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Stymied???
CAMountainGal
March 05, 2013 08:38AM
Registered: 7 years ago
Posts: 27
People in PR are having fits over the electric rate.
An article in the San Juan Star Newspaper on March 1st headline reads: " EPA sets new energy-efficiency guidelines for Puerto Rico homes."
The last line of the article reads: "Puerto Rico has some of the highest electricity rates in the country at 29 cents per kilowatt hour by some estimates." WHAT??????? Highest?
After relocating to PR in Sept, my electric bill is 1/3 of what it was in the VI and the crazy thing is that PR uses the same methods to get electricity as does the VI.
Re: Stymied???
Alana33
March 05, 2013 09:03AM
Registered: 6 years ago
Posts: 11,676
And here we continue to pay double that rate @ $0.58 cents per KWH for residential power and $0.54 for commercia rates while being held hostage to an antiquated system whose issues and leadership should have been dealt with decades ago. Spending a couple billion to connect with PR underwater over some of the deepest trenches in the world, isn't the answer either. For that amount we could have a state of the art power supply company right here in the VI.
Re: Stymied???
Neil
March 05, 2013 09:35AM
Registered: 10 years ago
Posts: 988
Re: Stymied???
Alana33
March 05, 2013 10:59AM
Registered: 6 years ago
Posts: 11,676
You are right, not directly.
Here is an interesting look:
[oceanexplorer.noaa.gov]
[education.nationalgeographic.com]
Re: Stymied???
SunnyCaribe
March 05, 2013 12:32PM
Registered: 7 years ago
Posts: 494
Neil
PR had 6 million people to share the cost.
USVI pop isn't even a big suburb in the PR.
True. But the "economy of scale" argument completely breaks down when the price one pays the utility company for electricity is higher than the cost of generating it oneself, as larger businesses have been doing on STX for many years, decades in some cases.
I'm happy to see the residential rate for electricity is now higher than the commercial rate, giving residents even more incentive to get off the wapa hamster-wheel.
Re: Stymied???
SkysTheLimit
March 05, 2013 01:37PM
Registered: 10 years ago
Posts: 1,833
Linda J
I'm not sure generating it IS cheaper. At the Buccameer we made our own electricity. It was more expensive, but more reliable, which was important when people are paying a lot for a room.
Depends on how you "generate" the power. Diesel, Propane, Gas, Solar, Wind, Geothermal....Or a combination. Just the fact that a business like the Buccaneer felt it necessary to produce their own power says a lot!!! How about the two new wind generators behind the Avis? That's a statement!!
Re: Stymied???
LuckyGirl56
March 05, 2013 02:37PM
Registered: 9 years ago
Posts: 330
Re: Stymied???
SunnyCaribe
March 05, 2013 04:23PM
Registered: 7 years ago
Posts: 494
Linda J
I'm not sure generating it IS cheaper. At the Buccameer we made our own electricity. It was more expensive, but more reliable, which was important when people are paying a lot for a room.
WAPA's unreliable service detracts from the value of the product. If you need reliable power (as any reputable hotel does, as the refinery did, etc) then you must generate it yourself. The Armstrongs wouldn't have spent the money to go off grid if there was a dollar's doubt about the value they were getting by doing so. And it is very important to note that they made that move when WAPA's rates were a fraction of what they are now. Divi and Carambola have done likewise.
Re: Stymied???
SunnyCaribe
March 05, 2013 05:39PM
Registered: 7 years ago
Posts: 494
Yes, but what I am saying is that price is one component of value, and the value was solidly there for TBI decades ago. Enhanced reliability goes into the equation, and so does the the quality of the power. Generating their own power means multiplying the lifespan of every single electronic device they have by a significant factor, something we forget who must contend with the notoriously dirty current WAPA provides.
Re: Stymied???
InnAtPelicanHeights
March 05, 2013 09:46PM
Registered: 8 years ago
Posts: 319
Be prepared for the next request for electric rate increase............it will be the base rate.
For those of you who read the AVIS last week on Diageo building their own abilitity to produce electricity, ie propane, and will be off line by end of March. Combo a large custome like WAPAr, businesses closed, and residents using less due to solar and wind systems installed, I predict a .05 increase in base rate by May.
Hope Im wrong.
