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You'd think we are immune to the greed and incompetence of the VI officials and companies. I am currently off island in a mid sized California city. (gives me some perspective) The electric cost here is about 9 and 1/2 cents a kilowatt hour. The high rate is about 16 cents per KW hour.
I know, I know things are different back home. But the announced 30 % increase by WAPA means that our "basic" electric rate will be over $.27 (27 cents per KWH) for our electricity. the real cost after 500 hours will scare the sh$t out of you. We are talking about forty or fifty cents a KWH at the high end. This is on an island that uses electric for everything.
They blame oil. Who do the poor rate payers blame? Who wants to cry along with me?
Posted : November 15, 2007 1:57 am
Topic starter
That is too weird. I started this comment without looking and sure enough some great mind had the same idea.
Posted : November 15, 2007 2:00 am
I already pay .30/kwh since WAPA bills our condo association the commercial rate. One bright spot is that WAPA is down nearly as much as it's running. One of the biggest mistakes ever was turning away that stateside company who wanted to run WAPA.
Posted : November 15, 2007 9:14 am
The end result is that wapa IS THE MOST mis-managed compnay that generates power from a yesterday technology. There is no answer to this as NO ONE will take over and fix it. It will be PAY<PAY PAY.
billd
Posted : November 16, 2007 12:52 pm
Nobody is ALLOWED to take over & run it. That's the problem.
Posted : November 16, 2007 7:52 pm
Sometimes I think its time to have Congress take a look and possibly force the sale of WAPA to any first year business student, who would clearly be more competent than the people running the show now (the Legislature).
Posted : November 17, 2007 12:57 pm
Even the smartest MBAs are not going to be able to substantially reduce our rates unless the VI is willing and more importantly able to make massive capital investments to end our dependence on using oil.
Even if the government and its agencies paid itself for the power they are billed for it won't necessarily reduce what we pay in the VI for power. It is a zero sum game (ie lower WAPA rates vs higher taxes ) unless the legislature reduces its spending elsewhere to offset the money paid for electricity. We need smarter and a more efficent government probably more so than a few brilliant managers at WAPA.
Jim
Posted : November 17, 2007 2:05 pm
It's not just WAPA that is raising it's prices due to fuel costs. The Airlines, Cruise ships, Gas at the pump, Road Construction Materials, Plastics, and anything with an oil base. Solar Energy, Wind Mill Farms are the only answer for Energy Problem in the USVI. The Upper 50 States feel the spikes in prices as well as the USVI. So grab your hand fans and empty your wallets, it's going to be an expensive 10 years ahead of us!
Posted : November 17, 2007 2:55 pm
