Wapa

St. John Residents Blast WAPA Over Outages, Neglect and Years of Broken Promises

ST. JOHN — Frustration that has been building for years poured out Tuesday evening as St. John residents confronted officials of the V.I. Water and Power Authority over repeated outages, weak communication, spoiled food and medicine, poor customer service, prolonged estimated billing, and what many described as an enduring pattern of neglect. The public town hall, called to address the recent power failures on St. John, quickly became a forum for residents to voice disgust with an agency they said has failed them for too long. Though WAPA Chief Executive Officer Karl Knight led the meeting and offered explanations for the latest outages, much of the evening was driven by residents who pressed him on exposed infrastructure, delayed projects, financial hardship, and a lack of visible progress despite years of discussion. Among the strongest complaints was WAPA’s handling of communication during the latest outage. Residents said the authority did not provide prompt enough updates while ...