'Nobody saw us': Rural Navajo Nation homes get electricity for the first time after decades of asking

NAVAJO NATION - Utility crews from nearly a dozen states have volunteered to bring power to remote homes on the Navajo Nation whose residents have been asking for power for decades.

On average, it costs $5,500 dollars to bring power to just one home on the reservation. It's an undertaking that crews say is worth it because it means so much to residents who have never been able to flip a light switch before.

"It was the greatest thing to happen to me," said resident Shirley Chee.

Her home, along with 31 other houses on the Navajo Nation, have power for the first time.

SRP donated two crews to volunteer with teams from 10 other states to electrify hundreds of homes over eight weeks. The America Public Power Association and Navajo Tribal Utility Authority organized it.

In this remote area, homes are spread out on dirt roads far from the grid.

"Average was .7 miles of line and 6 poles, one transformer added to pick up one customer," said Dean Frescholtz with SRP.

Dean Fresholtz is back in Tempe after spending the first week with his crew up there. They battled snow and cold temps, but he said it's powerful work.

"Having a child at home, not able to turn on a light switch to do their homework, to go to the fridge…[to] not be able to do that on a daily basis is incredible in 2022 in America," Frescholtz said.

Shirley Chee told SRP that her family has asked for power for three decades.

"Nobody saw us. Nobody knew we existed," Chee said. "That’s why we kept going to the chapter meeting, asking, asking them if they could accommodate us with electricity."

Fresholtz says every day was an experience, and his crew was happy to volunteer.

"If you can, you do," Frescholtz said. "If you have the ability, you do."

The 10-man SRP crew will return this week from their two-week work, then another team will head up later this month.

They say typically they can add 2 homes a day, but the most remote home so far took a full 2 days and 20 poles to connect them.

More on the initiative: https://www.publicpower.org/donate-light-navajo

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