Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is again pressing the federal government to address what she calls a worsening crisis in electric reliability at the San Carlos Irrigation Project, a federally run utility that supplies power to more than 13,000 customers across five Arizona counties.
The project, which operates under the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, serves rural and tribal areas in Pinal, Pima, Maricopa, Graham and Gila counties, including San Carlos, Gila River, and Oracle.
In recent weeks, customers have reported repeated, hourslong power outages during peak summer heat, where indoor temperatures have been reported as high as 105 degrees.
“These outages are a stunning failure of federal oversight and accountability,” Mayes said in a statement. “The federal government has an obligation to consistently provide safe, reliable electric service to SCIP’s 13,000 customers.”
Mayes originally sent a letter to the BIA and the U.S. Department of the Interior nearly a year ago to urge improvements to SCIP’s aging infrastructure, but she now claims little progress has been made.
“Power outages remain frequent and prolonged, bills are still unreasonably high, and thousands of Arizonans are suffering through life-threatening summer heat without consistent electricity,” Mayes said.
SCIP operates a complex system of substations, transmission lines and distribution lines. It purchases wholesale electricity from the Western Area Power Administration and the Southwest Public Power Agency Inc., reselling it to customers in both tribal and non-tribal areas.
In August 2024, a BIA spokesperson confirmed that two engineering studies were underway: one to model load flow and another to improve coordination and reduce the size of outage areas.
The agency is also exploring long-term divestment of SCIP assets, including transferring on-reservation infrastructure to tribal entities and off-reservation assets to local utilities.
Meanwhile, SCIP has received $2 million out of a $5 million allocation through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for substation upgrades.
Mayes supports divestment but says that, in the meantime, current customers must have reliable service.
“Until that happens, the federal government must provide reliable electricity to paying customers as soon as possible,” she said.
Customers experiencing outages are encouraged to visit Arizona’s heat resources website to find cooling centers.
The BIA has not yet responded to a request for comment on Mayes’ latest statement.
