Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) Rate Selection Guide
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) is an autonomous territorial agency serving 54,457 electric customers plus water customers across St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. Data access today is limited to the Click2Gov billing portal — a $30M+ Itron AMI replacement project (2026-2027) should eventually unlock interval data, but no Green Button, EDI, or third-party API program exists yet.
Market Overview
WAPA is a vertically integrated territorial public power authority regulated by the Virgin Islands Public Services Commission (PSC). There is no retail choice; rates, including the Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause (LEAC), are set through PSC rate cases and filings.
Need to pull your actual usage data to compare rates? See the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) Data Access Guide →
Current Rate Schedules
WAPA bills electric service as PSC-approved base rates (declining-block energy charges plus, for Large Power, a demand charge) layered with pass-through surcharges — most importantly the Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause (LEAC) fuel surcharge, currently held at 22.22¢/kWh through June 30, 2026 under a PSC settlement, plus small Pilot, Self-Insurance, and OPEB surcharges. Fuel represents roughly three-quarters of WAPA's budget, so the LEAC typically exceeds the base energy rate and is the single biggest driver of C&I bills in the territory. All-in commercial costs commonly land in the $0.40-0.45/kWh range, among the highest under the US flag.
Effective: August 12, 2025 · Full Tariff Book →
| Schedule | Type | Applicability | Structure | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large Power Service | commercial | Large commercial and industrial customers billed on demand across St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John | Customer charge $48.67/month; demand charge $2.51/kW (primary service discount of $0.33/kW available); declining-block energy charges — Block 1: $0.246392/kWh (first 10 kWh/kW of billing demand or first 1,000 kWh), Block 2: $0.228864/kWh (next 90 kWh/kW or next 6,500 kWh), Block 3: $0.183278/kWh (next 100 kWh/kW), Block 4: $0.176153/kWh (all additional); plus LEAC fuel surcharge ($0.2222/kWh through June 2026), Pilot $0.000686, Self-Insurance $0.001925, and OPEB $0.002166 per kWh | ~$0.40-0.47/kWh all-in including LEAC+ $2.51/kW ($2.18/kW with primary service discount) |
| Small Commercial Service | commercial | General commercial customers not billed on demand | Monthly customer charge plus declining-block base energy charges, plus the LEAC fuel surcharge ($0.2222/kWh) and Pilot/Self-Insurance/OPEB surcharges; see WAPA rate page for current block rates | LEAC alone adds $0.2222/kWh; see tariff for base blocks |
| Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause (LEAC) | commercial | All electric customers — fuel cost pass-through set by the VI Public Services Commission | Per-kWh fuel surcharge petitioned by WAPA and approved by the PSC, normally reviewed semi-annually with true-up of under/over-recovery; held at $0.2222/kWh until June 30, 2026 under an August 2025 settlement while a claimed fuel cost deficit is audited. The PSC briefly approved $0.17/kWh in June 2025 before the settlement reinstated $0.2222 | — |
Rate Recommendations by Use Case
C&I billing data collection today
Stand up Click2Gov portal access per account and route printed/PDF statements into your bill management workflow.
With no API, EDI, or Green Button, portal access plus print-to-PDF is the only repeatable first-party path until the AMI rollout finishes.
- Register every account in Click2Gov and document credentials securely
- Use the Customer Billing Dispute Form to challenge legacy AMI overbilling
- Request a key account manager for direct billing support
Third-party consultant access
Build the consent-letter package early; each WAPA data request is one-time and takes 2-4 weeks.
WAPA verifies each written authorization manually and does not establish ongoing access, so refresh cycles must be planned around multi-week turnarounds.
- State purpose, scope, period, and organization explicitly in the authorization
- Email requests to Customer.Service@viwapa.vi and keep mailed backups
- Batch account requests to reduce round-trips
Preparing for AMI interval data
Track the Itron AMI rollout so your energy management program can adopt interval data the moment it ships.
Territory-wide AMI completion targets 2026-2027; third-party interval access is unlikely before 2027, but early movers can request pilot participation.
