Due to low rainfall earlier this season and consequent low lake levels, Alaska Power and Telephone is reluctantly relying on its diesel generators to provide power to Haines residents.

Danny Gonce, AP&T’s power manager for Haines, said the company has been running at 25 percent diesel and 75 percent hydropower since last Friday. For several weeks before that, the company was running at 5 to 7 percent diesel, Gonce said.

Between Goat Lake maxing out its four-megawatt output and low lake levels, AP&T is relying on diesel – about three times more expensive than hydro per kilowatt – to maintain power in Haines.

The water level at Goat Lake is low because Haines, and Southeast in general, did not experience the usual late heavy rains that occur in October, Gonce said. “Our projections right now are we’re going to have to run low-water diesel, but we’re still a month out,” he said.

It needs to rain up at 1,800 feet to affect the water level in Goat Lake, and that’s not going to happen until May, Gonce said.

Because of the water issues, AP&T has the Kasidaya Creek hydro plant three miles south of Skagway ready to go. Kasidaya is a three-megawatt, run-of-river plant that usually opens in mid-April with the spring melt.

Unfortunately, there’s not enough water right now for Kasidaya to even function. AP&T also has to weigh the risks of turning the plant on with the benefits of its operation. “The earlier it goes on, the more chance of damage there is from being frozen up mechanically,” Gonce said.

Gonce said AP&T is biding its time, waiting to see how the spring weather will unfold and when Kasidaya can kick in. Customers might not be feeling the consequences of the situation in their wallets yet, but a few months down the road could be a different story.

“We’re trying not to burn the diesel because it’s so expensive, but we’re getting closer and closer into the corner where we don’t have any choice,” he said.