English (United States)
I am blessed to work at NPPD, a place where colleagues are like family and where we always come together to support our neighbors, both in times of need and to help them continue to grow and thrive. The value of public power truly comes from the people who have built this industry from the ground up and continue to innovate and inspire in service of others.
This holiday season, I’m thankful for and humbled by our teammates’ willing nature to donate their time to volunteerism and contribute financially to a wide variety of honorable causes and charities within almost every community in Nebraska. Equally admirable is their commitment to keep energy in Nebraska reliable and affordable.
At a time when the cost of nearly everything is increasing and supply chains are strained, NPPD can proudly say in 2024, we aren’t raising base electric rates for our wholesale customers for the seventh year in a row, and for our retail customers for the 11th consecutive year.
This is a result of two primary factors. First, it’s because of teammates’ deep resolve to operate our power plants safely, reliably, and efficiently. Our generation plants perform exceedingly well and are called upon often within the energy market in which they are dispatched, and that’s because they are competitively priced, diverse and well-maintained. This has allowed us to share surpluses with our wholesale customers, bringing money back to Nebraska from energy market sales and effectively lowering power costs across the state. And second, it’s because of their commitment to control current and future costs.
I know the term “affordable costs” can be subjective to your own experiences and circumstances. However, when comparing our wholesale rates to other utilities in the Cooperative Finance Corporation wholesale power cost benchmark, NPPD’s rates came in at the 11.7 percentile in 2022. The lower the percentile number in this benchmark, the lower cost or better your rates are compared to other utilities in the benchmark.
Likewise, in benchmarking our retail rates against more than 2,600 utilities across the nation, our rates were among the lowest 3.1%, with the state of Nebraska also ranking among the lowest residential rates in the U.S.
For those who may still struggle to pay their electric bills, I would ask you to call us at 1-877-ASK-NPPD to learn about financial assistance available through our Pennies for Power and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, as well as customized payment plans. Our energy efficiency programs are another way you can save money and lower your bills not just in the upcoming winter months, but throughout the year.
Our desire is that you keep your hard-earned money so you can spend it on what matters most to you. We’re keeping our rates low and our power reliable so you don’t have to worry about the power going out when you’re cooking that Thanksgiving turkey or plugging in your holiday lights.
Happy Thanksgiving!
