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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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VIenergize Unit Creates Network of Reputable Providers

A kickoff event on St. Thomas Friday allowed the V.I. Water and Power Authority to launch its new VIenergize Services unit, which plays on the concept created by Angie’s List and other service providers by giving customers access to a "reputable" network of energy vendors, according to WAPA Chief Financial Officer Julio Rhymer.

The kickoff event was held in the University of the Virgin Islands’ Chase Auditorium and featured a day of speakers, educational forums, and question and answer sessions for audience members looking to get more information about the VIenergize service and what’s being done to control power providers – such as solar energy companies – working in the territory.

A concern voiced early on by one resident focused on promises made by providers that might not necessarily be true. Someone might say that installing a solar unit could eliminate a consumer’s bill from WAPA altogether, but many in the territory are seeing that is not the case, the resident said.

Rhymer said this complaint is being fielded by WAPA on a regular basis, with consumers coming in to ask why they are still receiving an electric bill after they’ve spent money to install photovoltaic systems in their own homes. WAPA has also had to deal with service providers that do not fill out the proper paperwork that allows consumers to take advantage of the authority’s net metering program, Rhymer added.

"This is creating major issues for us, and we have had to explain to residents what’s really going on," Rhymer said after one of the sessions.

WAPA’s VIenergize campaign responds to these concerns with two components: a stand-alone business unit within the authority that educates residents about what WAPA offers – such as net metering – and a separate website that links consumers to a network of providers and their history of service in the Virgin Islands.

"We want to create educated consumers," Rhymer said. "Someone looking at the network, for example, would be able select between a provider that might have been in the territory for five months and has not set up any units and another local company that has a history of success with the installation of several hundred units. It will make it easier for our customers to choose a vendor."

The VIenergize unit is funded by a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which is meant to provide consumers with the resources needed to help them reduce their energy and water consumption. Everyone wants to go green, Rhymer said, but many residents don’t know what it takes to do it properly.

"We hope that the residents here today will see that WAPA is really working for them, not against them," Rhymer said. "We’re trying to make everyone energy efficient, because that also makes us better and it helps to solve some of the major energy issues we’re experiencing."

The event also featured presentations from a variety of energy experts, along with speakers such as Labor Commissioner Albert Bryan Jr., who talked about the economic benefits of creating an energy efficient economy.

When problems arise in a community, such as rising energy costs, residents tend to come up with innovative strategies and, in today’s society, it is innovative products like wind mills, solar panels and natural gas systems that help to reduce costs and give residents more disposable income, Bryan said.

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