WAPA Completes Issuance Of Second Round Of Post-Storms Bills

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority said on Saturday that it has concluded the issuance of the second round of bills for electric and potable water service provided since the 2017 hurricanes.

“On May 21, bills for the final cycles were issued covering the period from either mid-January or mid-February to the date the customer’s meter was read,” said CEO Lawrence J. Kupfer.

While the authority said it was making significant strides in rebuilding its automated metering systems, the second round of post-storm bills once again covered an extended billing period, on average about 90 days. “Immediately after this second wave of billing was completed, we began the third wave of post-storm billing, and we are targeting a maximum 50-day service period for these bills,” Kupfer said.

At the end of last week, WAPA’s automated meter reading system had been restored to approximately 77%.

“While we are making steady progress in restoring the communications networks required for smart meters to communicate, realistically, it may not be until the end of July that we can return to a more normal 30-day billing period. Although not fully restored, the data gathered electronically from customer’s smart meters is being used to generate actual consumption bills. We would expect that for the fourth set of post-storm bills, most customers would receive a bill covering an approximate 30-day service period,” Kupfer added.

He encouraged customers with concerns or questions about the electrical and water bills they receive to come into WAPA’s customer service offices to review the bills in detail and, if necessary, establish a 90-day payment plan which is being made available to customers.

“WAPA’s goals is to accommodate our customers to the greatest extent possible until our billing system is returned to a level of normalcy,” Kupfer said.

Customer service offices are located at Sunny Isle on St. Croix, The Marketplace on St. John, and Port of Sale Mall on St. Thomas.

Customers are encouraged to use the various payment options available: online payment portal at www.viwapa.vi; self-service payment kiosks and local bank branches.