SRP Line Crews Depart Saturday Morning

WHAT:
Salt River Project is joining 20 other utilities from across the nation on a local humanitarian mission to provide electricity to Arizona families on the Navajo Nation who still live without electricity in the modern world. These families live without basic common necessities such as a refrigerator, stove and running water.
SRP is dedicating two crews to assist on the Navajo Nation for three weeks as line workers from 15 states unite once again to Light Up Navajo (LUN).
A total of 14 SRP employees will have an opportunity to participate through April 22.
This marks the fourth time for the mutual-aid initiative organized jointly by the American Public Power Association and the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, which is the public power utility serving the Navajo Nation.

SRP’s first wave of line crews will depart Tempe on Saturday morning to begin setting miles of wooden distribution poles and stringing conductor through the vast Navajo Nation. SRP will be working in the area of Lechee, AZ.
By Monday, SRP line workers hope to energize their first home.
Since the project launch in 2019, a total of 780 homes on the Navajo Nation now have electricity due to LUN efforts. SRP employees directly provided power to 98 of those families so far.

DEPARTURE:
Saturday, April 1 at 8 a.m.
(Crews will arrive at 6 a.m. to load vehicles. 
Arrive at 7:30 a.m. or sooner to capture the caravan of large bucket trucks and SRP vehicles pulling out. Morning live shots are available.)

WHERE:
SRP’s Tempe Service Center 
110 W. Elliot Road in Tempe
(Media must provide identification to pass through a secured entrance.)

DETAILS:
High-resolution photos and video will be provided of SRP crews throughout their participation in the humanitarian effort. Reporters are invited to cover the story firsthand. Vaccinations and masks are encouraged when entering the Navajo Nation.
Public power utilities like SRP are donating manpower, equipment and/or materials. The public is also invited to participate in the Light Up Navajo initiative by making cash or material donations. To learn more, visit www.publicpower.org/donate-light-navajo.
Electrifying just one household is an expensive endeavor. Each household, on average, requires one transformer, 0.6 miles of wire, nine poles, 16 insulators, and two arrestors to connect to the electric grid; which is an average material cost of around $5,500.
Of the 55,000 homes located on the 27,000 square mile Navajo Nation (roughly the size of West Virginia), approximately 14,000 homes still do not have electricity. They represent 75 percent of all U.S. households that do not have power.

About NTUA
In 1959, NTUA started out as a small water utility in Shiprock, NM. In decades since, NTUA has grown into the largest multi-utility enterprise owned and operated by an American Indian tribe. NTUA is proud of its history and celebrates its progress. As a not-for-profit enterprise of the Navajo Nation, NTUA provides electric, water, wastewater, natural gas, solar energy, and communications services. We also take deep pride in our work and have the commitment to serve the multi-utility needs of the Navajo Nation. In Navajo, the phrase “Niandeiilnish” means “We work for You.” In keeping with that principle, NTUA works for the People with teamwork and respect. That has been our primary mission since 1959.

About APPA
The American Public Power Association is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide. APPA represents public power before the federal government to protect the interests of the more than 49 million people that public power utilities serve, and the 93,000 people they employ. APPA advocates and advises on electricity policy, technology, trends, training and operations. The members strengthen their communities by providing superior service, engaging citizens and instilling pride in community-owned power.