- Monitor viwapa.vi announcements and PSC filings for meter data portal news
- Ask key accounts about interval data pilot programs
- Propose integration partnerships via contractservices@viwapa.vi
Cost Optimization Strategies
With all-in costs around $0.40+/kWh dominated by the 22.22¢/kWh LEAC fuel surcharge, WAPA territory offers some of the strongest economics anywhere for efficiency, solar, and load management. Every avoided kWh dodges both the base block rate and the full LEAC, and rate-case/LEAC docket monitoring matters because the surcharge is litigated semi-annually.
On-site solar and storage
For: Commercial buildings, hotels, and industrial sites with roof or ground space
At ~$0.40-0.47/kWh all-in, behind-the-meter solar PV in the Virgin Islands pays back faster than almost anywhere in the US. Pairing storage hardens facilities against WAPA outages while clipping demand and Block 1-2 energy purchases.
Load factor and block management
For: Large Power customers
Large Power energy blocks are keyed to kWh per kW of billing demand, declining from $0.2464 to $0.1762/kWh. Flattening load pushes more consumption into the cheaper Blocks 3-4 while reducing the $2.51/kW demand charge.
Primary service election
For: Large facilities with capacity to own transformation
Customers able to take delivery at primary voltage receive a $0.33/kW discount on the Large Power demand charge and avoid transformer losses on WAPA's side of the meter.
Deep efficiency retrofits (cooling-led)
For: All commercial customers, especially hospitality and retail
Cooling dominates Caribbean commercial load. High-SEER/inverter HVAC, chilled water optimization, envelope sealing, and LED retrofits each avoid the full ~$0.40/kWh stack, roughly triple the savings rate of mainland projects.
LEAC docket monitoring and bill validation
For: All C&I customers; essential for large accounts
The LEAC is contested at the PSC roughly every six months — it was cut to 17¢ in June 2025 then restored to 22.22¢ by settlement through June 2026 pending a fuel cost audit. Tracking PSC dockets lets large customers anticipate rate moves, verify the billed factor, and participate in proceedings that directly set ~half their unit cost.
To implement these strategies, you need your 15-minute interval data. Learn how to download Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) interval data →
Frequently Asked Questions
Can commercial customers get interval data from WAPA today?▾
No. WAPA's original 2015 Itron/Tantalus AMI system failed, and a $30M+ Itron replacement is deploying across St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John through 2026-2027. Until that completes and is tested, no interval data (15/30-minute or hourly) is available through any WAPA system — the Click2Gov portal covers billing only.
Does WAPA support Green Button, EDI, or a public API?▾
No. Green Button Download/Connect My Data, ESPI, EDI trading partner programs, developer APIs, and aggregator partnerships are all absent. The Click2Gov billing portal and manual customer service requests are the only data channels.
How does a consultant access a client's WAPA billing data?▾
Through a manual consent process: the customer signs an authorization stating purpose, scope, and time period; the consultant emails it with account details to Customer.Service@viwapa.vi; WAPA verifies consent and delivers data — typically 12-24 months of billing history in PDF or paper — within 2-4 weeks. Each request is one-time; updates require new requests.
When will interval data become available from the new AMI system?▾
Territory-wide AMI deployment targets completion in 2026-2027, with St. Thomas and St. Croix first and St. John later in 2026. Third-party interval data access is unlikely before 2027, after rollout, testing, and calibration. Itron AMI systems typically support 15- or 30-minute intervals, but WAPA has not confirmed export formats.
What should large C&I customers do to improve data access now?▾
Request a key account manager via Customer.Service@viwapa.vi for direct billing support and custom rate analysis, register all accounts in the Click2Gov portal, and ask about early participation in interval data pilots once the AMI rollout reaches your island. Use the Customer Billing Dispute Form to verify charges affected by the failed legacy AMI system.
Where are WAPA's rates and tariffs published?▾
Rate case filings, Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause (LEAC) filings, and tariff schedules are public at the Virgin Islands Public Services Commission (psc.vi.gov). WAPA is a vertically integrated territorial authority with no retail choice; the PSC sets rates.
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