Akiak, Alaska—Residents of Akiak, enduring over a month without municipal electricity, may see a resolution to their power crisis within days. City officials are hopeful that recent efforts to repair the community’s malfunctioning generators will restore power by the end of this week.
Aleck Jackson, Akiak’s interim city administrator, reported that a mechanic has successfully repaired one of the city’s three generators and is working on fixing a second. Jackson anticipates that the repairs will be completed within three to four days, potentially bringing electricity back to the community by Wednesday or Thursday.
However, the third generator is deemed beyond repair. In the interim, residents have relied heavily on personal generators. Some have even modified their electrical meters to connect their personal units, complicating the process of restoring municipal power.
During a salmon management call earlier this month, Akiak tribal member Mike Williams Sr. highlighted the severity of the situation. “The three generators we have are relatively new, less than three years old, but none are operational now,” Williams Sr. said. He further explained that the prolonged outage has had severe repercussions, including the loss of subsistence foods stored in freezers.
Williams Sr. noted the financial strain on families using personal generators, which cost between $200 and $300 weekly to maintain. With gas prices in Akiak at $6.72 per gallon, the cost of keeping personal generators running is a significant burden for many families.
In response to the crisis, Shawna Williams and Alaska State House candidate Victoria Sosa have launched an online fundraiser to assist with generator fuel costs. Regional and state entities have also stepped in with donations of money, fuel, and food. Additionally, the Bethel Food Bank dispatched representatives to Akiak on July 22 to aid families who lost food during the outage.
Earlier in July, Akiak’s tribal government issued a disaster declaration seeking state and federal aid. Jackson noted that the city’s attempt to secure disaster relief from the state was unsuccessful. “We tried to declare a disaster, but the state deemed it a state of emergency instead, and no aid was provided,” Jackson said. The city has since been covering the mechanic’s fees out-of-pocket and is exploring options for purchasing a larger generator with the help of the tribal office and the Association of Village Council Presidents.
Jeremy Zidek, spokesperson for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, confirmed that Akiak’s disaster declaration request was denied on July 30. The state determined that the generator failures resulted from inadequate maintenance, not qualifying for disaster status. Zidek emphasized that the issues must be addressed at the city level since the generators are city-owned.
State officials are collaborating with Akiak municipal and tribal leaders, regional partners, and the Alaska Energy Authority to develop long-term solutions for the community’s power issues.
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