Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC)

Vision: To be the best Alaskan utility. Values: Honesty and integrity will govern our activities. All individuals will be treated with dignity and respect. Commitments made will be fulfilled. Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, Inc. (AVEC) is a non-profit electric utility providing power to 58 rural communities in Alaska. AVEC began providing electric service in 1968, to only four communities. The members of AVEC are over 95% native Alaskan from diverse cultures including Athabascan, Aleut, Inupiat, Yupik, Siberian Yupik, and Tlingit. AVEC is owned by the members it serves. Our service areas are spread out over 400,000 square miles, the largest area of any retail electric cooperative in the world. We serve 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 Yakutat in the east. Minto is the only AVEC community accessible by road. All other communities are only accessible by air or by water. AVEC’s 48 power plants house more than 160 diesel generators which run a cumulative total of over 450,000 hours a year. Our 14 wind farms have a total of 30 wind turbines providing renewable energy to 20 communities. We maintain over 500 miles of power distribution line and purchase, transport and store over 8 million gallons of diesel per year to generate power. The rates paid by AVEC members pay for operating expenses and the fuel used to generate power, as well as finance the loans used for capital improvements. AVEC became a Denali Commission partner in 2001 and has received substantial grant funding from the Denali Commission, the Rural Utilities Service, Department of Energy, State of Alaska, and other organizations to increase efficiency, integrate renewable generation and improve the resiliency of our power generation and distribution facilities.

Website

http://www.avec.org

External link for Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC)

Industry

Utilities

Company size

51-200 employees

Headquarters

Anchorage, AK

Type

Nonprofit

Founded

1968