PHOENIX — Salt River Project (SRP) crews recently helped provide electricity to 12 more remote homes on the Navajo Nation.
The homes that received electricity were located in the areas of Dilkon and Tuba City.
The effort was part of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) Mutual Aid Training 2025, which is a branch of the Light Up Navajo (LUN) initiative.
The Navajo Nation makes up of 75% of the unelectrified homes in the United States.
The LUN initiative unites public power utilities from across the U.S. in order to accelerate the electrification of those homes.
SRP has been providing support for the initiative in the form of crews and specialized equipment since it was launched in 2019.
“Hurricane Priscilla caused heavy rain throughout the reservation, forcing our team to relocate from our original work site,” SRP foreman lineman Marc Sienicki said in a press release. “In some areas, the rain reached almost 7 inches, making it very difficult to maneuver our vehicles. In fact, we had to leave one of our trucks behind for a few days and retrieve it just one day before returning to Phoenix. Despite the challenges, we were able to connect many families to power, and that is what matters to us.”
More details on SRP bringing electricity to Navajo Nation homes
NTUA requested additional support from SRP for its fall Mutual Aid Training 2025 campaign after there were delays to the spring electrification schedule.
Seven utilities helped during the fall campaign in order to provide electricity approximately to 90 homes. This brought the total number of home electrified for the year to 290.
“The average cost to connect a single home to reliable power in the reservation is about $40,000. If NTUA had to rely on low-interest loan, customers would pay up to six times more each year to cover those costs,” NTUA General Manager Walter W. Haase said in a press release. “Thanks to SRP and other utilities, Navajo families will have access to reliable and affordable energy.”
SRP dedicated 3,302 hours to bring the electricity to the 12 Navajo Nation homes.
SRP dedicated a total of 6,624 hours in both the spring and fall 2025 campaigns to install 279 poles, 19 transformers and 157,969 feet of electrical line to bring power to 21 families.
“We are deeply grateful for the electric connection,” Ramona Valdez, a resident of Tonalea, Arizona, said in a press release. “We have relied on a portable generator for more than two years. The generator is small and doesn’t provide enough power for our whole house. We have three kids and one on the way, so I’m very happy to have our electric power before the new one arrives. We are very excited and thankful.”
NTUA estimates that without the support from public power utilities, it could take more than 50 years to electrify the homes on the Navajo Nation.
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