WAPA: Island-Wide Power Outages Because We Cannot Meet Demand

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS —The lights went out on St. Thomas and St. John at approximately 12:25 p.m. on Sunday and as of 4:00 p.m. they've yet to come back on.

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority sent an initial alert, "a major electrical service interruption is affecting all customers in the St. Thomas - St. John district following the loss of generation capacity at the Randolph Harley Power Plant. Efforts are underway to rebuild generation capacity ahead of restoring service to all customers."

Several hours later, with electricity has yet to be restored, WAPA provided an explanation for the ongoing outage:

"Today's ongoing service interruption affecting customers on St. Thomas and St. John is a result of continued operational challenges with maintaining adequate generation capacity to meet the demand for electrical service. Since the districtwide outage began at approximately 12:25 pm, personnel have successfully brought one generating unit online and restored service to customers on three feeders: 5A, 7A and 8A. WAPA apologizes for the inconvenience caused by the service interruption and assures the public that efforts will continue until all customers in the district are restored."

Wondering what feeder you're on? Check via this link: http://www.viwapa.vi/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2018_feeder_listings---stt-stj.pdf?sfvrsn=74ec8718_2

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