Kawerak seeks comments on draft Bering Strait regional energy plan

Kawerak is taking public comments through Nov. 30 on a draft energy plan for the Bering Strait region, where heating oil averaged about $6.57 a gallon in the 12 communities that reported to a winter 2025 state survey, well above the national average of $3.80.

Kawerak, the regional tribal consortium, wrote the plan with DeerStone Consulting and input from a regional energy summit this year.

The draft lays out what energy costs in the region. St. Michael's heating oil was the highest, at $7.99 a gallon. Electricity runs 46 to 72 cents a kilowatt-hour before the state's Power Cost Equalization program, which subsidizes rural power bills, and 22 to 33 cents after it. The average home spends about $6,420 a year on energy, according to the plan.

It also tracks what's being built. Stebbins has a wind turbine and battery, and Shaktoolik's battery lets the village shut off its diesel generators at times. Wind with battery storage can offset up to 40% of a community's diesel use for power, the plan says.

Nome has applied for state money for a 1-megawatt solar farm, and Elim received state funding for a community solar and battery project. Wales plans to replace its fuel tank farm in 2026 and 2027. At Pilgrim Hot Springs, about 60 road miles north of Nome, a geothermal system for heat and limited power is planned for 2027.

A decade after an earlier plan promised lower energy costs, Bering Strait villages were still studying the problem, Alaska News reported Aug. 5.