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March 14, 2008 GOVERNOR DISCUSSES SOLUTIONS TO RISING ELECTRICITY COSTS WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF WAPA, HOVENSA AND ST. CROIX RENAISSANCE GROUP
Governor John P. deJongh, Jr. Friday convened a meeting of government officials, representatives of the V.I. Water and Power Authority, HOVENSA and St. Croix Renaissance Group for a candid discussion about options available to bring relief to rate payers in the Virgin Islands. “With the steady rise in oil prices on world markets, we can only anticipate a continued increase in the costs of electricity and potable water in the Virgin Islands. I wanted to bring together the major stakeholders in what can be considered a long overdue meeting to take a look at the steps which can be taken to hold the line on the staggering cost of electricity production,” deJongh said Friday morning as he opened the meeting held at Government House on St. Croix. In his remarks, HOVENSA President Lawrence Kupfer stated, “I see this meeting as the first step towards putting our collective minds together to see how best to address this energy crisis in the Virgin Islands.” Kupfer said at every town meeting he has with HOVENSA’s more than 1,000 employees there is the question about “what can we as a company do to contribute to lowering the costs of electricity?” Due to WAPA’s ongoing Requests for Proposals process, specifics about what options are available could not be discussed as St. Croix Renaissance Group, a respondent to the RFP, was represented at the meeting. WAPA is seeking proposals for alternative means of producing electricity. The RFP process continues through May 2008. The meeting ended with officials of WAPA and HOVENSA indicating their intent to hold further talks on short-term options. |
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