For the second year, GUC proudly joined the efforts of the American Public Power Association’s (APPA’s) Light Up Navajo initiative. Light Up Navajo is a mutual aid project that brings power to Navajo Nation families without electricity. The initiative brings together volunteer crews from public power utilities across the country. A team of GUC employees travelled to Utah in April to assist in this effort. 

The Navajo Nation is 27,000 square miles of service area that makes providing electricity no small task. The terrain, distance between the homes, and the sheer size of the area makes it difficult to get families the necessities that many U.S. households take for granted.

Approximately 30% of the 50,000 homes in Navajo Nation did not have electricity when APPA’s project began in 2019. Today, 15,000 homes remain without power. Not having access to electricity has many repercussions for Navajo families: lack of access to running water, reliable lighting, modern forms of home heating and cooling, and appliances such as refrigerators and microwaves. Families in the Navajo Nation drive 1-1.5 hours once or twice a week to reach watering points where they can fill 250-gallon plastic tanks with water for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. To keep food from perishing, families often must use portable coolers filled with ice to preserve their food.   

“It’s very emotional,” said Underground Electric Distribution Supervisor Ryan Hardee of the experience when interviewed for a video by APPA. “When you help somebody in their mid-80s who has never had electricity, it’s very different from restoring power to someone back home who has had power their entire life. Our customers know we are coming when a storm knocks out power. These people out here didn’t really know we were coming, and it’s overwhelming for them to see us pull up with a line of trucks and poles. It’s a very good feeling, almost like Christmas morning.” 

Help us thank the following Electric Department employees who travelled to Arizona to work on the project this year: Lee Ausbon, Lin Bunting, William Clanton, Jason Gaskins, David Guy, Ryan Hardee, Wyatt Holt, Jordan Lang, Bobby Lewis, Mike McGowan, Gavin Smith, and Calvin Whitehead.