AVEC service area is the largest in the world for a retail cooperative. We serve 56 communities stretching from Kivalina in the north to Old Harbor on Kodiak Island in the south, and from Gambell on St. Lawrence Island in the west to Minto in the east.

Minto is the only AVEC community accessible by road. All other AVEC communities are accessible by airplane or marine vessel only.

AVEC began in 1968. Over 45 years ago, we started providing electric service to the residents of Nulato, Hooper Bay, and Old Harbor.

Our members come from many different cultures—including Athabascan, Aleut, Inupiat, Yupik, Siberian Yupik, and Caucasian. Although the majority of the members have command of two languages, there are still many who speak only in their Native dialect.

A stable power source enhances our lives. Although electric power in rural communities remains expensive, stable electric service has brought about positive improvements in health care, housing, schools, water and sewer systems, communications and helped economic growth.

AVEC is a private organization. AVEC started out with loans from the Rural Utilities Service, United States Department of Agriculture and became a Denali Commission partner in 2001. AVEC also finances construction through a fellow cooperative – the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation.

Every community has a say in how AVEC operates. Each community elects a delegate to represent their community at the Annual Cooperative Meeting held each April in Anchorage.

AVEC and the local governments operate as a partnership. The village governments hire the plant operators and oversee the day-to-day operation of the power generating and distribution plants.

Permafrost is a powerful design influence. Because of active permafrost that breaks buried cables, the majority of AVEC’s distribution systems are overhead.

We use more than 150 diesel generators. These produce electric power for our member communities, running a cumulative total of more than 400,000 hours per year. That is equal to nearly 950 trips by diesel truck around the world each year, or about 23 million road miles!

AVEC purchases nearly six million gallons of fuel annually. The fuel is stored in bulk fuel tank farm facilities, many of which are being upgraded or completely rebuilt with money received from the Denali Commission.

AVEC is upgrading. We’re currently upgrading and increasing the operating efficiency of our power plant facilities and distribution lines, one community at a time.

Energy Info

HOW TO SAVE ELECTRICITY

Want to reduce your energy use—and your electric bill? There are many things you can do to make your home more energy-efficient. Here are a few ideas:

Locate & fix air leaks—The potential energy savings from reducing air leaks may range from 5% to 30% per year. Check for gaps along the baseboard or edge of the flooring, and at junctures of the walls and ceiling. Check to see if air can flow through electrical outlets, switch plates, window frames, and baseboards. Inspect your doors and window frames. If you detect air flow or can see daylight around any of these, seal these air leaks with caulking or weather stripping.

Make sure insulation is adequate—Heat loss through the ceiling and walls in your home could be very large if the insulation levels are less than the recommended minimum. Determine whether openings for items such as pipes, ductwork, and chimneys are sealed. Any gaps should be sealed with an expanding foam caulk or some other permanent sealant.

Inspect heating equipment annually—Inspect your heating equipment annually or as recommended by the manufacturer. If the unit is more than 15 years old, you should consider replacing it with one of the newer, energy-efficient units. This would go far to reduce your energy consumption, especially if the existing equipment is in poor condition.

Use efficient lighting—Energy for lighting accounts for about 10% of your electric bill. Examine the wattage size of the light bulbs in your house. You may have 100 watt (or larger) bulbs where 60 or 75 watts would do.

Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents (CFs). Now you can buy a CF bulb for about $2. Not only do they last many times longer than regular bulbs, but they also use only 20% of the electricity. If you replace 10 65W bulbs with 13W CFs, you’ll get the same amount of light and, if each one is on an average of only 6 hours a day, you will save 94 kWh a month! At 50 cents a kWh, that’s $47 every month!

Upgrade Appliances: If you have a refrigerator or freezer that’s more than 10 years old, it might be using twice as much electricity as it should! A new appliance could pay for itself in one or two years. Look for appliances with the government’s Energy Star® label. Note: Be sure to throw the appliance away in the landfill; salvaging it because it still works is not a good idea — these are just energy hogs that could be costing an extra $40+ a month to run!

Use Cold Water Cycle: If you have a clothes washer at home, wash everything in cold water and save on your water-heating energy. Water temperature makes no difference to how clean your clothes get—that’s up to the type of laundry soap you use.

Put Lights on a Timer: Christmas lights, and even the little white lights can drain your electricity. The medium C7 bulbs usually come 25 to a string and if left on for 12 hours a day will use 63 kWh a month. Ten strings will use 630 kWh a month—that’s more than $300 a month! A single 100-light string of little white lights will use 18 kWh – $9 a month—if left on all day. So either go easy on the lights or put them on a timer so they’re not on so long.