The Virgin Islands has been caught with its proverbial “pants down” along with the rest of the world for not having paid enough attention to research and development in the energy sector, according to commentator Douglas Wheatley. Photo: VINO/File

The caller expressed that while as much as $80 is sometimes being spent on energy charges, there was also an additional $75 fuel surcharge component that helps make up the total cost of electricity bills. Photo: VINO/File

A caller on the 3D radio programme aired on July 5, 2013 asked “Who is keeping a track on the fuel that we have to be paying these bills for our current [electricity]? Who is keeping a track on anything?”

Although he argued that the price of gasoline at the pumps going down did not necessarily equate to the price of crude oil going down, he reasoned that crude oil prices should be down.

The caller expressed that while as much as $80 is sometimes being spent on energy charges, there was also an additional $75 fuel surcharge component that helps make up the total cost of electricity bills.

“It’s so sad, I know St Thomas people, St Croix people have to pay $800-$900 a month [for electricity] and we’re here still in the $200-$300 range, but it’s really, really hurting,” he stated.

Responding to the caller, Wheatley said persons here and in the US Virgin Islands are both suffering because of the high prices of fuel and asked what can be done about it.

Wheatley said throughout the world persons are looking at alternative sources of energy and were late in starting on this because there was an ‘easy’ supply of fuel coming from the Middle East.

“Instead of our engineers studying alternative means of [energy], they weren’t doing that so we got caught as it were, with our pants down and a high cost of fuel and now we’re trying of course with solar, wind and all those other things,” he said.

Wheatley expressed hope that things would be "okay" in the end but argued that the kind of crisis that was currently being experienced should not have been if we had been thinking properly and doing what is the right thing.

Delta Petroleum inked a $76.8M contract for the supply of fuel and lubricants to the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) on August 31, 2012. It was Delta’s fourth consecutive contract award and trumped SOL BVI’s $79M bid at the time.

Delta Petroleum’s fuel contract runs for two years and expires on August 31, 2014.