By NPPD
Columbus, Neb. – Nebraska Public Power District’s (NPPD) wholesale electric rates have once again ranked amongst the lowest in the country compared to roughly 800 wholesale electric providers.
Several years ago, NPPD wanted to benchmark its wholesale rate against others in the nation, helping the organization to keep a focus on costs, as well as showing how NPPD’s rates compare to its peers. To do this, NPPD established a goal of being in the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation’s (CFC’s) first quartile -- below the 25-percentile mark, which would indicate NPPD’s wholesale rate is among the lowest of peer wholesale utility rates. In 2020 NPPD met the goal by finishing at the 23.2 percentile and now that the data for 2021 has been finalized NPPD’s rank improved further, finishing at the 12.4 percentile.
“Meeting this goal has taken a focus and combined effort by all NPPD teammates,” says NPPD President and CEO Tom Kent. “The excellent performance of NPPD’s generating portfolio and the entire NPPD team has contributed to reaching this goal for the second year in a row. This achievement clearly shows the value of our diversified generation mix.”
NPPD’s wholesale rates have remained steady for five straight years with board members voting this past December to return $74.2 million dollars in rate stabilization funds back to its wholesale customers. NPPD has wholesale contracts with 38 municipalities and 23 rural public power districts and rural cooperatives across the state.
“NPPD continues to focus on financial management and performance excellence so we can successfully remain in the CFC’s first quartile and thus, keep rates affordable for our customers,” adds Kent. “Reaching this goal benefits NPPD and its wholesale and retail customers, and when combined with excellent performance in other areas of our business, it reinforces our mission and demonstrates the value NPPD provides to Nebraskans.”