Light Up the Navajo Nation

Light Up Navajo V

Light Up Navajo is an initiative of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, in coordination with the American Public Power Association, to help bring electricity to families in need in the Navajo Nation. Currently there are approximately 13,000 families living on the Navajo Nation that do not have electricity. Light Up Navajo V took place during April-July 2024 and worked with 44 utility teams from 16 different states alongside NTUA electric crews. Overall – the combined teams connected 170 homes to the electric grid for the very first time. Learn more.

Light Up Navajo IV

Light Up Navajo IV, which took place during April-July 2023, brought together a total of 176 volunteers from 26 utilities from 16 states. A total of 159 Navajo Nation homes are now receiving electric service as a result of the work completed. Learn more.

Light Up Navajo III

APPA worked with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority on Light Up Navajo III to help volunteers continue to bring electricity to families in need. During April-June 2022, 69 volunteers from 14 utilities in 10 different states worked to electrify 137 Navajo Nation homes. The article, Ah-ee’he (Thank you), from the July-August 2022 issue of Public Power Magazine, provides a recap of Light Up Navajo III.

Light Up Navajo II

Light Up Navajo II, originally planned for April 6, 2020 - June 26, 2020, was ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was instrumental in helping the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority use CARES Act funding to bring electricity to hundreds of households. See NTUA's thank you to these utilities here.

About Light Up Navajo

The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American territory in the United States, with an estimated population of 300,000. Among the 55,000 homes located on the 27,000 square-mile reservation, about 13,000 do not have electricity. They make up 75% of all unelectrified households in the United States.

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 have to use portable coolers filled with ice to preserve their food.

The high cost of connecting isolated rural households to the grid, the sensitivity of families to utility costs, and the limited availability of government loans have made progress toward greater electrification slow. To expedite electrification projects in the Navajo Nation, the American Public Power Association partnered with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) on the Light Up Navajo initiative.

Light Up Navajo logo

The Light Up Navajo initiative was a pilot effort in the spring of 2019 which brought together volunteer crews from public power utilities across the country to connect Navajo homes to the grid. In six weeks, the volunteer crews connected more than 230 homes to electricity, reducing the total number of U.S. homes without electricity by one percent.

By leveraging the concept of ‘mutual aid without a storm’, the pilot effort served as a successful model for future electrification projects.

Project Funding and Development

The typical cost for NTUA to connect a home is $40,000. NTUA estimates the project costs for the Light Up Navajo Initiative to be $1.8 million, which is an average of under $8,000 per home. The Light Up Navajo approach to rural electrification resulted in a significantly reduced first cost, helping get electricity to more homes at a faster rate.

Over the course of the Light Up Navajo project, people and organizations across the country donated about $440,000 worth of volunteer time and more than $272,000, including $26,000 in individual donations through a GoFundMe page.

The initiative was also supported by a $125,000 grant from APPA’s Demonstration of Energy and Efficiency Developments (DEED) program. The grant funds facilitated advanced feasibility studies, and preliminary meetings on project development, construction strategy, and methods. The studies highlighted the obstacles that the vast remoteness of the Navajo Nation poses to conventional construction techniques.