Salt River Project crews returned to remote areas of the Navajo Nation to provide reliable electricity to 12 families in the Dilkon and Tuba City areas.
This effort was part of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority's (NTUA) Mutual Aid Training 2025 program, an arm of the Light Up Navajo (LUN) initiative.
This fall, SRP crews spent a total of 3,302 hours connecting 12 homes to electricity, SRP, an Arizona public power utility, noted.
The LUN initiative brings together public electric utilities from across the country to accelerate electrification in the Navajo Nation, home to 75% of all homes without electricity in the United States.
SRP has supported every spring campaign since the initiative's launch in 2019, providing crews and specialized equipment.
Due to spring electrification delays, NTUA requested additional support from SRP for its fall 2025 mutual training campaign. The program provides hands-on field training in challenging terrain while connecting homes to the electrical grid.
During this campaign , the SRP team faced adverse weather conditions that tested their ability to adapt. Heavy rains and flooding affected several areas, complicating logistics and access to work sites.
“Hurricane Priscilla brought heavy rainfall across the entire reserve, forcing our team to relocate from our original work site,” said Marc Sienicki, SRP lineman foreman. “In some areas, the rainfall reached nearly 7 inches, making it very difficult to move our vehicles. In fact, we had to leave one of our trucks behind for a few days and retrieved it just a day before returning to Phoenix. Despite the challenges, we were able to connect several families to the grid, and that’s what really matters to us.”
With the help of seven electricity companies during the autumn campaign, it is estimated that 90 families will be connected to the electricity grid, bringing the total to 290 households by the end of the year.
“We are deeply grateful for the electricity connection,” said Ramona Valdez, a resident of Tonalea, Arizona. “We had been relying on a portable generator for over two years. The generator is small and doesn’t provide enough power for the entire house. We have three children and one on the way, so I’m very happy to have electricity before the new baby arrives. We are very excited and grateful.”
Without the support of public electric utilities, NTUA estimates that bringing electricity to every home in the Navajo Nation could take more than 50 years.
“The average cost to connect a single home to reliable electricity on the reservation is approximately $40,000. If NTUA had to rely on low-interest loans, customers would pay up to six times more each year to cover those costs,” said Walter W. Haase, NTUA general manager. “Thanks to SRP and other electric utilities, Navajo families will have access to reliable and affordable power.”
In total, between the spring and fall campaigns of 2025, SRP dedicated 6,624 hours to install 279 poles, 19 transformers and 157,969 feet of electric cable, bringing electricity to 21 families.
