53 Utility Companies Log 3,700 Hours Connecting 13 Navajo Nation Homes to the Grid
According to T&D World, crews from 53 utility companies across 24 states recently completed two weeks of field work through the Light Up Navajo VII initiative, connecting 13 families in the western Navajo Nation to electricity for the first time. Coordinated by Salt River Project (SRP), the American Public Power Association, and the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, the effort involved installing 108 primary poles, 25 secondary poles, and 10 transformers, along with stringing 91,866 feet of wire. The initiative runs April through August, with crews targeting at least 300 homes connected by end of August.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Utility mutual aid programs like this one create real seasonal deployment opportunities for line crews, particularly those with experience in difficult terrain and remote access conditions.
- The work highlighted a key productivity reality: SRP lineman Thomas Gerbig noted that digging a single pole hole in sandy desert terrain took nearly an hour, compared to about 15 minutes in an urban setting, a reminder that remote project pricing and scheduling must account for ground conditions.
- With SRP crews scheduled to return this fall and roughly 9,377 homes in the Navajo Nation still lacking power, electrification work in the region is far from finished.
