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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesELECTRIC COOPERATIVE FORUMS BEGIN

ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE FORUMS BEGIN

Experts on electric cooperatives are in the territory to discuss possible options to the sale of the V.I. Water and Power Authority to Southern Electric.
In light of the sale, Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen has arranged a visit by representatives from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), to inform Virgin Islanders how electric cooperatives work. The series of town meetings on Alternatives to Electric Utility Ownership/Financing will be held July 31 at the St. Croix Educational Complex Auditorium at 6 p.m. and Aug. 1 on St. Thomas at the University of the Virgin Islands, Chase Auditorium.
Presenting at the workshop will be Cliff Humphrey, legislative representative at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Thomas W. Nusbaum, director of cooperative development at the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation. The meetings are part of Christensen's efforts to ensure that the public is fully informed about various options available regarding the sale of WAPA.
Christensen said she began to look into cooperative utility ownership during the summer of 1998 when the sale of WAPA was first proposed by the Schneider administration. She arranged a teleconference meeting with the unions and the NRECA and forwarded information about the cooperative option to members of the WAPA board. Later that summer Christensen co-sponsored community workshops with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on how to form cooperatives.
"I am not pro or con Southern Energy in this matter. My interest is in ensuring that the Virgin Islands has state of the art, dependable, reliable power to serve us in this new century," Christensen said.
Since the resurfacing of the WAPA sale issue in the Turnbull Administration, Christensen said she has contacted members of the Legislature and put them in contact with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association to begin dialogue on a local level on possible alternatives for ownership. The upcoming visit by members of the NRECA is open to the public.

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