The
Fort
Mojave Indian Tribe
(FMIT) is one of only a handful of tribes in the United
States that have established a tribally owned and operated electric
and natural gas utility. Aha Macav Power Service (AMPS) was
incorporated under a Tribal Charter authorized by the Fort
Mojave Tribal Council in July 1991. The Charter enumerates the
purpose and powers of AMPS, its initial assets, and the makeup of
the AMPS Board of Directors.
Starting from one installed meter in
1991, the company has grown to approximately 1000 in 2007.
AMPS
provides electric power service to homes and businesses located
within the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation, which stretches along the
Colorado River in the area where California
, Nevada
and Arizona
meet. Additionally, the company is a provider of natural gas for the Avi Resort and Casino
and the Mojave Crossing Events Center. AMPS has transmission interconnections with WAPA, SWTCo and UniSource.
AMPS has a staff which includes highly trained line workers
who install, operate and maintain AMPS transmission and distribution
lines. These line workers are critical for maintaining
a high level of reliability and are on call 24 hours a day 365 days
per year.
In May 2008, AMPS completed the engineering, procurement, construction
and energization of a new interconnection with the City of Needles.
This project will serve to enhance the reliability of transmission
service to the City of Needles. The project has been made
possible through a unique partnership between the Federal
Government, WAPA, City of Needles, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and
AMPS.
AMPS
strives to deploy technology to keep cost low while improving
reliability and customer service. In 2005, AMPS installed an
Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system to
eliminate much of the labor associated with billing, along with a new
customer service package which integrates with the AMR system to
generate fast, accurate customer invoices. At the end of 2007 AMPS
launched it's new Budget Billing feature for our customers which offers
levelized payment plans for accounts in good standing. 
