With no other alternative but rolling blackouts, Public Services Commission members approved another increase in Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause (LEAC) rates to help get the V.I. Water and Power Authority through ongoing generation problems at both St. Thomas and St. Croix power plants.
WAPA’s most recent proposal, filed at the end of March, called for an 11.3-percent increase in the LEAC for the average residential customer using 500 kilowatt hours, and an 8.4-percent increase in the water LEAC for the average residential customer using 2,400 gallons per month. The rates, according to the filing, would have helped the authority pay off more than $20 million in deferred fuel costs over an eight-month period.
What PSC members approved Monday, however, were slightly lower increases recommended by its consultants, which would spread the deferred fuel costs over 12 months. So, starting May 1, the electric LEAC will jump 6.5 percent, which will raise the average residential customer’s bill by almost $11.
The water LEAC will also increase 1.7 percent, bumping the average customer’s bill up by $1.14.
The rates are in effect until the end of June.
The PSC had approved a slight increase in the electric LEAC during a similar meeting last month but was warned by WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. that another increase would be filed shortly if some of the authority’s major generating units continued to experience mechanical problems.
During Monday night’s PSC meeting on St. Thomas, Hodge said the units would be coming back on in succession, but needed to be offline a while longer for repairs, leaving some of the smaller, less-efficient units to carry the load. A less-efficient system burns more fuel, and with no other units available as backup, the authority is faced with either bumping up the LEAC to keep the lights on, or instituting rolling blackouts to save money, Hodge explained.
St. Thomas residents turned out en masse Monday to ask the PSC to table the request, which they said would force consumers to pay utility bills they can’t really afford. Many also argued that it’s unfair to ask the public to shoulder two increases in as many months when the government owes WAPA around $14 million in outstanding utility costs, which they said could help pay the bills.
"You have the authority to not put any more burden on the people," St. Thomas resident Darryl Williams told commission members. "If WAPA is owed $14 million, let that be the source for them getting what they need."
Williams, like many others, implored commission members to "hear the cry of the people," whose incomes remain fixed while prices skyrocket around them. It’s not just power bills, many said, but the domino effect caused by higher LEAC rates, which can correlate to higher prices at the supermarkets.
Many residents testifying Monday also suggested that WAPA get new equipment or find an alternative source of energy that would cut the territory’s dependence on oil. A couple residents said they’ve tried to follow the federal government’s push for alternative energy by turning to solar energy, but still see no decrease in their bills—or haven’t been successful in getting WAPA out to their home to install a meter.
While PSC members said that billing- and meter-related issues should be taken up separately with WAPA, Sen. Patrick Simeon Sprauve — a non-voting member of the commission — pointed out that the public can’t have it both ways when it comes to weaning WAPA off fossil fuel.
Senators listened when the public was against pet coke and asked them to deny a lease that would allow Alpine Energy Group to build its waste-to-energy facility on St. Thomas, but can’t turn a blind eye when there are no other immediate proposals and WAPA needs to find money to keep residents’ lights on, he said.
And while some residents responded by urging senators to find some kind of money to help get WAPA through its slump, Hodge pointed out that the money is there—thanks to a recent base-rate increase and the authority’s efforts to refinance some older bonds—but won’t do any good unless the authority can take some of the bleeding units offline so they can get fixed.
He added later that the government’s outstanding debt has no effect on the LEAC, which is used to pay for fuel. That bill is something that the authority has to pay for right away, so anything the government pays in the next month or so will go toward maintenance and repairs, Hodge said.
Board members voting for the increases Monday were PSC members Joseph Boschulte, Verne C. David and M. Thomas Jackson; voting against was PSC Elsie V. Thomas-Trotman. Board members Donald Cole and Sirri Hamad were absent.
