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Why Public Power?

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Why Public Power?

View of OPPD substation near OPPD Arboretum

Affordable, Reliable, Customer-Focused

Public power utilities are responsive to the needs and desires of their customers and the communities they serve.

Listening to the wishes of ratepayers and other stakeholders, OPPD and other public power utilities have undergone swift transformation in recent years. This includes everything from adding renewable energy resources and creating a strong environment for economic development to spurring innovation and implementing cost-saving practices that help keep rates affordable.

Nebraska residents enjoy some of the lowest electric rates in the country. In fact, Nebraska’s average kilowatt-hour rate is 31% below the average of those states with retail choice (Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration). Additionally, in 2016 OPPD committed to a five-year general rate freeze for its customers.
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Public power has a long, successful history in the U.S. Locally owned public power utilities first appeared more than 100 years ago when communities created electric utilities to provide light and power to their citizens.

Today, more than 2,000 publicly owned utilities serve more than 43 million people across the country, preserving this valuable asset and the local control it provides.

Nebraska has the distinction of being the only state in the nation served solely by publicly owned utilities, such as municipal utilities, electric cooperatives and public power districts.

In addition to local control, the common purposes of public power are to provide reliable, affordable, safe, not-for-profit electricity. Revenues are reinvested back into the utilities, as well as into community programs, scholarships and other local projects. Public power energizes local economies by providing jobs, lowering the tax burden and supporting policies that safeguard the environment.