Beginning Thursday, Dec. 28, the V.I. Water and Power Authority (WAPA) will begin a No Customer Left Behind campaign that will be aimed at reconnecting all customers who can be restored to the electric grid and who may have been bypassed during the first phase of service restoration.
“As the restoration effort on St. John nears completion, the No Customer Left Behind campaign will begin with customers on St. John having the opportunity to inform WAPA if they have not yet been restored. This will include customers who are either missing service connections to their weather heads, missing meters, or those who were bypassed because their weather head and/or meter base was not ready to be re-energized in previous stages of the restoration,” said Clinton Hedrington Jr., acting executive director / CEO of WAPA.
A No Customer Left Behind telephone hotline number, 715-8020, has been established for St. John customers to call, according to Hedrington. The customer’s information will be collected by a WAPA employee on St. John and will then be channeled to the appropriate divisions so restoration can be scheduled.
“The goal is once a customer makes contact with the No Customer Left Behind hotline, assuming all documentation is in order and that customer will be restored within 72 hours,” he added.
As of Tuesday, approximately 98 percent of St. John has been restored. Currently, the No Customer Left Behind only applies to St. John customers. “Once we get closer to the end of the restoration effort on St. Thomas and St. Croix, identical campaigns will be launched for those islands as well,” said Hedrington.
WAPA will continue to identify priority work areas for restoration each week and restore customers daily until every home or business that can be connected to the electric grid is re-energized.
The acting executive director also said that beginning on Thursday, the customer service office on St. John, located at The Marketplace, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. All services will be available at this location.
WAPA customers on St. John who have not yet been restored are encouraged to call the No Customer Left Behind hotline at 715-8020.