Business View caribbean - Aug 2023

31 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 10, ISSUE 8 VIRGIN ISLANDS WATER AND POWER AUTHORI TY VIWAPA is unchanged,” Smith notes, highlighting that now they stand around the Caribbean average. Energy Consumption and Cost: A Household Perspective in the Virgin Islands The economics of energy is a story often told through industrial metrics and global trends. Yet, it’s in the homes of everyday people that the impact of energy costs truly resonates. In the Virgin Islands, this story reveals surprising nuances. The rate for power is $0.41 a kilowatt hour for a residential customer. “Our average customer bill on Saint Thomas is $179 a month and about $165 a month on Saint Croix” Smith reveals. The story of energy consumption in the Virgin Islands is not merely a tale of rates and kilowatt-hours, however. It’s a narrative of adaptation, response, and the innate human desire to optimize. Smith elucidates how residents have implemented creative measures such as putting timers on water heaters and air conditioning or avoiding the use of air conditioning altogether in locations blessed with a cooling easterly sea breeze. Smith adds that the lower absolute dollar value of the bill is in part a response to what is “intrinsically, a