What's Up With WAPA

Welcome to paradise! Haha! Sorry to laugh, but it's something we all have to go through. Take your bill down to WAPA, stand patiently in line, say "Good Morning!" with a BIG smile, then ask, very NICELY, to have them explain why the bill went up so dramatically, then bend over, grab your ankles...No, wait! That's just what they do to ME! Haha! After they explain the reason, whatever it is, go to the window and pay it. I have heard many people arguing with the WAPA folks, always in vain. Whatever their reasons, it always seems to come down to "Are you gonna pay it, or do you want us to turn it off? Your choice." It's not the most loved utility on the planet. But they always seem to have a reason for the sudden rise in bill. Maybe I wouldn't be so disgruntled if they could keep my power on for more than 8 hours at a stretch. I remember this one time...musta been 6 or 7 years ago...it stayed on for over a WEEK! Didn't even FLICKER the whole week!!! Wow, that was so cool. I didn't have to reprogram any of the clocks, timers, microwaves, hot water heaters, TV's, outside lights, DVD players, cable boxes, computers, pool pumps, etc.

Anyone else have a different experience with WAPA?

I was asked in the WAPA building where I was from I told the gentleman that I was from WAshington, DC. He said I know you don't expect your bills to be the same as in DC. My questions was still what justification is for a bill to more than double in one month with mayby even less elctrical activity that the previous month.

Melody - yes, in answer to your question. Notwithstanding the myriad of bad experiences I've had with WAPA over the past 20 years, the most recent debacle comes to mind.

My bill last August stunned me - almost 50% more than I usually pay. The KW reading was almost 10K above normal but nothing had changed insofar as my useage was concerned.

I finally reached a WAPA service representative who, when she checked my useage record on her computer, acknowleged that something was wrong and advised me just to pay my "average amount" which I promptly did. She said that someone would come out to check the reading and assured me that my service would not be disconnected.

Several days later I received a telephone call from another WAPA representative who tersely told me that the reading was correct. She then lectured me about conserving energy and I asked her if someone could please check the meter itself to ensure that it was working properly since there was no way that my bill could have gone up 50%. She sighed, sucked her teeth and she said with a big sigh that she'd have to put in a work order to have this next step accomplished.

"Well, that's fine!" I said, "Thanks so much for your help!"

A few days later I received in the mail a late/disconnect notice for the alleged 50% balance I hadn't paid, PLUS, in the same mailing, a new bill which was substantially less (50%!) than I normally pay!

I promptly called back the first customer service rep who had told to pay the average and she (despite my being charming to the nth degree) got ratty with me and told me I'd be disconnected if I didn't pay the balance due. She said that my meter had been checked and was working just fine and she also disclaimed that she'd ever told me I wouldn't be disconnected if I payed the average bill amount...yikes.

Two days later I was finally able to reach a wonderful supervisor. Guess what, the supervisor saw immediately on the computer that my meter had indeed been misread from the getgo. Why I was called and given information to the contrary she couldn't explain, she assured me that I absolutely would NOT be disconnected and we ended up having a really nice chat.

This is a lovely lady who understands customer service. Working at WAPA fulltime as a Supervisor, she's able to do "flexhours" three days a week when she comes in early and leaves early in order that she can to go to UVI to pursue her degree in Business Administration. She has a family, etc. and juggles her time to not only do the job that she's probably risen from the ranks to do but is aiming much higher. I would never print her name on a forum but she totally empathised with the teeth-sucking attitude of some of her subordinates and concurred that it's very difficult sometimes trying to sort out customer problems given the latter's attitudes...

There are some awesome people working for the government who do their job and I urge anyone who encounters these people to write to their bosses and let them know. So many of them are restrained in a sense because their bosses really don't give a damn and thus don't give them the support they need to properly educate those they supervise. The nepotism angle...

Oh and of course I did write to WAPA Executive-Director Bruno-Vega commending this fine woman and if course there was no response.

Melody, I've probably been of no help whatsoever. Perseverance does pay off,though. Want to get into Innovative??? ScotiaBank?

If you exhaust all else in re your WAPA bill (pay it but check the bill for KW useage and then check your next bill for KW useage) and everything is still messed up, then feel free to PM me and I'll give you name of the WAPA supervisor who got it all sorted out.

Teresa from the board had a similar problem. Maybe she'll respond!

Melody,

WAPA disgust me. We were off island for a month and turned all of our appliances off and our electric bill for the month we were gone was twice our usual bill! Also, in November, we were in our driveway on our way to run errands and a WAPA guy stopped and said he had an order to turn off our power for non-payment. We have never failed to pay a WAPA bill on time but since our checking account statements are electronic we didn't have a cancelled check as proof that our bill was paid and he was unwilling to accept anything else. We had to hang on the phone for nearly an hour, parking ourselves in front of our meter to prevent him from turning the power off, and finally we gave our credit card number to a supervisor who paid our "delinquent" bill plus a hefty surcharge for their trouble. I am still trying to get the doubled payment and surcharge monies back!

