Nebraska Public Power District’s wholesale electric rates rank among the most affordable in the nation, the public power utility said on Sept. 9.
In 2016, NPPD began benchmarking its wholesale rates against others in the nation, utilizing a database maintained by the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation.
The large group includes more than 800 electric utilities which purchase wholesale power. NPPD’s Board of Directors set a goal to be in the first quartile – which is at or below the 25 percentile for power cost. NPPD first achieved this goal in 2020 by reaching the 23.2 percentile and has remained in the lowest quartile since. The rankings for 2023 were recently released, with NPPD finishing at the 16.7 percentile.
“The electric industry is being impacted by many different factors, including inflation and supply chain constraints, and the team at NPPD remains consistently focused on meeting these challenges and providing our customers with affordable, reliable power,” noted NPPD President and CEO Tom Kent. “This CFC metric is a tangible example of how our team is meeting our goals and bringing the best of public power to Nebraskans.”
As a not-for-profit public corporation, NPPD noted, it is able to share surpluses with customers in the form of credits which have been applied to the wholesale power bills and have effectively lowered the cost of power.
In addition, NPPD’s wholesale rates have remained steady for seven straight years. NPPD has wholesale contracts with 37 municipalities and 23 public power districts and cooperatives across the state.
