Newsminer: High fuel prices spark panic in rural Alaska villages

From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer June 8, 2008

ANCHORAGE — Village electric utilities in rural Alaska, panicked over the sky-high cost of fuel arriving on the summer’s first barges, are appealing to the state for help.

The fuel bill for the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, which serves 53 small villages in the west of the state, is leaping from $14 million last year to $26 million. That cost will be reflected in electricity rate increases that some villagers cannot afford, said Meera Kohler, the co-op’s president.

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