A settlement agreement has been reached between the V.I. Water and Power Authority and Solar energy provider BMR Energy, which was reportedly on the brink of closure because of WAPA’s unpaid debts totaling approximately $4.5 million.
On the agenda for the Public Services Commission meeting for Tuesday was discussion of a proposal for the company to earn revenue by selling power directly to large-scale consumers. However, that hearing was preempted – perhaps for good – by the news of a settlement. “The settlement agreement requests us to suspend this petition indefinitely, essentially table the matter long term,” said PSC counsel Boyd Sprehn.
WAPA’s interim chief financial officer Lorraine Kelly confirmed that the agreement was signed on Tuesday morning. “The complaint was ultimately all about the fact that WAPA had not been paying the monthly bills,” Ms. Kelly noted. “They wanted a resolution to be able to make sure that we had committed in writing to making good on those payments. We have done so.” She informed commissioners that WAPA had, even before the agreement was reached, paid the previous month’s bills and some of the arrearage.
However, payment to the PSC to satisfy its most recent assessment would not yet be forthcoming. “WAPA is under very critical, tight cash circumstances of liquidity, and we have referred your payments, along with several of our vendors,” Ms. Kelly informed PSC commissioners, saying that affording fuel is WAPA’s immediate priority. Referencing WAPA’s monthly structural deficit of between six to eight million dollars, the interim CEO told commission members that “unfortunately, circumstances have led us to prioritize elsewhere.”
Commissioners were not appreciative of WAPA’s position on the matter. Noting that the utility was making efforts to pay down other debts, Commission member Pedro Williams highlighted how “on the other hand, you’re saying you cannot pay a statutory obligation to the PSC…it doesn’t compute, it doesn’t work and it’s not right.”
The most recent assessment for WAPA, recorded during Tuesday’s PSC meeting, was for just over $15,400. “You gotta find some way to pay what is owed to the PSC sooner rather than later,” Williams declared.
