WAPA has so much extra money they give it away

Yep, they sure do have lots of $.

Maybe it came from the 7 cent tax on gas, that we all have been paying for over a year now(!) that supposedly is going to fix something over on STT. Yeah right.

While I don't agree with the expenditures at all, I did find this portion of the scholarship requirements interesting,

"Once the recipients have completed their schooling, they are immediately obligated to work for WAPA for as long as it took to complete the degree, but not less than four years."

If enforceable, I'd like to see a "return to island" clause on many more scholarships granted to smart VI kids - to try and at least slow the brain drain that otherwise sends them away forever. It certainly doesn't benefit the territory much to send em off, never to return...

smh....I was expecting to read an article on frivolous spending, not giving back to the community in the form of scholarships. This scholarship program has been going on for years and Innovative has a similar program.

Innovative is a privately owned company. WAPA is a government owned monopoly.

WAPA has no business giving money to charities. They should use the money that they take from us to provide electricity and water at affordable rates. If they can't do that then they should get out of the utility business. It is our business which charities we give to not a public utilities business to TAKE our money and give to the charities of THEIR choice.

WAPA, ie, the VI Gov't, are a bunch of crooks! They give away all these "scholorships", yet, they--the VI Gov't, cannot, or won't pay their own WAPA bills. What a crock! If they paid their own PAST due million of dollars electricity bills,, we wouldn't be in the fix we're in! Just my opinion.

Many of you may not believe it but the WAPA scholarship program actually saves WAPA a considerable amount of money in the long run. Think about it. WAPA invests the money to train it's own engineers, etc, and then they are required to work for the company for a certain number of years at what amounts to a starter government wage. If they decide to work elsewhere then they have to repay WAPA, so no money is wasted if this happens. The program allows WAPA to invest in people who already know island life, grew up here, have families here, and have a reason to come back to the island. They also know their way around and have a home to come back to versus WAPA having to provide this if they outsourced.

Imagine the additional costs that WAPA would incur if they did not "grow their own" so to speak. Having to bring trained individuals here is usually a much more expensive proposition by the time you pay for their travel, housing, and a higher salary than what the beneficiaries of the scholarship get. On top of that there is the high likelihood that whoever is imported doesn't make it here long and WAPA has to go through the hiring process again, adding costs plus more efficiency lost due to having to retrain someone.

Through this scholarship process WAPA is able to support local education, AND save itself a bunch of money. Not that I agree with all of WAPA's business decision, but the scholarship program is a benefit to the local community, the ratepayers, and the entity itself. In my mind the people on this board can understand more than anyone else how expensive it would be for WAPA to do anything other than to "grow their own."

Many of you may not believe it but the WAPA scholarship program actually saves WAPA a considerable amount of money in the long run. Think about it. WAPA invests the money to train it's own engineers, etc, and then they are required to work for the company for a certain number of years at what amounts to a starter government wage. If they decide to work elsewhere then they have to repay WAPA, so no money is wasted if this happens. The program allows WAPA to invest in people who already know island life, grew up here, have families here, and have a reason to come back to the island. They also know their way around and have a home to come back to versus WAPA having to provide this if they outsourced.

Imagine the additional costs that WAPA would incur if they did not "grow their own" so to speak. Having to bring trained individuals here is usually a much more expensive proposition by the time you pay for their travel, housing, and a higher salary than what the beneficiaries of the scholarship get. On top of that there is the high likelihood that whoever is imported doesn't make it here long and WAPA has to go through the hiring process again, adding costs plus more efficiency lost due to having to retrain someone.

Through this scholarship process WAPA is able to support local education, AND save itself a bunch of money. Not that I agree with all of WAPA's business decision, but the scholarship program is a benefit to the local community, the ratepayers, and the entity itself. In my mind the people on this board can understand more than anyone else how expensive it would be for WAPA to do anything other than to "grow their own."

(tu)well said.....many just care about self and ignore logic

Many of you may not believe it but the WAPA scholarship program actually saves WAPA a considerable amount of money in the long run. Think about it. WAPA invests the money to train it's own engineers, etc, and then they are required to work for the company for a certain inumber of years at what amounts to a starter government wage. If they decide to work elsewhere then they have to repay WAPA, so no money is wasted if this happens. The program allows WAPA to invest in people who already know island life, grew up here, have families here, and have a reason to come back to the island. They also know their way around and have a home to come back to versus WAPA having to provide this if they outsourced.

Imagine the additional costs that WAPA would incur if they did not "grow their own" so to speak. Having to bring trained individuals here is usually a much more expensive proposition by the time you pay for their travel, housing, and a higher salary than what the beneficiaries of the scholarship get. On top of that there is the high likelihood that whoever is imported doesn't make it here long and WAPA has to go through the hiring process again, adding costs plus more efficiency lost due to having to retrain someone.

Through this scholarship process WAPA is able to support local education, AND save itself a bunch of money. Not that I agree with all of WAPA's business decision, but the scholarship program is a benefit to the local community, the ratepayers, and the entity itself. In my mind the people on this board can understand more than anyone else how expensive it would be for WAPA to do anything other than to "grow their own."

(tu)well said.....many just care about self and ignore logic

AGREE!

Ditto! (tu)

While WAPA is not our favorite entity, there are times to give credit where credit is due and a scholarship program is one of them.

The US Virgin Islands Water And Power And Scholarship Authority.

WAPASA

One again the few having to pay the bill for the "entitled" many ..... 41 % is it ?

Many of you may not believe it but the WAPA scholarship program actually saves WAPA a considerable amount of money in the long run. Think about it. WAPA invests the money to train it's own engineers, etc, and then they are required to work for the company for a certain number of years at what amounts to a starter government wage. If they decide to work elsewhere then they have to repay WAPA, so no money is wasted if this happens. The program allows WAPA to invest in people who already know island life, grew up here, have families here, and have a reason to come back to the island. They also know their way around and have a home to come back to versus WAPA having to provide this if they outsourced.

Imagine the additional costs that WAPA would incur if they did not "grow their own" so to speak. Having to bring trained individuals here is usually a much more expensive proposition by the time you pay for their travel, housing, and a higher salary than what the beneficiaries of the scholarship get. On top of that there is the high likelihood that whoever is imported doesn't make it here long and WAPA has to go through the hiring process again, adding costs plus more efficiency lost due to having to retrain someone.

Through this scholarship process WAPA is able to support local education, AND save itself a bunch of money. Not that I agree with all of WAPA's business decision, but the scholarship program is a benefit to the local community, the ratepayers, and the entity itself. In my mind the people on this board can understand more than anyone else how expensive it would be for WAPA to do anything other than to "grow their own."

Please post a link to the success stories. How many scholarships has WAPA handed out? How many engineers have returned to work at WAPA? What is WAPA's retention rate once the work obligation is fulfilled?

If this really saves WAPA money then I am all for it. Facts speak more than spin, where can I find information about the success of this program? Has this program actually been successful or is this just a PR ploy to distract from the bad press for WAPA?

P.S. I tried to Google and Bing for this information but could only find info about who had received the ACMS but no info about its success.