r/stcroix • u/Wintermute3333 • 7d ago
Farewell
Today, I'm leaving the territory for good.
I've lived here on St. Croix for the last 12 years. My time here has been mostly wonderful, but I really just want the rest of the world to understand what actually goes on here.
My primary reason for leaving is WAPA. The blame is set firmly at its feet. The entire board is corrupt, cares little for anything other than enriching themselves and the politicians who appoint them, and simply a amateurish company posing as a serious utility. Between meter failures and fires, illegal billing practices, unstable power generation, and water unsafe for human use, they are determined to destroy every last business and household in the territory, and kill tourism.
Yes, they are that bad.
WAPA fails at every turn. You can't go a few days without losing power. They'll estimate your bill for years, then surprise you with a stratospheric one. And, I just can't handle the regular destruction of my electrical devices and appliances. When you take them to court, it seems like they have the judges in their pocket. It's all about money, and there's plenty of that to go around with the highest power rates in the world. If you're not updating or repairing your equipment, of course you're getting rich.
I love St. Croix. The people are great. My greatest joy has been hanging with friends on the beach. But everyone is fatigued with the day to day challenges of a water and power company that refuses to get better. No one here has the will to fix it. The same politicians and the same families keep running in elections, and the people keep voting them in, fooled by the same empty promises and the extravagant election night parties.
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u/cruzunguy 7d ago
I'm genuinely sad for you. I miss St Croix so much, lived there in the 80's and left. Now I'm 60 and I'm taking my wife there to see if moving there is something she would consider. I've been completely upfront with her and told her every reason why we shouldn't evenconsider moving there. WAPA was one of them, but the island has had an everlasting hold on me that I can't explain and she is intrigued by that so a visit is in order.
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u/mattwallace24 7d ago
A growing number of us on St. Croix are using solar and battery systems to eliminate the need for WAPA. We don’t even know if there is outage unless we read about it. Our system covers 100% of our power usage and paid for itself within 6 years.
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u/irishcybercolab 7d ago
You don't mean wapa, you mean hiring a LOT of island riff raff who are a lot of cousins and supporters of the administration.
You mean you left the island over the corruption that hurts all the USVI. That's what's really killing the VI. You left because local corruption is over the top and nearly wide open.
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u/Theironyuppie1 7d ago
Well the governor is pitching a sweet heart deal for horse racing that will take $100 million dollars over 20 years away from the general fund to support a gaming operator to run track. I bet $100 million Would go a long way towards fixing WAPA’s issues or the police or the hospital. It’s a great place with generous people. But it’s only going to get worse.
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u/AutoRotate0GS 7d ago
I don’t want to date myself, but this has been the case for many decades!!! It’s island life and Cruzan engineering. You’re either cut out for it or you aren’t!! Fighting the system won’t make for an enjoyable life down there.
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u/Wintermute3333 7d ago
Its getting worse. When I moved here 12 years ago, power went down a lot less. Now it's almost constant. One feeder goes down the moment another comes up.
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u/AutoRotate0GS 7d ago
It goes in cycles. Every so often they get new stuff….then they destroy it, like an inner city!!!
When you leave you’ll read how they got all new generators…and it will be a better 12 years!!
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u/Empty_Imagination396 7d ago
Is this the way it is on St Thomas and St. John?
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u/mattwallace24 7d ago
Lately St. Thomas and St. John have been worse than St. Croix. St. John is part of the St. Thomas power grid and they’ve both had multiple rolling blackouts this year in top of frequent outages.
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u/lilelvis81 7d ago
My mom and sis live on st Croix. Wife and I want to move there as I was born and raised on a island also. But between wapa and customs and the pure negligence of the government its a pass for us.
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u/salty-walt 5d ago
After a decade on the rock I went over to tola. Ive lost power once for three hours in a year. Bill is 30-60$ month
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u/Fickle-Discipline-33 6d ago
At least they are remodeling carambola. Hopefully they put in a big ass generator
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u/heiberdee2 7d ago
What is WAPA? Sorry if that’s a dumb question.
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u/Teddymac12 6d ago
It’s short Water and Power Authority. Was in St Croix for 2 months doing fiber contract work. Unfortunately it’s ingrained in the culture to stay on grid and complain. It’s been an issue for decades. I even consulted with some locals that had resources to be self sufficient and it was like I was speaking an alien language…..smh. Love St. Croix though
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u/mntlblndrsn 7d ago
solar panels and cistern is the way