UAMPS, NTUA, Blanding City partner to bring electricity to Navajo homes

The Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), and Blanding City have entered into an agreement to provide essential electrical service to homes in the Westwater Village, a small Navajo Nation community which currently has no electric service. 

The project will consist of an electric line extension from Blanding City’s distribution system to an interconnection point on the Navajo Nation where NTUA will extend its distribution line to the individual Navajo homes.  NTUA will purchase power from the UAMPS Power Pool. 

“We were considering different plans to get electricity to Westwater Village,” said NTUA General Manager Walter Haase. “After conversations with UAMPS, the Utah Navajo Trust Fund, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Blanding City, and the State of Utah, this plan was created.

“With the help of these partners, the plan to extend electricity to Westwater Village is now a reality. We are grateful for our partners because they helped to reduce the cost and the timeline of this meaningful project.”

Blanding City will build an extension of its electric distribution system to the NTUA’s interconnection point.

The city will also be responsible for ongoing maintenance and operation of the line extension as a new part of its existing distribution system.

From the interconnection, NTUA electric line crews will build power lines to Westwater Village homes. 

UAMPS has been a proud participant with the Light Up Navajo (LUN) projects and will encourage its 49 members to assist NTUA with line extensions to the individual homes.

In 2019, UAMPS members volunteered to send electric line crews to the Navajo Nation to help connect homes to the electric grid.

UAMPS members also signed up for the 2020 LUN project before the COVID-19 pandemic crossed into Navajo Nation boundaries and forced a cancellation.