Service Beyond Borders: CoServ Crews Electrifying Homes in Navajo Nation
Posted June 12, 2026
CoServ Operations crews spent the week digging through sunbaked rock to place utility poles and run line for the Light Up Navajo effort in northern Arizona.
Gloria, a Navajo Nation resident, saw the CoServ crews progress closer and closer to her home, putting up the last pole right by her backyard.
She greeted the crews with excitement while her son stood at the window, eager and curious. It will be up to the second CoServ crew to electrify her home.
Deenise Becenti, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, said Light Up Navajo dramatically changes the life of everyone involved, including the linemen. There are tears of heartfelt joy as years of countless prayers are answered, she said.
“Hooking up a home to electricity, you know how meaningful it is and how grateful the families are,” she said.
Crew Supervisor Cramer Basham said he will never forget the experience.
“I think it’d be probably one of my best memories in the last 18 years that I’ve been doing this,” he said. “I hope we get to continue to do this just to get everybody a chance to help somebody. It’s a neat experience.”
The linemen worked like a well-oiled machine, not letting the red dirt, sand and rocky ground slow them down. It’s very different than the densely packed suburban roadsides they are used to working in where energizing one line might power hundreds or even thousands of Members in North Texas. In Cameron, AZ., they spent a whole day running a line to power one home.
Regardless, every pole means progress and families changed forever in much the same way North Texans’ lives were forever changed when we brought them power for the first time decades ago.
Power Quality Troubleman Matt Honea enjoyed the fruits of his labor when one of the families they brought power to lovingly prepared a meal for the crews.
“When we first heard about this project, you know, it was just surreal to think that within the walls of America that there were people that just don’t have the opportunity to get power,” he said.
Each crew ended their time with an appreciation dinner hosted by the Navajo Tribal Authority (NTUA) at their Tuba City office on the Thursday night before they head back home.
There was traditional Navajo food, homemade salsas, Navajo jewelry and more. The night ended with a fun pow wow dance and even the CoServ Employees joined in!
Posted May 21, 2026
This summer, a group of CoServ linemen and support crews will participate in Light Up Navajo, a humanitarian mission to bring electricity to remote areas of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
The first group will leave as a convoy before the sun comes up on May 29, driving an estimated 900 miles to Tuba City, Arizona, where they will be based. From there, they will receive their assignments, working 12-hour days in hot, rugged conditions setting poles, running wire and electrifying homes.
A week later, a second group will fly in to relieve them. That group will continue the mission for another week, then drive back to Texas. All 22 CoServ Employees are the perfect example of CoServ’s Core Values, bringing life-changing electricity to Americans – the very principle that CoServ was founded on in 1937.
Power Quality Troubleman Matt Honea jumped at the chance.
“One of the biggest joys I get out of being a lineman is providing power to people,” Matt said. “When storms roll in and everybody is out of power and we come rolling in behind the storm and start turning the lights back on – this amplifies that feeling beyond anything I could ever imagine.”
The Light Up Navajo project involves 70 utilities from 24 states. The mutual aid effort is led by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, which provides easements, engineering, poles, wire and materials, as well as food and housing for utility workers.
An estimated 9,390 homes do not have electricity in the Navajo Nation. Over 75% of all households without electricity in the United States today are in the Navajo Nation. Many of these families rely on wood and coal for heat and cooking while using kerosene lamps for lighting. They also drive long distances for water, ice and food.
Without Light Up Navajo, it could take another 50 years for these Americans to receive electricity.
Linemen Crew Supervisor Jeshua Price is part of the second wave of crews. He knows the work ahead of them will be difficult, but it’s also rewarding. He’s worked multiple severe weather events and is a Marine Corp. veteran.
“Tough situations bring you together. Being out there, you’re with each other 24/7 and you all have the same goal,” Jeshua said. “It’s going to be an experience that we talk about for years.”
Check back on this page or follow us on Facebook and Instagram for photos and updates about our Light Up Navajo progress!
May 29 - June 6
Zach Gutknecht
Cody McBee
Matt Honea
Clint Tipton
Cole Tucker
Cramer Basham
Waylon Wilson
Austin Clayton
Eddie Lopez
Trey Setzer
Jeff Bolin
June 5 - June 14
Jeshua Price
James Anderegg
Jacob Barreiro
Mitchel Parra
Grant Cook
Dustin Rucks
Santiago Estrada
Jesse Medina
Lance Mitchel
Coy Tuttle
Jacob Caswell