The San Carlos Irrigation Project utility is working on improvements to its power system, including a new map to show where outages occur across Central Arizona.
The San Carlos Irrigation Project (SCIP) is run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and provides electricity for thousands of people across the central part of the state, including Coolidge, Casa Grande, and Florence.
A BIA spokesperson said SCIP is working on improvements to the power system, including recently replacing 100 wood poles with ductile iron poles.
In an email, a spokesperson said the new poles are more resistant to wind, storms, and heat from wildfires.
Kylan Young is a SCIP customer who has been frustrated with what he calls ill maintenance of the company's power poles.
He started a petition last summer to try and get the attention of leaders.
ABC15 is committed to finding the answers you need and holding those accountable.
Submit your news tip to Investigators@abc15.com
"Whenever there's a storm, it's not a matter of if, but a matter of when the power is going out," Young said.
The ABC15 Investigators have covered concerns around frequent power outages that have led to lawmakers calling for a federal investigation into SCIP.
It is unclear how many more SCIP poles need to be replaced, but we were told these iron ones are more durable.
"We've been able to get some updates done,” said Jessie Durham, “Honestly, not near as many as we'd like to.”
Durham is the regional director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and she admits there are challenges with the federal government running a utility company.
"The power business is not the main business of the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” Durham said, “We find ourselves, as you know, looking at possibly divestiture because this project has gotten larger than we really ever intended it to, to get.”
The ABC15 Investigators also learned that customers should see lower costs this summer because SCIP has changed how it buys power from other companies. The utility provider used to buy its power on a month-to-month basis.
"We've already bought power all the way to August of 2027," Durham said. "So we've taken off the purchase cost adjuster, just brought the rates back down to lower than they've been for the last two summers."
Read the full response from BIA below:
"SCIP aims to provide reliable electric power at lowest practicable cost, consistent with sound business principles. All utilities are susceptible to outages during the summer monsoon season or anytime of the year. The SCIP utility is constantly making improvements to the power system. Recent changes include replacing 100 wood poles with more durable ductile iron poles, which are more resistant to wind, storms, and heat from wildfires. Other upgrades include replacing switches and substation breaker maintenance.
SCIP is working to solicit a new metering system that will allow outages to be detected immediately. Presently, outages must be reported by customers. SCIP has also added outage maps and notifications to the SCIP webpage.
SCIP Power is funded through customer collections. SCIP has been working hard to better predict its future power needs. SCIP was recently able to purchase power through August 2027 at a better-than-anticipated price. As a result, SCIP removed the power cost adjustment portion of its rate. Thus, SCIP power rates will be lower this summer than they were last summer.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs and SCIP leaders met several times in 2025 to discuss divestiture issues with the public utility entities and the two affected Indian Tribes (Gila River Indian Community and San Carlos Apache Tribe). Divestiture discussions among the parties are continuing."
