WAPA fighting to gain access to $6.9 million in frozen funds

Lawyers for the cash-strapped V.I. Water and Power Authority are still fighting a court order that put a freeze on a FirstBank account worth $6.9 million, arguing that it’s jeopardizing the utility’s ability to purchase fuel.

A Puerto Rico federal judge froze the account in April, and WAPA attorney Carlos Garcia Perez argued that WAPA’s funds “are entirely exempt from a writ of execution under Virgin Islands law.” The account was used to make fuel purchases, and “if the Writ is not immediately quashed, WAPA will be unable to maintain its fuel inventory, resulting in significant damages not only to WAPA but, as the sole utility for the Virgin Islands, to the Health, Safety and Welfare of the people of the Territory,” Perez added.

Despite the objections, the judge ruled on May 31 that WAPA must use that money to pay an outstanding judgment to vendor Power Rental Op Co, after the company successfully sued WAPA in Florida for failing to pay for water treatment equipment and generator rentals. WAPA has been struggling to pay vendors for many years, and the territory has been under a state of emergency since April because of WAPA’s inability to produce reliable electricity. In a brief filed on Nov. 7 in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Garcia Perez argued that the order underlying the writ of execution is unenforceable, and the court “made legal errors” that were prejudicial to WAPA.