sound like something is up. (Yes, I know -- the bills are up. *cheesey grin*)

HC

I don't know mine seemed high $110 for 2 weeks. But if you take into account how often the cistern pumps kick in, stove, refrig, and the like it seems reasonable. Although a`bit higher that in the states, although we were in Boston which was crazy.

Does anyone know the internet address to pay their WAPA bill online?

Yes, I had done the original post as mentioned above by HipCrip......and since that post I've mentioned it again to my landlord, in the presence of another family, and got the response that on average, everyone they had spoken with had seen an increase of about $100....something about the price of oil????

I remember, maybe 4 or 5 months back, WAPA actually decreased the rate! They must have upped it again without notice?

NOT GOOD.

Anyone know any Senators - to look into the matter?

I have been wondering about WAPA myself. We just moved into a 4bdr and our first bill was $897. I almost fell over and have been asking everyone I run into what their bill runs. Our house has five water heaters so I have adjusted them and set the filter on the pool so it does not run 24hrs a day. It is just my wife and I and we are never home so I have a hard time believing that we are using that much electricity.

http://www.viwapa.vi/

Mine seem to be about 50% higher than last years!
Ronnie
Have not compared this month's as yet. Time to raise the rent!

looks like governmet corruption to me...{again}

If WAPA generates their electricity using gas or diesel, they might just be passing along their extra costs to the end user. Oil is up 50% from where it was this time last year.

Just got my WAPA bill for September and I knocked it down to a mere $745. Maybe for October I will turn the power off, read by flashlight, eat outside by the grill and see if I can cut the bill to $500. I called WAPA to see if I could get my meter checked and replaced. They said that could take a while. My plan is to document the meter readings daily to see how it compares to what WAPA is billing me. If anybody has any advice I would appreciate it.

HOLY CRAP!!!!! I'm assuming you live in a VERY large house, maybe a skyscraper? I think I would faint if I got a bill like that.

Pool filter, multiple old fridges? Anything? Ouch.

Stu,
The house is relatively large 3500 sq ft. We have recently installed indoor/outdoor AC units for the bedrooms but no central AC. I only run the AC in the master and tv room and keep it on 79 during the day 75 night so its not an ice box by any means. The pool filter seems to be old. The timer is not working and it ran 24hrs day when I first moved in. I started turning it off manually and only running it 4-6hrs day. The house has water heaters everywhere for each bedroom and the laundry room which are not insulated so I am going to insulate those and adjust the temperature. I have met people on the island with bigger houses and bigger pools that have $300-$400 utility bills which is about where ours should be. Something is definitely wrong and I am not getting anywhere with WAPA.

Well, it seems like everyone is generally annoyed with their WAPA bills. I agree, WAPA seems extraordinarily high.
But we were particularly concerned because our 8/22-9/23 bills reflect 50% more usage and, well, that is simply impossible.
I read Pamela's previous email that having WAPA come out to test is basically a waste of $$$. We are going to try turning everything off to test and see if we have some energy escape or something.
Thanks all for your posts, it was good to see we're not the only ones!

There was an article in the paper yesterday about WAPA passing along charge to customers for a new generator that isn't online yet.

Eric,

I would strongly urge you to either unplug some of the hot water heaters. If you have multiple hot water heaters there is your money. Hot water heaters use up alot of electricity. I would either talk to a plumber about centralizing or see if you can do without some of them, as long as it doesn't make your life inconvenient.

The A/C is a drag as well. Make sure your windows are sealed as much as possible and every little hole where eneergy can escape is caulked.

Anyway here is the lonk to the article.

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=7519548

Folks, I understand the need to plug the leaks, fix the temps on water heaters, swimming pools.............BUT, the real issue is the raising price of oil that WAPA uses to produce the electricity.

And of course any other, shortfalls somewhere along their buisness 'plan' that needed adjustment.

I'd suggest that now might be a good time to seriously touch base with your Senator. Do we all know who OUR Senator is, sadly, I for one do not, but will be finding out.

Water and elecricity have always cost a lot. If you have A/C this time of year, you find yourself using it. This is part of the cost of living in Paradise.

Paul: Did you notice that the legislature added an amendment to a bill requiring WAPA to do business with one certain provider because "We don't want 20 or 30 jobs. We want hundreds." Where do you think the money to pay the hundreds is going to come from? And re: who is "your" senator...a whole 'nother topic!!!

WIle it's no problem for me to divide the total bill by kilowatts used, I'd really like to know what all of the line items liste on the bill refer to. Can anyone translate?

Same thing with the phone bills from Innovative, BTW -- really want to know why there is a surcharge for each phone extension and why $5 is charged every month as a "Customer End Usage Fee."

HC

Post Edited (10-03-04 13:34)

Sounds like they have raised the rates maybe? I am not sure about WAPA but here in NC with Duke power their bill tells you how many kilowatts you use per month which can be divided by the amount of the bill to determine what your paying per kilowatt. I think I pay about 7.5 cents per kilowatt. Water heaters are one of the biggest energy consumers in your home, you may want to consider a point of demand water heater that only makes hot water when you need it and its close to the demand so there is not much loss in transit. Smarthome.com has a device that you can plug into the wall and then the appliance in question into it and it will tell you what its energy consumption is, great when your shopping for new appliances to see what actually uses less energy, or if something isnt running right. Hope that helps!

Our problem is definitely usage, not an increased per kilowatt charge.
For example, my tenant's (who was actually off-island for part of the term) usage increased from 7 to 12.70 kw per day.
We figure there must be a leak somewhere or...

HC: Re: the Innovative charge...several years ago the legislature decided that in order to raise money for emergency services, they would put a user fee on phones (I think it is on cell phones also.) They have since complained that they aren't getting their money.