St. Thomas-St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands (June 23, 2026) – The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (“WAPA” and “the Authority”) understands the frustration and disruption customers in the St. Thomas-St. John district have experienced from the recent cycle of outages. We recognize that residents and businesses have endured repeated interruptions over the past several days. For that, we are deeply sorry. We feel the impact these outages have on our homes, our livelihoods, and our peace of mind.

While we cannot yet provide the news everyone hopes to hear, we can promise transparency about the challenges before us and a continued commitment to restoring reliability. WAPA employees are being supported by local contractors, federal partners, and equipment specialists as efforts continue to restore additional generation capacity in the St. Thomas-St. John district.

What happened

Outages last week Wednesday primarily affecting customers on the eastern end of St. Thomas and the island of St. John was traced to faults on the Feeder 13 transmission line. Early Saturday morning, crews successfully repaired the faults on Feeder 13 and restored the transmission line to service, resolving the issue that initially caused outages on the eastern end of St. Thomas and St. John.

Although the Feeder 13 repairs were completed, the district continues to operate with limited backup generation. With several major units unavailable for several months, the recent temporary loss of additional units at the Randolph Harley Power Plant has left the system with little flexibility, making rotational outages necessary to prevent a districtwide outage.

In addition, yesterday afternoon, crews responded to a failure affecting the Red Hook submarine cable serving customers on St. John and restored service the same day by approximately 5:25 p.m.

Where we are today

At present, Unit 27 continues carrying the district's base load. Because additional major units remain unavailable, Unit 27 has carried much of the district's load since April, placing increased strain on the system.

Without backup generation from the major units, the temporary loss of additional units creates a situation where rotational outages become necessary to balance available generation with customer demand to prevent a districtwide outage.

Despite these challenges, progress has been made over the past several days, and every repair completed brings additional stability to the system.

Signs of Progress

• The Feeder 13 transmission line repairs have been completed.
• St. John submarine cable service was restored within hours of crews identifying the issue.
• WAPA mechanics and outside technicians continue working around the clock to safely restore additional generation capacity.
• A new contractor, R-G Engineering, is supporting efforts to return at least one major unit to service, currently targeted for late September.
• Recent diagnostic work on Unit 27 identified repairs needed to safely increase its output, adding capacity that will allow the system to help keep more customers with power when other generating units are unavailable.
• The U.S. Department of Energy is providing technical assistance to expedite the standby generation for St. John and the temporary generation for the power plants in both districts.

To receive real-time updates on outages to your mobile device, customers are encouraged to sign-up for WAPA Alerts at https://member.everbridge.net/892807736728730/new or visit our website at https://www.viwapa.vi/news-information/advisory-details.

We know our customers are frustrated, and we understand that patience has been tested. Though long-term, permanent solutions are not yet in place, progress is being made, and crews remain focused on restoring additional generation as quickly and safely as possible.

Every repair completed brings the St. Thomas-St. John district one step closer to a stronger and more reliable system. WAPA remains committed to keeping the community informed with each major milestone and strengthening the confidence our customers place in us every day. 

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