St. Thomas-St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands (July 17, 2026) — The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (“WAPA” or “the Authority”) recognizes the frustration and disruption caused by the service interruptions experienced earlier this week. We understand the impact unexpected outages have on families, businesses, and essential services throughout our community, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
WAPA makes every effort to provide timely and accurate information as conditions develop. However, circumstances can change quickly as crews respond, equipment conditions evolve, and available generation capacity changes. Our commitment remains to keep customers informed and provide additional context or corrections as new information becomes available.
While WAPA manages fuel supply logistics and rising fuel costs remain a challenge, the service interruptions experienced this week were related to planned hazard mitigation work and unexpected mechanical issues, not a lack of available fuel.
On Tuesday morning, WAPA shared a precautionary rotation schedule that should not have been issued. The schedule did not accurately reflect the Authority's operational status, as WAPA maintained sufficient fuel reserves through alternative supplier arrangements. As a result, the rotation schedule was never implemented.
At this time, WAPA does not anticipate rotational outages due to fuel supply limitations and, to date, has not experienced a fuel-related service interruption since 2024.
The events began with planned overnight work associated with the Feeder 13 Bypass Project, an important FEMA-funded hazard mitigation project that serves a large portion of the community. The project is designed to provide a backup transmission path for the existing Feeder 13 aging underground line. Restoration activities extended beyond the original outage window as crews worked to safely return customers to service.
While restoring power to St. John Tuesday morning, two generating units unexpectedly shut down. The loss of those units reduced available generation and caused a districtwide outage at approximately 7:45 a.m.
WAPA personnel and contractors immediately responded, and power was progressively restored throughout the day. All feeders were restored by approximately 2:24 p.m., except Feeder 5A, which continued to affect customers primarily near Cyril E. King airport.
Crews later identified a damaged underground splice affecting Feeder 5A in the airport cargo area. Repairs were completed, and Feeder 5A was restored at approximately 2:15 p.m. Wednesday.
We know outages disrupt people’s lives, and we are committed to providing clear information as quickly as possible while we work to restore and strengthen service. The Authority continues to prioritize completion of disaster recovery projects, including the Feeder 13 Bypass Project, along with preventative maintenance, operational planning, and ongoing reviews of outage response efforts to strengthen reliability and rebuild trust.
Fuel supply remains an important area of focus. WAPA has secured additional trucked fuel deliveries, along with a diesel shipment that arrived yesterday, another diesel delivery scheduled for next week, and an LPG (propane) delivery expected this weekend to support generation operations. All fuel deliveries have been paid.
We remain committed to transparency, timely communication, and the continued work necessary to build a stronger, more resilient power system for the people of the Virgin Islands.
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