Delaware Electric Cooperative Crew Helps Bring Electricity to Navajo Families

GREENWOOD, Del. — Five Delaware Electric Cooperative (DEC) employees recently returned from Arizona and Utah after spending a week helping bring electricity to families in the Navajo Nation who were living without electricity.

DEC lineworkers Josh Benedict, Greg Williamson, Zane Lawson and Harrison Burris, along with Operations Training Supervisor Phil Collison, traveled to the Navajo Nation to participate in Light Up Navajo, a nationwide mutual-aid initiative led by the American Public Power Association and the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. Unlike traditional mutual-aid efforts focused on restoring power after storms, Light Up Navajo helps build new electrical infrastructure for families who have never had electric service.

The Navajo Nation spans more than 27,000 square miles across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Despite significant progress in recent years, approximately 9,390 homes still lack electricity, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all U.S. households that remain unconnected to the electric grid. The reservation's remote geography, rugged terrain and high construction costs make expanding electric service especially challenging.

Working alongside crews from 51 utilities representing 24 states, the DEC team helped build the infrastructure needed to connect homes that had been waiting years, and in some cases, generations for electricity.

Despite temperatures topping 100 degrees, blowing sand and elevations approaching 8,000 feet, the crew set approximately 16 utility poles, framed 36 poles, installed about 25 spans of wire and helped energize service to approximately five Navajo families.

"We were feeling it," Benedict said. "Simple things that normally wouldn't be that hard felt hard. Backfilling a pole hole, for example, we'd shovel a few scoops and have to stop to catch our breath. The elevation, the lack of oxygen and the dust in the air made for some challenging conditions."

Co-op President and CEO Rob Book said Light Up Navajo highlights the power of cooperation among electric utilities and the impact reliable electric service can have on families and communities. 

 “As DEC marks its 90th anniversary, this project serves as a reminder that the cooperative mission remains as relevant today as it was in 1936: working together to improve lives through access to essential services. It's especially meaningful to support a mission that reflects our own history. Our Co-op was founded because rural Delaware residents came together to bring the life-changing benefits of electricity to communities that investor-owned utilities wouldn't serve," says Book. "

Delaware Electric Cooperative is a member-owned electric utility powering more than 300,000 people in Kent and Sussex Counties. For more information, visit us at www.delaware.coop or follow us on social media.