Power outages are causing concerns in parts of central Arizona, and customers are demanding answers as to why they are happening and want the federal government to find a solution.
The San Carlos Irrigation Project, or SCIP, is a utility provider run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that serves thousands of customers on the San Carlos Indian Reservation, Gila River Indian Reservation, and homes outside of reservation boundaries.
This includes communities across central Arizona from Coolidge and Casa Grande to areas in Pima County.
For Gary Terni, who lives just outside of Florence in a 55+ community, the outages impact him and others with health concerns.
“I'm asthmatic on top of high blood pressure, and I got more wrong with me than I have right,” he said. “A lot of folks here are 70, 80, close to 90 years old. At this point in life, they shouldn't have to deal with this.”
Terni said after a recent power outage, he found that his garbage disposal was fried.
“The last major outage was like 12 hours.”
ABC15 has heard from dozens of people by email who have the same frustrations about repeated power outages this summer — they last anywhere from short flickers to more than 20 hours without power.
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A spokesperson for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which runs SCIP, told ABC15 that their most recent outage on August 13 was because of a vehicle accident in Casa Grande.
In a statement, the bureau said it impacted the Coolidge-Casa Grande service area.
Anna Santilli was one of those customers recently impacted, but she has also kept logs of her outages totaling nine in just a few months.
“It goes out at random times, at night, during the day, totally unexpected,” she said.
SCIP does not generate its own power because the bureau said they do not have access to enough water to generate hydropower anymore. Instead, they buy power from the Western Area Power Administration and the Southwest Public Power Agency power pool and re-sell it directly to more than 13,000 customers.
SCIP has not been able to generate its own power for decades, citing a significant flood event at Coolidge Dam in 1983 that eliminated the hydropower generation facilities.
In an email, a spokesperson wrote, “Occasional, informal studies to evaluate the re-construction of hydropower generation at Coolidge Dam show an insufficient cost/benefit ratio, primarily because the run-off in the upper Gila River Basin is not reliable to recoup the costs to re-build hydrogenation at the Dam.”
SCIP has not yet attributed other power outages, but the federal utility provider admits they need to improve the resiliency, redundancy, and repairability of the power lines.
“Unlike other utilities, San Carlos Irrigation Project Power Division does not have the authority to borrow funds to finance repairs or capital improvements over time,” the statement read. “The Project’s Power Division relies primarily on customer collections, not congressional appropriations, for operation and maintenance.”
The Bureau of Indian Affairs says it is maximizing funding sources to address deferred maintenance and storm-related damages to its electric transmission and distribution facilities.
They add that they have been awarded $3 million for upgrades , repairs, and replacements of substation and electrical transmission infrastructure.
It’s not just the outages impacting families, but the rate adjustments for customers.
For Virginia Parmer, her bill for July is $200 more than her previous bill.
SCIP has had to impose power purchase cost adjustments to pay for power supply costs not covered by the normal rate — which is passed on to customers.
“SCIP evaluates the financial basis for the purchase power cost adjustor quarterly to determine if or when it can be reduced or eliminated,” a spokesperson for BIA said.
The increase doesn’t sit well with customers.
“They even have the nerve to add a fee because they have to buy electricity outside because they can't provide it, and it's like giving them a tip to have crappy service,” Terni said.
State utility regulators are aware of the issues but cannot intervene because it is a federal jurisdiction.
Last fall, four of the five commissioners for the Arizona Corporation Commission sent a letter to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, asking for assistance in trying to get federal intervention.
The letter calls out SCIP: “It has now become painfully obvious that SCIP has long overextended its original 1928 mission of providing irrigation water and minimal power to tribal lands and surrounding communities.”
“Costly upgrades to the SCIP electrical system are necessary,” the letter reads. “Perhaps it is time to reignite collaborative discussions with our federal partners exploring divestiture of the federally owned utility with the end goal of transferring generation, transmission, and customer responsibility to regulated Arizona utilities.”
When it comes to SCIP, Congressman Eli Crane has been following the concerns.
“The Biden Administration owes taxpayers—especially those whose electricity rates have doubled—an explanation for their deeply flawed energy policies,” he said in a statement.
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Read the full Bureau of Indian Affairs statement on the August 13 outage below:
"The San Carlos Irrigation Project experienced a short power outage on August 13 at approximately 1:50 pm when a vehicle accident in Casa Grande, Arizona brought down a power line that affected the Coolidge-Casa Grande service area. Power was restored after emergency responders were able to safely leave the area at about 2:30 that afternoon.
"While this outage occurred along an accessible road, power lines that are owned, operated, and maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ San Carlos Irrigation Project Power Division are also located in remote areas not accessible by roads in many places. When outages occur in these areas, rough and inaccessible terrain may require helicopter assistance to access and repair lines. These locations also make night operations unsafe, forcing crews to work during daylight hours.
"San Carlos Irrigation Project provides power to the San Carlos Indian Reservation, Gila River Indian Reservation, and to areas in Arizona outside the reservation boundaries. San Carlos Irrigation Project does not generate power as the project does not have access to enough water to generate hydropower anymore. Instead, it purchases power from Western Area Power Administration and the Southwest Public Power Agency power pool and re-sells it directly to almost 14,000 customers.
"Unlike other utilities, San Carlos Irrigation Project Power Division does not have the authority to borrow funds to finance repairs or capital improvements over time. The Project’s Power Division relies primarily on customer collections, not congressional appropriations, for operation and maintenance. The BIA is maximizing sources of funding to address deferred maintenance and storm-related damages to its electric transmission and distribution facilities. In the past three years, BIA has awarded $3 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for upgrades, repairs, and replacements of substation and electrical transmission infrastructure , part of a 5-year $5 million investment.
"BIA is in the process of completing a rate study that will update costs of service and determine rate assessments by rate categories needed to fund the operation, maintenance, and rehabilitation of San Carlos Irrigation Project Power Division facilities. The rate adjustment process is a public process that solicits comments from ratepayers and the general public.
"In consultation with the Tribe, BIA is continuing to explore opportunities to improve the resiliency, redundancy, and reparability of the power lines to customers it serves."
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