Unalaska, AK – On Saturday, about 75 people gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new powerhouse. The generators at the new powerhouse have been online for a couple of months now, and the event gave city employees a chance to relax, eat cake, and mark the official end to a years-long project.

The project cost $53 million, which paid for the construction of a 16,000 square foot facility and new equipment, like two Wartsila engines capable of producing over 10 megawatts of energy. Public Utilities Director Dan Winters says that the new powerhouse is much more efficient than the World War II-era one next door.

"We are right now selling about 6 million more kilowatt hours a year, but we're also saving $1 million dollars a year in fuel," says Winters.

Winters adds that while the powerhouse is a big ticket item, he doesn't expect that utility costs will go up as the result of this project.

"There's no place that builds a $50 million powerhouse without raising rates," says Winters. "Right now, we're looking at our sales, and our sales are up. Time is going to tell if we're going to have to raise [rates] a penny or not. If things keep going the way they are, it's questionable that we're going to need to, which is just unheard of."

Work on the new powerhouse isn't entirely over. Winters says that the project is now entering into "phase two." Public Utilities expects to have a new Caterpillar generator running in a year, which should reduce the number of power outages experienced by the city.