St. John Residents Blast WAPA Over Outages, Neglect and Years of Broken Promises

Frustration that has been building for years poured out Tuesday evening as St. John residents confronted officials of the V.I. Water and Power Authority over repeated outages, weak communication, spoiled food and medicine, poor customer service, prolonged estimated billing, and what many described as an enduring pattern of neglect.

The public town hall, called to address the recent power failures on St. John, quickly became a forum for residents to voice disgust with an agency they said has failed them for too long. Though WAPA Chief Executive Officer Karl Knight led the meeting and offered explanations for the latest outages, much of the evening was driven by residents who pressed him on exposed infrastructure, delayed projects, financial hardship, and a lack of visible progress despite years of discussion.

Among the strongest complaints was WAPA’s handling of communication during the latest outage. Residents said the authority did not provide prompt enough updates while the island remained without service for an extended period. Mr. Knight tried to explain the delayed response by pointing to WAPA’s human-powered notification system, but the explanation did little to calm the audience.

Attendees also raised broader, more systemic complaints that extended beyond the most recent blackout. They criticized WAPA’s customer service, objected to prolonged estimated billing at elevated rates, and reacted negatively when Mr. Knight said the authority was not in a position to reimburse customers who lost appliances, food, and medicine during the multi-day outage.