Rolling Blackouts to Continue on St. Thomas Until Feeder 13 Restored

In an effort to keep power on, on St. John, St. Thomas was switched to rolling blackouts late Wednesday into Thursday night as V.I. Water and Power Authority crews searched for the cause of a fault on Feeder 13.

Prior to hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, there were three underground lines servicing St. John and the eastern end of St. Thomas. However, Feeder 11 was never restored after the storms, putting the load of three on Feeders 12 and 13, according to WAPA officials.

That’s why, when Feeder 13 tripped late Wednesday, rolling blackouts went into effect as the lone feeder remaining – Feeder 12 – was not enough to carry the entire load, WAPA spokesperson Shanell Petersen said Thursday night, as new schedules continued to be issued for St. Thomas-St. John.

She added that WAPA, helped along by teams from Haughland VI and F&R Electric, would be working through the night to restore Feeder 13. The latest, as of 9:30 p.m., were two-hour rotational outages implanted for Feeders 6A and 7A.