AUGH! WAPA really isn't my favorite thing to talk about, but... My monthly bill is usually $140/month. One month the bill was $650. I had my meter checked. They told me it was fine. I had them come out with a team no less and check it completely again. Still they say that nothing is wrong with the meter. The next month my bill was around $140 and was around $140 every month since then. I had them turn off my service, use my $250 deposit toward my bill and pay them $50 a month until I can figure out a way to have the bill fixed. I was lucky enough to have a landlord put the bill in their name and I pay it monthly. So I guess I am cheating. I went inside WAPA offices and have talked to them three times with no luck. They basically told me that I had to take it up with my landlord. That is completely ridiculous! What can my landlord do??? I told them that it was impossible for me to have used that much electricity. I don't have air conditioning nor anything else that could use that much electricity. It is insane and crazy, but I am still trying to have them see it my way. Perseverence should pay off or I pay the entire bill, whichever comes first. 🙂

Unfortunately sometimes they guestimate the bill for a month or two and then take and actual and it shows up big. A practice done for years by the meter readers. Maybe they are slacking on their jobs and the customer service people cover for them?

RL

WOW! This is frightning. Is there any way or should I say what can we do as consumers to protect ourselves against these events? Who can we go to so that we can simply be billed correctly?

A friend of mine started adding up his meter and found wapa was guestimating his usage. He started taking photos of his meter next to the newspaper and bringing the photos with him to wapa. They fixed his bill once. I will ask him to post.

I've never had the problem with "guesstimates" because my place is right on the main road and thus is easily accessible. Which is why I was once turned off a couple of years ago and, in the pouring rain, was outside getting drenched while WAPA personnel were turning off the current even though I showed them via my chequebook that I'd payed the damned bill. I didn't have a receipt because I'd mailed in my payment by cheque.

They shut me off and I had to close my business for the night. I called Senator Berry and a couple of other senators I knew (WAPA was closed of course but the cutter-offers were obviously out there!) All to no avail and I not only lost a night's business but had to toss out some food.

The next morning I was down at WAPA at 7:30AM and spoke to the Supervisor. She pulled up my account on her computer and, sure enough, my payment in full was registered right there as having been received and credited the day that I was cut off. The Supervisor tried to shield my access to the screen but that didn't work and she had no real answer about why my service had been disconnected.

WAPA at that time was owed about $30M by the V.I. Government and I asked the Supervisor how many governmental agencies had been cut off for non-payment. She got very defensive at my simple question and snipped that, "Well, we did cut off ONE agency recently."

Oh I'm sure at the time that it was a pretty redundant governmental agency where nobody really works anyway and where the shopfront is just that.

WAPA has made some effort in recovering Government dues but not nearly enough. The beat goes on...

When push comes to shove (and I've already indicated in a previous post that I'd be more than happy to give anybody who'll PM me the name of the supervisor who got me out of the latest fix) then 'fax Alberto Bruno-Vega at 774-3422. If you write a Letter to The Editor to either or both the V.I. Daily News (dailynews@vipowernet.net, fax 774-6886) or to The Avis (stxavis@viaccess.net or fax 774-8039) and also go online to the St. Thomas Source ( http://new.onepaper.com/stthomasvi) about your complaint and advise Bruno-Vega that you've done so, the response works much better!

Hope this helps!

Aside from an occasional power outage or a blown transformer now and then, I have no complaints with WAPA. The bill for my tiny little place, which has no AC, dishwasher, washer/dryer, etc., runs anywhere from $30 to $35 a month. Since I rarely use hair dryers, curling irons, and clothing irons, that helps to keep my monthly bill down. And I don't have any appliances like toaster ovens, microwaves, blenders, etc., here, all of which I have in Texas where I also have a swimming pool and hot tub. My utility bills there run anywhere from $250 to $500 a month for electricity, water, sewer, and trash pickup. Compared with that, my utility bill here is wonderful. Here I have free water and free sewer, and trash gets dumped at the community bins. I know I'm tempting the gods by writing this. Next month my bill will probably double and I'll be sorry for having bragged.

Ok, I'll tempt the power gods. We've had no problem with WAPA either. Bills run under $100 a month for the 2 of us - no A/C, clothes or dish washer. I see the meter readers every so often when I'm at home during the day.

And we've had good luck lately on STX in general. No outages for several weeks, and only brief ones before that.

Sorry STX -- we'll probably blow a major transformer tonight. LOL.

Oh, no, Linda J... with the way the wind has been blowing, we need to avoid jinxing STX. The wind carries extra salt spray to the lines and transformers and they've been known to explode, catch fire, or simply shut down from salt encrustation. I do agree we've had an uncommonly long run of outage-free WAPA service. It's been soooo nice not having to throw out everything in the freezer on a regular basis.

We appreciate it, WAPA. We really do! No need to shut down the grid for a few hours to remind us all of how much we enjoy having the electricity working!

I am not concerned about outages. That's just a way of life. I just want to protect myself as a consumer and I want to be certain of what my rights are. This is always a concern when you do not have a choice in service providers (no competition. I just do not feel comfortable be charged for electricity I am not using I just do not have it like that> For me every dollar counts.

