Residents and businesses across the eastern end of St. Thomas and throughout St. John should prepare for two planned overnight power outages next week as the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority completes a pair of infrastructure projects designed to improve the reliability of the electrical system.
The outages are scheduled to begin at approximately 11 p.m. on Monday, July 13, and Tuesday, July 14, with service expected to be restored by 7 a.m. each morning.
The work comes as WAPA continues efforts to strengthen the St. Thomas-St. John electrical system following months of service disruptions and rotating outages tied to aging equipment and generation challenges. During an April hearing before the Legislature, WAPA officials outlined plans to improve reliability through projects including the Feeder 13 bypass, additional transmission redundancy, and future emergency generation for St. John.
According to WAPA, the overnight schedule was selected to minimize disruption to customers while allowing crews and contractors to safely complete work on the Feeder 13 Bypass Project and the Feeder 7E Ridge Road Circuit Redundancy Project.
The following feeders will be affected:
Monday, July 13
- 9E
- 8E
- 7E
- 9C
- 7C
- Mall
- 10B
- 9B
- 7B
- Yacht Haven
Tuesday, July 14
- 9E
- 8E
- 7E
- 9C
- 7C
- Mall
- 10B
- 9B
- 8B
- 7B
- Yacht Haven
- 7A
During the outages, crews will energize a new overhead transmission line serving the eastern portion of St. Thomas and St. John, completing the Feeder 13 Bypass Project. WAPA said the bypass will reduce the risk of forced outages associated with the aging underground Feeder 13 transmission line.
Crews will also complete the remaining work on the Ridge Road/Cabrita Point Distribution Circuit Redundancy Project, reconnecting the Cabrita submarine distribution cable with St. John’s electrical distribution network. The redundant power line to St. John was lost during Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
According to WAPA, completing both projects will provide operators with greater flexibility to reroute power during planned maintenance, equipment failures, or unexpected outages, helping reduce the frequency and duration of future service interruptions.
The projects are part of a broader effort to improve service reliability following a difficult spring in the St. Thomas-St. John district. Earlier this year, residents experienced weeks of rotating outages after problems with aging generation units at the Randolph Harley Power Plant reduced available capacity, prompting WAPA to implement daily load-shedding schedules while repairs were underway.
WAPA acknowledged that the planned outages will be inconvenient but said the overnight schedule was chosen to lessen the impact on customers while allowing crews to safely complete the work. Customers in the affected areas are encouraged to make any necessary preparations in advance.
