June 28, 2008 — The executive director of the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, Hugo Hodge Jr., said he intends to ask the government and the WAPA board of directors to declare a state of emergency relative to the territory's energy situation.
Hodge made his announcement Saturday while sharing the microphone with four other panelists during a public Alternative Energy Forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Virgin Islands and hosted by the University of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas and simulcast on St. Croix.
A state of emergency would, according to Hodge, give WAPA greater flexibility as it seeks bids on alternative and renewable power sources.
"The competitive bidding is a long process," said Hodge. "By law, if it's an emergency situation, there's a certain part of the bid process that can be avoided."
WAPA is using 80 percent of its revenues to pay monthly oil bills in excess of $20 million, and lately, Hodge said, he's had to dip into the remaining 20 percent — money that he said should be reserved for payroll and debt service, among other costs. "It's epidemic proportions right now," Hodge said.
Hamstringing the agency are consumer price caps imposed by the Public Services Commission in the face of dramatically rising oil costs.
"In January '07 fuel was being bought at $55 a barrel," Hodge said. "It's $120 this month and $129 in July, and the market closed at $142 yesterday. Consumers are paying 30, 40, 50 percent of their disposable income on energy bills and there's no relief in sight."
Contacted following the forum, Jean Greaux, a spokesman for Gov. John deJongh Jr. acknowledged that WAPA needs relief.
"To use the term 'state of emergency' and be in a position of executive director shows the enormity of the process that the authority is going through in terms of securing the various proposals from companies that could provide WAPA with alternative energy," said Greaux. "This is one step that could bring us closer. The governor will make his decision based on what comes to us from the board of WAPA."
Hodge was the kingpin of Saturday's forum, which saw question after question lobbed at him. The other panelists were Bevan Smith, Jr., director of the Virgin Islands Energy Office, Sen. Louis P. Hill, Onaje Jackson, president of Sustainable Systems & Design International on St. Croix and Craig Barshinger, whose solar-powered home has been off the energy grid for 10 years.
Hodge will announce on Tuesday WAPA's decision to enter into a "…20-year purchase-power agreement with one or more suppliers to provide non-oil energy." The announcement stems from a request for proposals (RFP) that drew 14 responses, which WAPA has been reviewing since May in hopes of diminishing the territory's 100 percent reliance on oil. A series of RFPs will be issued in the future, prompting Hodge's call for a state of emergency to expedite the process.
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