My bill has doubled as well. I went back over the last two years WAPA bills with my landlord and our useage has averaged rougly the same but the bill has gone from $300-$400 to now around $800-$900 per month. I tried about every conservation tecnique I could think of but have come to the conclusion my WAPA bill is what it is and there is not much I can do about it short of turning off the electricity. I was gone for 3 weeks and turned the AC up to 79 turned the water heaters off and set the pool filter to run only 4hrs and still got a $680 WAPA bill so now I just say let the good times roll and crank the AC and don't worry about it.
Price of living in Paradise.

Just a thought: For the cost of 900/month elec bill, you could pay off a solar array, or wind generator in a year. Why not go one of those routes and get off the grid and out from under WAPA?

David - if your WAPA bill has in fact DOUBLED in two years then you obviously have a big problem as, even with all the surcharges via higher fuel prices which WAPA has passed onto its customers, a 100% increase in such a short period is cause for alarm. Have you or your landlord contacted WAPA to ask them to check/verify?

What really irks me is your comment that, "so now I just say let the good times roll and crank the AC and don't worry about it.
Price of living in Paradise." Yikes!

jnrhome: the whole concept of solar is something I've been interested in for years and it always amazed me that, with the wind and solar power we have here, more didn't take advantage of our natural resources. However, over the years I've known a couple of people who built their (solar) homes off the grid. The major drawback is that the initial expense is huge, even given the rebates (allegedly) given by the government and it takes a very long to recoup that initial expense - which expense is beyond the reach of the "average" homeowner. A pilot windmill project is currently underway on all three islands and it'll be interesting to see what happens with that. Cheers.

I've looked into the two options at length. Shipping notwithstanding, a wind generator and battery bank for an average home is less than 10,000. The solar is slightly less and more desirable because of the generator needing more maintainence with bearings and whatnot. Solar seems to be the best option for VI because long sunny days, and minimal downtime. The wind, while a little more obvious, can be damaged by higher winds than rated, which happens periodically there, and there is some noise factor. I based my research on my home usage here in Ohio which averages 600kwh/month. A sloar system that generates and average of 600kwh/month runs about 8,000+shipping. As it doesn't weigh much, i imagine shipping wouldn't be prohibitive in cost, and setup, if you know a little about elctrical seems a breeze. The battery holding system was included in that price which gives you juice at night. In the states, the electric companies will let you tie into the grid and sell your excess back to them thus eliminating the battery system; you use the solar during the day, and the grid at low sun, rain and night. The feedback from owners around the u.s. say they break even for the most part so you end up spending maybe 6,000 up front, then no electric bills anymore. There, you'd be better off using the battery backup and disconnecting from the grid entirely, thus ELIMINATING ugly bills, AND outages. Seems like a winner to me.

David

I am surprised that you turned your AC down to 79.

I never run mine below 84 when i am home. I turn it off when I am gone.

Well..different strokes..

Pool filters also draw a bunch as do old refriges..

But $800 seems a lot.

Try to monitor your electric meter for a few months on a daily or weekly basis.

jnrhome,

That makes so much sense, I would ask why does anyone use the grid? I am totally ignorant on electric things as I got badly shocked in college, and have wanted nothing to do with it as an adult. Since I assume solar is all dc current - does that ever become an issue? Again - if it is dumb question, but I am ignorant on this issue.

There is a place near Frenchtown on STT that sells solar panels and such. Has anyone checked it out?

Teresa

The described system produces DC. However, you can tun most things on DC and you convert to AC for things like frig. The conversion process loses some juice, ie. if it takes 20 amps to convert to 110 you may only get 15 at AC or so, but, it's free, so who cares? I ask the same question for islanders: Why use WAPA when this solution is readily available?

You keep assuming that things here are like they are in the states.

East- In this case, how do the two locations differ? Ohio probably has half the available sun and maybe 1/10 the available wind. Certainly not a practical place for either option. Not nearly as practical as there. If I can buy it anywhere in the states, I can have it shipped to either place. If I can install it here, i can certainly install it there. Most of the sources i've used to research these options have been from all over the U.S. and a lot of the feedback about success and cost vs. benefit have originated from the southwest, texas, montana and such. They would certainly have more comparable solar, and possibly similar wind, but both types of alternative energy sources have charts available that help you determine if your amount of wind or sun is sufficient to power your needs. If you fall into a category which is below your need for a given array, you can increase the size to compensate. Between sunlight and tradewinds on the islands, VI does rate at the top of the effeciency scale thereby giving you the most return on investment. Would you say this is an accurate comparison? If you'd like me to post my sources, i'd be happy to do so. All things are comparable. How well they compare is the question. I know that the islands are very different than the states, but not so different that they cannot be compared. Things in the islands are similar to their counterparts in the states and as such can be compared. The comparisons don't illustrate many similarities; but many contrasts, still...

JNRHOME,

I would very much like to see where you are getting your info from! I am currently building a home that will run on solar and I am spending a far sight more on the equipment then what you said and making a far sight less power than what you mentioned. I shopped for months before I decided on the equipment that I have. The reality is I am doing it all myself and I will still spend somewhere around 20k for 250 KW per month. Please let me know where PV's can be purchased so cheaply!! Thanks.