WAPA maintains silence on CEO Knight’s salary, ongoing billing problems

The V.I. Water and Power Authority continues to ignore questions about CEO Karl Knight’s salary, or explain why customers are continuing to receive unreasonably high and inconsistent utility bills.

The Daily News has been requesting information about Knight’s compensation package since July, when the WAPA board announced that he had been selected to replace former CEO Andrew Smith. WAPA spokeswoman Shanell Petersen responded in an email on July 31 that “I’m awaiting approval to release personnel information.” Despite repeated inquiries to both Petersen and Knight over the last six months, neither have provided any information about Knight’s compensation. During his tenure as WAPA CEO, Smith was consistently transparent about the amount of money he and other top executives were being paid.

At a Senate Committee hearing in July 2022, Smith responded publicly to questions about his annual compensation, and said his contract included a base salary of $325,000, plus other benefits, including a $45,000 housing allowance. Smith also said at the time that Chief Operating Officer Michael Sharp was earning $230,000 a year, plus a $45,000 housing allowance for $275,000 in compensation. Chief Financial Officer Jacob Lewis earned $180,000, plus a $45,000 housing allowance and a $25,000 educational allowance for his two children to attend Antilles School on St. Thomas. In January 2023, Sharp resigned from WAPA after only seven months on the job, and reimbursed WAPA for his relocation expenses.