WAPA says the Feeder 13 bypass is fully tested and commissioned, replacing an aging underground transmission line with a FEMA-funded overhead pathway serving the St. Thomas-St. John district. The utility currently lists no programmed service interruption, so no time-specific alert is active.
The line gives operators another transmission path when faults occur or maintenance is required. WAPA says that flexibility should reduce the effect of some unplanned transmission outages and may limit disruptions while work proceeds on Feeders 9A, 11 and 12.
Commissioning required a September 13 outage across eastern St. Thomas and all of St. John. Restoration was initially estimated for 6 p.m., but rain paused live testing and crews later found faulted hardware at interconnection points. The contractor completed repairs at about 2 a.m., and WAPA restored all affected service at approximately 3 a.m. Monday.
The project is supported by approximately $17 million in FEMA funding and followed about two years of planning, engineering and construction. WAPA previously estimated that the added flexibility would benefit roughly 37,600 customers across the district.
The bypass cannot prevent every outage: generation shortages, distribution faults and work on other equipment can still interrupt service. Its value is the additional option it gives operators when the existing transmission network is constrained.
WAPA should publish before-and-after reliability measures for Feeder 13, explain which outage scenarios the bypass can and cannot prevent, and include the line in a public capital-project dashboard with maintenance and performance updates.
Source published September 14, 2026. Read the original reporting or release for the complete record.
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