In support of the Department of Energy's policy to raise the quality of life on Indian lands by increasing access to energy, the Energy Information Administration studied electricity consumption and prices and the potential for renewable energy development on Federally Recognized Indian Reservations and Tribal Jurisdictional Statistical Areas in the continental United States (see map). The resulting report documented some notable contrasts between households on Indian lands and those elsewhere.
In 1997 electricity prices paid by households on Indian lands were statistically indistinguishable from those paid by U.S. households in general. According to the 1990 Census of Housing, residents of Indian lands usually paid a higher share of their income for electricity and were 10 times as likely to have no household access to electricity at all. The lack of electrification was most extensive in Arizona, where the Navajo Reservation is mainly sited. Thirty-seven percent of Navajo households lacked electricity, and the reservation accounted for three-quarters of all unelectrified Indian households on tribal lands. On the other hand, residents of the Indian lands in Oklahoma generally had the same access to electricity as residents elsewhere in that State, and paid comparable prices.
The renewable energy potential of Indian lands is significant. Half of all Indian-lands residents live in areas where renewable central-station generation could produce electricity for less than 2 cents per kilowatthour above regional wholesale prices, excluding transmission costs. In some instances this cost premium could be as low as 0.1 cent per kilowatthour. Four sites-the Eastern Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina, the Alabama and Coushatta Reservation, the Coushatta Reservation in Louisiana, and the Mississippi Choctaw Reservation and Trust-might generate electricity at renewable central-station facilities for less than 0.7 cent above the wholesale cost of power currently sold to them (again, excluding transmission costs).
On most Indian lands, the greatest potential for reasonably priced central-station renewable electricity is in biomass. Only in New Mexico does central-station wind energy offer the most favorable above-wholesale premium. Despite its high costs, distributed photovoltaic power may be useful in areas such as the Navajo Reservation, because the costs of extending transmission lines to the many remote and scattered households are even higher.
Questions about renewable energy potential should be directed to Louise Guey-Lee, Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric, and Alternate Fuels, at louise.guey-lee@eia.doe.gov or 202-426-1143. If you are having technical problems with this site, please contact the EIA Webmaster at webmaster@eia.doe.gov or call 202-586-8959. For general information about energy, contact the National Energy Information Center at 202-586-8800 or infoctr@eia.doe.gov.
URL: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/plugs/plindian.html
File last modified: June 12, 2000
