In a Christmas Eve emergency meeting, V.I. Water and Power Authority board members approved a contract with Puma to supply fuel for the utility’s vehicle fleet on St. Croix.

Speaking during the meeting, WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. explained that the authority began soliciting bids for an alternate supplier after Hovensa announced in November it would not replenish its vehicle fuel stock once it ran out, which Hodge said gave WAPA until about the end of December.

Puma is an international energy distributor with facilities in the territory. The contact with Puma for vehicle fuel is for the remainder of fiscal year 2015, at a cost not to exceed $220,092. Based on the agreement, Puma’s prices are $2.77 per gallon for regular and $2.85 per gallon for diesel.

“We proactively went out and sought quotes from suppliers in the St. Thomas-St. John district for gasoline and diesel fuel for our St. Croix fleet,” Hodge added. “Then, when the vote from the Senate came in against the deal with Atlantic Basin Refining Inc., we went ahead and finished evaluating those quotes, and were able to get the contract to the board today for approval.”

The V.I. Legislature on Friday rejected a proposed agreement with Atlantic Basin Refining Inc. to buy and reopen the Hovensa refinery, which closed in 2012, costing the local economy more than 2,500 jobs. The operating agreement required legislative ratification before the sale could be closed, because it included legislative action on tax breaks and other issues.

Hodge said Wednesday that he didn’t take a position on the deal, but was concerned about what was going to happen to WAPA. The authority’s team would work through the holidays on a plan to supply fuel to WAPA’s Richmond Power Plant on St. Croix, which Hodge said would require a lot more work and detail.

Board members attending Wednesday’s meeting were: Gerald Groner, Juanita R. Young, Noel Loftus, Cheryl Boynes Jackson, Wayne Biggs and Elizabeth Armstrong.