Re: Stymied???
Ric
March 05, 2013 10:47PM
Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 393
The last I knew which was two years ago, the Buccaneer was generating and delivering power for $.25 per kwh. We were using diesel engines to generate the power. Our lines were all underground. In the six years I worked there, we never had a power generation outage. We did have one transmission outage when a main transformer blew up.
Re: Stymied???
SkysTheLimit
March 06, 2013 07:15AM
Registered: 10 years ago
Posts: 1,833
Ric
The last I knew which was two years ago, the Buccaneer was generating and delivering power for $.25 per kwh. We were using diesel engines to generate the power. Our lines were all underground. In the six years I worked there, we never had a power generation outage. We did have one transmission outage when a main transformer blew up.
So they could run a diesel genny for half the price of WAPA? Hmmmm!!!!!
Re: Stymied???
Linda J
March 06, 2013 09:20AM
Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 3,903
Re: Stymied???
Neil
March 06, 2013 09:55AM
Registered: 10 years ago
Posts: 988
With all due respect, no way in hell is the current true cost of diesel generation just 25 cents per kwh. Maybe when diesel was $2.50 a gallon and you don't factor in the investment and maintenance. The hotels need reliability, I get that. They can't afford vacationers without a/c.
94% of Alaskan villages run on diesel generators. The state subsidizes the cost of diesel delivery and pays the first 500 kwh of monthly consumption through a levelized adjustment scheme/subsidy called PEC. . Yet still the villagers pay about 30 cents per.
[www.avec.org]
[blog.gvea.com]
Consequently, Alaska utilities are hot on the trail of alternative energy. ALASKA!!! The oil state!!
Note that the Alaska kwh cost is about what the PR is paying. And the VI wants to plug into that??? Stupid and shortsighted. They be better to do what many small AK utilities are doing: diesel-backed-up wind turbines.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 09:57AM by Neil.
Re: Stymied???
terry
March 06, 2013 10:18AM
Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 2,535
InnAtPelicanHeights
Be prepared for the next request for electric rate increase............it will be the base rate.
For those of you who read the AVIS last week on Diageo building their own abilitity to produce electricity, ie propane, and will be off line by end of March. Combo a large custome like WAPAr, businesses closed, and residents using less due to solar and wind systems installed, I predict a .05 increase in base rate by May.
Hope Im wrong.
The predicted price for Diaego is $.09 per K.
They are using the latest tech.
The people who are doing the install have tried to talk to WAPA about it but WAPA wants nothing to do with it.
IMHO, if WAPA went with a new lower system, it would cost those stealing millions from us too much money. After all if you skim just 10% off of $.58 per K, it isn't noticed bit 10% off of $.09 is going to set off alarms.
Another thing we are taking into consideration, even what Ric says, and I believe him, that the Buc made power for $.25 per K. and if WAPA did the same, they would at least double the rate to it's customers to pay for overhead.
Re: Stymied???
Alana33
March 06, 2013 12:55PM
Registered: 6 years ago
Posts: 11,676
Jamison
The idea of running a giant extension cord to PR is a joke right? Nobody seriously is considering it, are they?
Come on, Jamison! You know if it is mind-bogglingly expensive and totally unrealistic, the VI leaders will be enchanted to do it!
Just think of the costs and issues involved in connecting STT, WI, STX and STJ to PR and we become completely dependent on PR,
who can have just as many outages and breakdowns to their systems especially during and after Hurricanes.
We could have a state of the art energy producing company for the cost of laying cables, not to mention all the other issues involved.
Re: Stymied???
Jamison
March 06, 2013 12:57PM
Registered: 6 years ago
Posts: 1,037
Alana33
Jamison
The idea of running a giant extension cord to PR is a joke right? Nobody seriously is considering it, are they?
Come on, Jamison! You know if it is mind-bogglingly expensive and totally unrealistic, the VI leaders will be enchanted to do it!
Just think of the costs and issues involved in connecting STT, WI, STX and STJ to PR and we become completely dependent on PR,
who can have just as many outages and breakdowns to their systems especially during and after Hurricanes.
We could have a state of the art energy producing company for the cost of laying cables, not to mention all the other issues involved.
We can't even get good tomatoes from PR, I really don't trust them with my power. lol
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