Wapa

Dozens of WAPA Customers Vent Frustrations for a Last Time Before Thursday's PSC Vote

ST. THOMAS -- For Pastor Charles Brown Jr. of Family and Faith African Methodist Episcopal Church and WAPA electric customer, the Water and Power Authority rate issue boils down to two basic concepts: trust and accountability.   And both are absent from the public debate over utility rate changes in the territory. Virgin Islanders, by and large, do not trust WAPA, a government entity. Most will also argue that WAPA has not been held accountable for stunning examples of financial waste and mismanagement.   “The propane project was $87 million dollars,” Mr. Brown said, referring to the authority’s partial transition from the use of diesel fuel to liquid propane to generate electricity beginning in 2013. “All of a sudden it became $160 million. We’re paying for that project and nobody from WAPA, that I know of, has been held accountability.”   Several dozen St. Thomians showed up to express their overwhelming discontent with utility rates one final time before the V.I. Public Servic...