Wapa

Electric Rate Decrease to Take Effect March 1, But Savings Will be Tempered by Rising Fuel Costs

Virgin Islands ratepayers will experience a small decrease in their V.I. Water and Power electric bills on March 1, but savings expected to be experienced will be tempered by the rising cost of fuel, said Public Services Commission Chairman David Hughes during a commission meeting Friday. The savings will be around 3 cents per kilowatt hour, deriving from a mix of decisions that the PSC made during the meeting that allowed one fee to expire, while a separate surcharge that WAPA had applied for several months ago is expected to be approved in February. Against WAPA's plea to extend a recovery fee of 5 cents per kilowatt hour that was in place since 2017 and will expire in February, the PSC said it would not renew or extend the fee, which brought in $2.6 million to WAPA on a monthly basis. The authority's new executive director, Andrew Smith, asked the PSC to extend the fee for another year so WAPA could use the funds to continue paying its VITOL debt, but the PSC stood its ground. ...