Business View Caribbean | August 2019

42 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN AUGUST 2019 “Shortly thereafter, we began mobilizing crews and material to the territory through the American Public Power Association (APPA) and their Mutual Aid program, and also some private contractors that brought men and equipment to the territory. We are covered by FEMA Region 2 out of the U.S. and they quickly mobilized people to the site. We began working with them and planning on the emergency restoration efforts. FEMA also brought two vessels to St. Thomas and St. Croix to be used as housing for linemen because finding housing was difficult. “Governor Mapp had set a goal to have power restored to 90 percent of customers before Christmas, and we were able to achieve that. I wasn’t working for the Authority at the time, but I got my power back the Tuesday before Christmas and we were able to reach 100 percent restoration by the end of March 2018 to customers whose homes or businesses were not destroyed.” BVC: What challenges are you facing today and how are they being addressed? Kupfer: “If you look around the territory today, everything is green – the vegetation has returned – however, the economy has not fully recovered. A number of major hotels are closed; airlift is still down from what it was prior to the storms. Our sales continue to be 14 to 15 percent down, with hotels being closed, and the ones that are open are still serving emergency workers, so the occupancy rate is lower. And just overall reduced economic activity is leading to those lower sales. That has a big impact on our financials, because it’s 14 percent less base rate revenues we’re collecting to cover fixed operating expenses. “Even before the restoration was complete, FEMA was working with us to identify important mitigation projects. They have obligated about $625 million in FEMA projects to put the circuits underground. When that is completed in three to pictured above CEO, Lawrence J. Kupfer pictured Hurricane Maria 2017 restoration efforts