Aniak faces electric power catastrophe with fourfold increase in rates

With Aniak residents facing a four-fold increase in power bills, it’s hard to see how the village can survive without immediate help.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska heard from dozens of Aniak residents Wednesday morning on the phone lines, pleading for immediate assistance and asking why the state has refused to do anything.

They said the survival of the community is at stake.

Many reported power bills going up in one month from a few hundred dollars per month to nearly $1,000 per month. They asked for audits of the company, denounced the electric company for mismanagement and the failure to warn anyone about the increase.

“This is going to be catastrophic for Aniak and the villages around it,” one caller said.

Aniak, which has less than 500 residents, is about 317 miles west of Anchorage and 92 miles northeast of Bethel.

Aniak residents said that other villages on the Kuskokwim that buy fuel from he same suppliers have not had the same fuel increases or electric increases.

The cost of power adjustment went from 15 cents a kilowatt hour to $1.46 per kilowatt hour.

A customer using 500 kilowatt hours a month are paying $619 a month now, up from $150.

Aniak Light & Power, which provides power to the village, is a privately owned company with 193 customers.

The company filed this document Tuesday, which shows the residential consumer cost for 500 kilowatt hours going to $910.

State records show the power company is owned by Darlene Holmberg, Celeste Adkins, and the estate of Arte Demandel.

Commissioner Bob Pickett said after more than 90 minutes of testimony that he would try to get the RCA to investigate.