WAPA Reminds Public That Bills Now Being Received Are For Pre-Hurricane Electrical Service

As the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority’s restoration efforts continue, with each island now more than 90 percent reenergized, WAPA reminded customers on Tuesday that the bills now being received represent electrical service provided prior to the hurricanes.

WAPA acknowledged the difficulties being experienced by its business and residential customers in the aftermath of the two hurricanes, however, after several months of delay, the utility resumed billing in mid-December for the services rendered up to September 5. Late fees associated with these bills are being waived. Customers are encouraged to make payments via any of the payment options available: online at www.viwapa.vi, at the self-service payment kiosks at Petrus Plaza and Port of Sale Mall on St. Thomas and at Sunny Isle on St. Croix, as well as at local banks and customer service offices in Port of Sale Mall, St. Thomas, The Marketplace on St. John, and Sunny Isle on St. Croix. Checks, cash and credit cards are acceptable forms of payment at all locations.

In the next several weeks, the authority will begin billing customers for electrical service provided after the hurricane restoration began. Some customers were fortunate to have their service restored within a week of the hurricanes and have not been billed for that service to date. WAPA will be announcing how the bills will be issued for the period beginning from the customer’s date of restoration through the end of December 2017. There will be options available for payment plans and consideration will be given, to the greatest extent possible, on a case-by-case basis.

In the meantime, WAPA is encouraging customers to make partial or estimated payments based on their past average bills using the many payment options available, except that such payments cannot be made to the local banks. By taking this proactive approach, a customer can avoid receiving a large bill covering the period from the date of restoration to the end of last year.

While WAPA says its pledge in the ongoing restoration is “No Customer Left Behind”, the utility says it’s working each day to restore all services, ordinarily provided to the Virgin Islands community, to a level of normalcy.